Facebook for Business Success

I hit the like button on posts all the time.  I like your status update, I like your picture.  I like the fact you had fun on your vacation. It doesn’t mean I want to get into a long involved conversation or see all your vacation pictures. Sometimes hitting the like button is just a lot easier than commenting and it has recently made it even easier to stay connected with small businesses.  

In February of 2009, Facebook added the “Like” feature to not only incorporate liking friends’ posts but also Facebook Pages that “allow entities such as public figures and organizations to broadcast information to their fans.” Simply put, Facebook Pages are created by companies and public figures who seek to build an online presence and engage with their fans and customers. Interactive marketing pundit David Clarke of BGT Partners, strongly believes that “Facebook matters more than your company website” and envisions that company websites will live within Facebook in the near future.

Small businesses complained in the past that their target market didn't exist on the social networking site, and consequently saw no point in investing its time on the site. The above statement was once true, when the site was solely geared toward college students, however, it has since grown to include over 500 million active users around the world. Facebook should no longer be ignored by small businesses, as it is definitely capable of producing a ROI. According to Pingdom, 61 percent of Facebook users are over the age of 35, the average user spends about seven hours a month on the site. Alternatively, online users spend around two hours using Google.  If connecting with customers and building relationships serves no value, then a reevaluation of business goals is necessary. The last time I checked, the ultimate goal of marketing is to create and maintain perceived mutually beneficial exchange relationships between target organizations and its various customers. Facebook offers no better vehicle for small businesses to achieve this goal, because Facebook Pages provides administers detailed analytics, information about the demographic breakdown of its fan base with the “Page Insights" feature. Small businesses can benefit most by building brand awareness, engaging in conversation and furthering relationships.

Some users, myself included, prefer to keep their profile pages as barebones as possible. I try to not give more information than necessary; as much as I hit the like button for my friends’ posts, I try to stay away from liking Facebook pages because I can’t stand being bombarded with constant updates. Nevertheless, the few pages that I have "Liked" in the past keep me connected to the things I care about most, yet, there are other users that will share a greater degree of information than me and will “like” a whole lot more pages.

Sources:

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/04/1853056/facebook-matters-more-than-your.html

Neuromaketing

Computer users have grown accustomed to the browser cookies used by online advertisers that remember our browsing interests to show related ads as we surf the web.  Furthermore, online marketing has become increasingly integrated over the years, as websites require users to log into a personal account that builds on the shopping history of a customer to suggest related content. The effect is a deeper customer relationship that provides an extremely customized shopping experience.  Neuromarketing, a new and controversial field of marketing, attempts to make this consumer relationship an even tighter one by utilizing brain waves to measure the effectiveness of advertising, packaging, and messaging to ultimately incite desired consumer responses. Neuromarketers focus on understanding the subconscious needs and desires of consumers to return a profit.

As you look into your computer screen to read this post, it is also stares right back at you. Okay, it doesn’t really look back at you, but it could one day.  If the small eye, I mean camera lens, located at the top of laptop screens today were able to measure pupil dilation, it could easily provide neuromarketers with the potential to observe your response to advertising elements that flash on your screen and  assess your relationship with a brand.  In the past, companies surveyed groups to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements. Today, researchers don’t ask questions; they evaluate one’s reactions to advertisements.

What do you think of the advertisement below? Does it warm your heart? Does it bore you? 

Was the sigh you just released a product of a good story line, or did neorumarketers aptly influence your feelings?  Don’t feel paranoid now, but companies have always created ads like the one above to fill consumers with fuzzy feelings that unconsciously associate their customer loyalty to the brand. Neuromaketing steps in to evaluate consumer response and whether or not the ad is well received.

The future of neuromarketing is not limited to back-room research studies; in fact, the possibility of collecting and presenting data to consumers in real time is endless.  Have an iPhone4?  Did you think that the front facing camera on the phone was just for video chat? Apps that can use the phone's front facing cameras to detect hand-motion commands are currently under development.  So it is not hard to believe that retina scanning is in the near future. Imagine discussing where you want to go out to eat with a friend within a text message and a banner ad suggests the perfect place for you.  Sounds like the perfect world right? Or is it that creepy?  The fact is that neuromarketing will play a bigger role in the near future, whether it is in electing politicians, buying consumer products, or choosing blind dates.

The company Neurofocus is a market leader in bringing neuroscience expertise to marketing, and its products and services range from billboard ads to market analysis. Its website also includes videos of case studies which explain the role of neuroscience in the marketing of certain products.

Ultimately, it is up to us as consumers to know better, trust ourselves and be sensible. We should not fear neuromarketers, after all there is nothing more annoying than boring advertisements.

-Derrick Padron

Sources:

Khanna, Ayesha. “Neuromarketers Know You Better Than You Know Yourself.” http://bigthink.com/ideas/24840

Related Material:

Neuroscience explains why The Gap failed at executing its new logo design.

“Brain Gap: NeuroFocus Study Reveals What Went Wrong With the Gap's New Brand Logo”