My friend Mark Schaefer wrote a provocative piece in this very space yesterday about why Facebook will become the most dangerous company on earth. One of Mark’s central observations — that a public company must find ways to grow, and Facebook’s only path to do that is through you and me — was particularly insightful and, for some, alarming. I’ve been studying Facebook for five years as a researcher, and after seeing our most recent data on social media behaviors I can tell you this:  It’s scarier than you think. And by Facebook. MORE >>

Why does every social media strategy seemingly start with a company cajoling people to come “like” their Facebook page? This post will explain why that is usually a bad strategy if you are aiming at creating long-term, loyal customers. In the “objectives” section, every  single organization stated something like this: “Our goal is to enter the conversation with our customers and engage with them on our Facebook page.” ” If the true goal is customer connection, why does it have to start on your own Facebook page? MORE >>

Perhaps the most prestigious symbol of social proof today is the Facebook “Like.”  Among many companies, there is a Facebook arms race in progress as competing brands do anything necessary to gain the upper hand on this important metric. As you might predict, an underground market has emerged that will happily sell you manufactured Facebook Likes. Almost every corporate Facebook account I know of is run, at least in part, by an advertising agency. Claiming to be an “expert” or “guru” when you’ve never had a paying customer? The essence of social proof. MORE >>

Posted in Commerce Facebook Interactive Marketing Sales Social Media Social Networking Strategy. According to HubSpot, ninety three percent of adults on the Internet are on Facebook, yet only 1% of a brand’s Facebook fans will ever make their way to the company’s main website. Many blame their low conversion rates on Facebook: “Facebook ads don’t work.” We know, after all, that Facebook users are a highly active and engaged audience. It simply can’t be Facebook’s fault…. Once you’ve decided to “do” Facebook, you may as well do it right. MORE >>

One of the most frequent questions that comes up in my classes is “With Facebook, do we still need a website?&#. After all, in its quest for world domination, Facebook has effectively created an alternate universe, their own in-house Internet. As marketers, we need to be where our customers are and that means Facebook. In addition to this obvious fact, the data suggests that people are spending far more time on Facebook and less time on websites. think it is a matter of when, not if, Facebook will have a privacy crisis that jeopardizes its viability. MORE >>