My friend Dave Allen got me thinking about this topic months ago. Then I saw it on the news today, and I thought I’d try to bring some clarity to the issue.
Just like anything in media, you want to know how what you do tracks back to your goals. So what does a “like” mean for your business? To find out, you have to understand what happens when you get a like and what it means to the liker and those who see that they like you.
In other words, we have to think about these things to create a theory of why this will work.
Creating theory (making a reasonable case using information and logic for why a particular media plan will work) helps you to focus your advertising money. An integrated theory is, essentially, a logically coherent argument for how advertising works for your business. All this is just nerd talk meaning “common sense.”
Plus, likes aren’t free. Someone (you or a staff member) has to sit at a computer and build a community using a focused plan and leadership. Someone has to be putting value back into the community. And you don’t just need a “like and forget;” you need to get people interacting with the brand on Facebook.
And even if they interact, you need to know their motivations. Are they motivated by the online social interaction itself, or are they motivated in a way that will get them to eventually buy, or indirectly influence others to do that?
To find out, read your marketing goal out loud, then test the Facebook like theory against it. If you can think of a situation where a Facebook Like leads eventually to a sale, you’re on the right track. Then you just need to think about how likely that situation is to happen and then test it.
If you need a recommendation for someone to help with this, let me know. In the mean time, I’ll leave you with this: when it comes to planning media, don’t get it twisted: Think first. Then research.