According to eMarketer, Facebook users have reached 350 million worldwide. Together they are creating a community of savvy consumers, connecting with friends, family, co-workers and acquaintances to share advice, information and yes, recommendations.
I wonder then why so many publishers and authors are still not on Facebook?
Social media sites began forming in the late 1990s, and since then the medium has evolved greatly. That means social media has been around for over 10 years, and is now well established as a method for networking, communicating and marketing.
From a marketing standpoint it seems logical to be a part of this culture shift. Social media will continue to grow in importance over the next two years. In fact, it will be the most important method of communicating and marketing. It will blur the lines between personal and professional and it will distance us from email. Obama understands the importance of social media -- his official Facebook fan page "Barack Obama" has 7,161,672 fans. I feel the value of those fans will be even greater in the next election.
A word to the wise, before you need the Facebook community to buy your book, help spread the word about a video or help you find a job, get on Facebook and build up some karma points by being social and helping others. Sooner or later, all of us need help from our social and professional communities, and they will be a lot more inclined to help if you have already built a relationship with them. Post helpful status updates with tips in your expertise, share something interesting you have read or just talk about your life (we actually want to know).
I have heard many reasons for not being on Facebook: "I don't have time," "I don't want my high school friends finding me again," or "I don't want to share my life with others." To all those excuses, I'd like to say: I find that the more time I spend on Facebook the less I email, so really I am not spending more time, I'm just spending it differently. Â As for sharing, this is the age of being authentic so go ahead and share away.
I was not an early adopter either; I waited until I was sure it was worth the time and effort. However, today I am on Facebook daily and enjoy it very much. I have a better relationship with my clients, enjoy knowing more about my friends, and have acquired clients after they saw our results in real time on Facebook and Twitter. I use Facebook and LinkedIn as my contact database and hardly ever enter contact information on my computer. I like having all my contacts in one place updated automatically.
To all those hold-outs out there, I'd like to say social media is not the future, it is the present. Go ahead and join in, your career may depend on it. If you are in the media, your next promotion should depend on it, and your future success will most certainly depend on it.
Fauzia Burke is the Founder and President of FSB Associates, an Internet marketing firm specializing in creating online awareness for books and authors. For more information, please visit FSB Associates.
Follow Fauzia Burke on Twitter: www.twitter.com/FSBAssociates
Get on the train everyone.
I often find that people who are not on Facebook have a different perception of it than those of us who are on it. For example I see my friends more because I am on Facebook not less, and it has certainly helped my business and my career.
I recently read the following stat, "2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report: 276% Growth in 35-54 Year Old Users....That demo is DOUBLING roughly every two months" -- i Strategy Labs.
I think these stats speak for themselves. I have encouraged many friends and clients to discover the benefits of Facebook and not one has regretted it. In fact, most of them thank me often for encouraging them.
Obviously, Facebook is only the latest method of communication. If it does not work for you, then it doesn't. But I believe anyone in media not participating in social media will lose opportunities both personal and professional.
I was in sales for more than ten years and if some thinks that typing to someone else about trivia of the day is equivalent to establishing relations based on shared experiences, they need to think about it some more.
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I find that I can remain as authentic as ever without the use of Facebook. While I appreciate the argument that Facebook and similar sites offer even more avenues for marketing/promotional purposes, I just don't feel the need to join this type of online community. And that's as real as it gets.
1. It CONNECTS readers to their favorite authors.
2. It CONNECTS readers to readers, book buyers to book buyers.
3. Creates an extension of Author/ Publisher's online Brand.
4. Provides an online destination other then just your website, it's personal!
5. Generates a sense of community for Fans.
6. The it's the perfect forum to generate conversation among niche audiences.
7. It's free. It's easy to use.
8. Facebooks marketplace is only growing.
9. Your in control over whom your friends with and the information you share.
10. It's a "what's happening right NOW" mecca place for all parties to benefit (author, publishers, and fans)
*If your an author and you have a website chances are your readers are looking for you on Facebook. What we read says a lot about who we are, it's an investment of our time, it's personal. Facebook is the connection readers are looking for. It is Captain Obvious marketing!
Love it or hate it, the fact of the matter is that if you want to be doing everything to promote yourself, network, or even just find fans as an author or someone in the Media, Facebook needs to be a big part of that. Not to mention many major corporations and businesses (and small ones too!) are using sites like Facebook as a way to help control their brand and interact with the people who use it, which I think could hardly be suggested as being "shallow". I can easily see how a grasp of social media could get a person hired over someone who doesn't -- depending on the company, it could be just as important to know how to use Facebook as it is to use PowerPoint.
I think what Wietogisback says is interesting: "I hate Facebook and always will, even if I have to use it to promote work in the future." Ok, yes, you dislike the program, but you know that it can help in the grand scheme of marketing a business, service, or product. I think this is what Fauzia Burke is talking about in her article. Regardless of your personal feelings towards it, there is no denying its impact. And, believe it or not, the fastest growing demographic on the site is women 55+ (insidefacebook.com).
And, yes, privacy concerns are an issue, but if you are using it for promotional purposes only (which is what I believe Fauzia Burke is discussing in her article), then why do you need privacy?! There are many ways to monitor and delete unwanted posts and truly use this as a medium for marketing/promotion. And believe it or not, the fastest growing demographic on the site is women, 55+ (insidefacebook.com).
While some believe that being on Facebook is time consuming, it's easy to master the settings and use it efficiently, skimming for the "news" you find most important. You can easily stay in touch with others, giving them a word of encouragement and promoting what's important to them. Finally, you have the control over who sees what; if you don't want your followers to see your children's photographs, you can block them. But a Facebook presence allows you to connect in a forum that's become extremely popular, especially among the prime book buying audience of women 45 to 65.
www.nancypeske.com