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One of my favorite bloggers, Dan Zarella, who calls himself a ‘social media scientist,’ once said, “Monkeys groom each other. Gossip is the human equivalent. “I don’t think Zarella really meant to use the word, gossip, to mean, well…gossip. I think what he meant was that humans listen to one another when it’s relevant, just like when a monkey grooms his pal, that’s truly relevant to the monkey getting the cleaning done.
Here are some interesting ideas I gleaned from Zarella during a June 2010 Webinar. I hope they are relevant to you.
Tip #1: AMBIENT AWARENESS: Walls, feeds, short updates, photos – all can be useful to create a kind of ‘ambient awareness.’ It’s branding at its most subtle. Just looking at pictures evokes the power of suggestion. As marketers, what this means is that even if people don't click through to our messages, we can still create the ambiant awareness. Subtle, but powerful.
Tip #2: PERFORMANCE: Facebook would be useless if you had no friends. Facebook puts all of our "performances" in front of our "friends." What you do is how you want the world to perceive you. Likes and interests are an aspect of Facebook. Show other people who you are and what you like through your performance. The business takeaway for us, at Social Media Servicing is we can "help our clients look cool." The concept is that nobody is going to want to be friends with them unless we brand them as vibrant and, yes, cool.
Tip #3: PAGES: People have profiles, brands have pages. Exposure, awareness and motivation (the relative hierarchy of contagiousness) – these are SMS’s objectives for our clients’ pages on Facebook. To get your page spread to your consumers, three things have to happen: First, exposure; they have to be invited. Second, they have to become aware of it. And third, they have to be motivated to like the page by finding something they find valuable.
A note on buzzwords, here: Zarella says the average Facebook PAGE has 624 fans. If the word Optimization appears, there are less than 100 fans. All these ‘insider’ buzzwords turn people off and result in a loss of fans. Leverage and implement client branding and marketing. Maximize through advertising and integrated conversations. He goes on to say don't confuse Facebook with LinkedIn . Stay away from buzzwords. Facebook is about implementing SOCIAL relationships.
On the other hand food is awesome, he says. Talking about food, ice cream, milk, chocolate, sugar, fruit, etc. is a huge draw. Try to come up with a page based on some suggestion of food. You'll talk about food with your buddies, not "integrated marketing."
Most ‘liked’ pages are about movies, TV shows, books, music, television, athletes and actors. All others drop off significantly. Real estate, home services, professional "services" drop WAY off. Don't use the word SERVICES on Facebook. TAKEAWAY: Be entertaining. You're talking to a mainstream audience. Be funny, be sexy, be entertaining, be a lot of fun, lay off marketing, religious and business stuff on Facebook.
Tip #4: SOCIAL PROOF: "We view a behavior as more correct...to the degree that we see others performing it." For example, when you look at two restaurants and there’s a big line at one and there’s only one guy at the other, which would you go to? You'd think the restaurant with long line is better; its approval rating is obvious in the crowd that has been attracted. Likewise, the "recommend" button is also a powerful tool. If a friend liked your page, then you'll more likely go it to check it out.
TAKEAWAY: As a marketer, emphasize social proof. How many people recommended you or liked an article, for example?. Put the "Like" button in Super Prominent locations.
Tip #5: VIDEO SHARING: On Facebook the word “video” is very powerful, says Zarella, where it’s shared 30 percent more often than any other word. It’s just the opposite on Twitter, where the word video is shared 30 percent less. Twitter is more geeky; it’s hard to multi-task and you can't watch a video. On the other hand, 51 percent of US companies block Facebook at work, at least today! Takeaway: Videos do better on Facebook than Twitter.
Tip #6: DIGITS: One final thought: use numbers in titles. Articles with digits in the title tend to be shared more often. The reasons is that people like specificity. In a financial story, talk about the actual dollar; in talking about an oil spill, talk about the number of gallons.
