Book review: Facebook Marketing

By on July 9th, 2010 In Social Media, Weekend Reading

Facebook is positioned to become the first social network to reach 1 billion users. Facebook Marketing:  Designing Your Next Marketing Campaign by Justin R. Levy is a deep dive into how Facebook can be leveraged by your company. 

If you’re looking for a book that has enough data for the nonbelievers as well as significant how-to chapters on setting up campaigns, this is it.  Facebook now is primarily used by the 35-55 age group, and is growing exponentially faster than LinkedIn.    “If you don’t want to fish in a pond that is packed with approximately 800,000 new fish every single day,” says the author, “then have fun somewhere else.”  The days of forcing customers to go to a website of your choosing are gone. You have to go to where your fans are.

After throwing enough stats in the first few chapters to convince even the most stalwart Luddite, Levy explains how to establish a corporate presence on Facebook, the power and reach of Facebook Connect, how and when to set up Facebook advertising and take advantage of its 11 different audience filters, the value of Facebook apps, privacy concerns, marketing strategies, how to develop communities, and best in class examples.

It’s hard to argue with the logic of the book, and you can use the arguments to bolster your explanations to management as well as to fine tune the campaigns you develop for your clients. 

One of the first concerns about social media mentioned by reluctant users is over perceived privacy issues, and Levy quotes Dawn Foster’s comment that “people confuse ‘personal’ with ‘private’” – big difference.  You can be personal – read ‘personable’ – on Facebook, without exposing your privacy barriers. 

There are three goals when developing a Facebook marketing strategy:

  • Community building –  if your goal is to develop a strong overall presence on Facebook
  • Marketing and promotion – if your goal is to drive traffic to landing pages or event registration or to promote awareness around a product launch or special offer
  • Advertising – although the most limited strategy of the three, this is helpful if your goal is to use Facebook only as another advertising stream for your company product or service.

Levy doesn’t leave out measurement and web analytics, either, or the sweat equity costs that go into the time spent to built a community.

Even if you consider yourself a Facebook expert, there are some good tips to keep in mind (or to refresh your memory) as you develop your clients’ strategies. Best of all, there are excellent “best in class” case studies in the 10th chapter that cover a good sampling of celebrities, products and services, ranging from how Volkswagen and Microsoft Office use Facebook campaigns to the tricks and tips used by Mashable, the Jonas Brothers, and Gary Vaynerchuk.  Levy also points out that instead of creating community around your product or service, you can choose to create it around the industry your product provides for. 

Some other gems from the book to use with your recalcitrant client:

  • With Facebook, humans can showcase the individual personalities that help them to make them who they are
  • As Chris Brogan says, it helps companies “grow bigger ears”
  • It’s not eating up your time as much as it is making an investment in your future
  • The blending of personal and professional helps develop a strong community
  • Facebook is now the top driver of traffic, over Google, to large sites
  • There is still a lot of value in corporate websites, but nowadays, you have to go where your prospects, customers, and fans hang out and build communities with them there. This in turn can direct customers toward visiting your corporate website and engaging with you on your turf.
  • Facebook helps humanize your brand
  • People use Facebook as part of their online reputation management and personal/professional branding strategy
  • For the nonbelievers who are reading the book, this is your call to action. Enough is enough. It’s time to accept that social networks aren’t going anywhere. 

Justin Levy is director of business development, marketing, and client relations at New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency based outside Boston. He’s also partner and general manager of Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse, which eats its own (steak)food and has successfully used social media to drive sales and build communities.   The book is published by Pearson Education and you can learn more at www.justinrlevy.com

Comments

Christia Says:
July 10th, 2010 at 10:13 am

This is quite a thorough and nicely written (read: clear and accessible)summary and review of the book. Much appreciated.

Linda Capcara Says:
July 10th, 2010 at 11:49 am

Thanks for the in-depth review Linda, your opinon means a lot to me. I just ordered it from Amazon.

Justin Levy Says:
July 10th, 2010 at 9:47 pm

Thank you so much Linda for taking the time out to read and review the book! I’m so grateful and happy that you found some of the information helpful!

Jim Veihdeffer Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 8:32 am

I wonder if the book goes into what might be called the social ethic of using FB for undisclosed personal gain and promotion. One of the reasons I quit using Yelp was the fact that I simply couldn’t trust any of the reviews or raves. It was no longer people helping people, it was companies gaming people. I’d hate to see FB go the same way.

It’s one thing to have your website, your latest book, your charity or your son’s directorial debut–quite another to try to fool the friends who trust you that you’re giving them advice on a friend-basis when in fact you’re touting a client. All it takes is “in the interest of full disclosure” to keep yourself honest.

Let’s not blow another good thing, like we did with e-mail, by letting spam take over.

Linda VandeVrede Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 5:12 pm

Jim, yes, the book goes into detail about the etiquette of Facebook and how not to abuse the promotional capabilities. It also has helpful explanations about the do’s and don’ts of building true communities and how to get people to keep coming back to your page. His advice: be helpful, connect (interact) often, and be a connector.
Christia and Linda, thank you. When publicists send me book descriptions, I select only those books that look as if they would be interesting/helpful. Nobody has time to waste these days, do they?

Reviews for Facebook Marketing | Justin Levy Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 6:59 pm

[...] Valley PR Blog – Book Review: Facebook Marketing [...]

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