Facebook Fan Pages vs. Websites

Facebook Fan Pages vs. Websites

The traditional web page may have peaked as to its level of importance with the recent explosion of social networking tools.  This is not to say that the company website has lost its purpose, but it rather has drifted into the grouping of traditional marketing tools that offer only an A to B knowledge transfer.  What is that?  Well, let's look at it in contrast to social networking tools.

First, we need to acknowledge that the overall trust in business and brands is very low.  This could very well be unfair, as many business and traditional advertisements are lumped in with current events such as Enron, ponzi schemes, government bailouts, recalls, etc.  Whether fair or not isn't important, it is just the reality.  Therefore, when businesses simply use this A to B method of "telling" customers to trust them and that their products have quality and that their business is valid, it has only a limited effect.

So why do social networking tools such as Facebook fan pages have more validity?  The answer lies in the concept of "transitive trust".  Transitive trust is simple and ancient- if I trust a person's opinion on a certain topic, and that person trusts a certain product, I therefore gain a certain level of trust for that product.

Facebook and other social networking sites work off of this premise.  A brand puts itself out there, and displays info, and gathers an initial base of "fans".  This could be current customers, friends, etc.  The idea is to build upon those fans' fans.  It's a slow exponential growth, but one that very much fits into free market concepts of survival of the fittest.  The brands that are most transparent, engage customers, deal with issues promptly and fairly, offer quality products and reasonable prices, and so on, will theoretically succeed because basically the word will spread within the network for that brand.

Saying all that, it is not a magic bullet solution.  Billboard type marketing materials such as websites still have a lot of value in that they can display rich data about the company and its brands.  Facebook is an excellent tool to build the brand, but other tools such as a microblog like Twitter is excellent for quickly getting exposure to many fans, and blogs such as Blogspot offer integration of more robust content.

Finally, it is important to understand that every brand is different.  When a company first engages in a social networking plan, they should determine what is the value proposition of their products.  For a fashion company this could be "how does it make me look?" and "what celebrities like this brand?".  Both of these can be answered on the highest layer of content with product images and celebrity images with the brand.  For a company that offers technical training, let's say, the value proposition is different in that the quality of the brand is not as superficial.  For this type of company testimonials from past clients, current customers, and some more detailed product info will be needed.  Each company is different and a plan should be made before moving forward.

At Social Hill, we first determine how social networking can benefit each customer and build a plan around those needs.  There are thousands of excellent Facebook apps, Twitter tools, blog configurations, and a set of the most appropriate is organized for each brand.