Facebook is getting really good at making money. They do a great job up-selling their ads with Facebook pages. I want to reveal their strategy in hopes you can do the same to your business.
Step 1: Create a Facebook Page without even knowing it
They promote the ability to create a Facebook page in lots of interesting ways. My favorite one is on user profiles. Facebook asks you to enter in where you work and automatically creates it into a Facebook Business Page that other users can “Like”. This will prompt the business owner to have lots of “Likes” before their page is even started.
Step 2: Invite all your friends so you can actually name it.
They prompt you to invite all your friends. They actually don’t let you name your page until you have received at least 25 likes. This gets you to start obsessing over the # of likes you have.
Step 3: Sell ads to get more “Likes”
When you are on your own Facebook Page they show you what your advertisement could look like with a call-to-action button that says “Get More Likes”
Step 4: Keep the “Like” obsession going with analytics
They email you weekly insights on how many fans you have and get you really worried if the numbers are going up or down. At the bottom of the email they have a convenient link to promote your Facebook page with ads.
In summary what Facebook has done is pretty brilliant. They have other users collecting “Likes” for your business before it even launches. They then get you obsessed with the number of likes you have. Then they up-sell you ads to get more likes.
This is an old strategy that works
This strategy has been around for years. My first recollection of this is Yellow Pages. They list your business in their directory for free. You either learn about their service from a client that told you they found you through Yellow Pages or you were also an end consumer yourself. Once things get rolling they ask you to “upgrade” your profile by bolding your name or placing an advertisement in their book.
Yelp follows this model as well. They list every business possible for free and up sell ads.
Google probably takes the cake on this. They crawl the entire web. Give you Google Analytics so you know that customers are coming from Google. They then upsell you ads so you can get more people to your website through them.
In conclusion, if you run a business that has massive amounts of use, consider doing some soft upsells like Facebook.
Really interesting post. I never even thought about how they leverage users in step #1. Seems really smart from a business standpoint but I also feel a little used as a user.
I’m okay with it from a user standpoint. If Facebook makes money that is a good thing. This means they won’t go away anytime soon and I really value their website and service.
Adding to your nice analysis, I think these latest profile roll-outs (the ones in your screenshot) are brilliant.
Right now you’ve only got the company name + link that is worth something from a business point of view. But they are training users to fill in information: languages, hometown, etc.
A next step would be to leverage this space to promote other pages. Like your favourite sports team, with a nice link to the fan page.
Hey Dennis – I can totally see that happening. good point!
I’m wondering though what the real value to a business is of having a facebook page? … I personally think they’re far overrated, that a ‘like’ is just a fleeting thought, and is easily forgotten, that people are still far more likely to search google when they’re looking for a business, and that a good website is far more valuable than a facebook page.
Paul – I wonder the same thing at times. Getting a “like” isn’t a paying customer.
If you are a big brand like Skittles or Coke it is totally worth it. Another way to remind end consumers of your brand – think of it like a billboard.
A Facebook like gives you direct access to the users newsfeed. Think of it as someone give you their email address to receive more information about your business.
I can see people searching for businesses on Facebook before shopping. Similar to how people use Yelp to read reviews before going to a restaurant.
I agree with you that Google > Facebook. But I don’t think it should be overlooked. If I was a startup I would focus on Google only at first and once I became more stablished I would leverage Facebook “likes” as well.
You can’t name your Page until you have 25 likes? Don’t you mean you can’t get an alias URL until you have 25 likes?
Hey John – you are correct. My mistake. Thanks for pointing that out.
You’re missing a key value proposition of likes…They show up on people’s profiles also as links. It’s like having a banner ad on everyone’s page. So even if you never post to your Facebook page (which you SHOULD, cause it gives you access to the newsfeed like mentioned in the comment above), the like activity alone could get you viral exposure.
Hey Amitt – You know virality better than anyone I know (I mean you invented Farmville). Your point is correct. Likes help get the word out. I’m not arguing with that at all.
My point was to simply show how Facebook upsells ads to people that create pages.
Great post. The only think I will add is that Facebook pages are a easier to create and easier to maintain version of your business’ website. If you’re a motivational speaker, who is to say you can’t have your Facebook page as your main website. All your testimonials will be right there – on your page’s wall! For those that who don’t know how to create a website, Facebook pages is the simplest solution to stake your claim online.
Anish – I’m not sure about that. Facebook is easy and all. But only having a Facebook presence will seriously hurt you.
1. Facebook isn’t indexed by Google. People won’t be able to easily find you by searching.
2. Not everyone is on Facebook.
3. You have to make people type in http://www.Facebook.com/YourURL
An extremely fair and valid point. I was thinking and explaining the same thing to a friend of mine about how we should attract followers to our facebook page before we start a full scale ad campaign.
Thanks for this
Anytime!