As marketers, many of us haven’t met a social network we didn’t like. We flutter from LinkedIn, to Pinterest, to Twitter like a bee flies from flower to flower seeking the sweetest (and most revenue enhancing) marketing nectar available. Facebook, as the granddaddy of social networks, provides some of the most fertile ground for the vetting of marketing techniques and ideas. With the wide demographics of users Facebook offers, every marketer should view Facebook as a treasure trove of marketing insights.
In fact, every marketer should consider having these 5 types of Facebook friends to help fine tune their marketing segmentation expertise.
- The Teeny Bopper - if you’re in your 20’s, 30’s or 40’s, teeny boppers might be the most painful type of friends to have. Let’s face it, teen brains work differently than older people’s brains, so give the kids a break. Their marketing value cannot be understated. They are digital natives, have a solid disposal income, and are shapers of future trends.
- The Journalist - as marketers, our passion can sometimes get the best of us. It’s useful to have a factually oriented Facebook friend like a journalist who can keep you grounded with tough questions and real data.
- The Critic - it’s easy to be a critic, you say. Not so, criticizes the critic. Critics can be a marketer’s best Facebook friend in that they are the quickest to point out what will be the most common objection to a product or service you are marketing and selling. So ask for criticism - it will make your marketing (and your product) better.
- The Fanatic - marketers love fans. They amplify everything that’s good about your offering and will help you highlight features or functionality you may have previously thought were unimportant.
- Your Lifelong Friend - if a marketer can’t get an honest opinion from a friend, they are doomed. The lifelong friend is there to tell you that no, you won’t be able to sell twice frozen popsicles to ice fishermen in Alaska. Yes, your market research was probably a little off on that one.
Facebook is fun but it is also a valuable tool that can make your marketing better. What other types of friends have you found useful on Facebook?
Photo Credit: pollyalida