This is a guest post by Sam Bakker. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
My uncle was the first in my family to buy an iPhone. As an unabashed Apple geek, he couldn’t wait to take the opportunity to show it to everyone at our 2009 family gathering. By the end of the day, he had covering everything from useful applications right down to the finest details of call clarity. It was a novelty. But two months later we all met once again. Now, not only did my tech geek uncle have his IPhone but half of the family had them too!
One of the major challenges I have come up against in businesses I coach is the encouragement of their customers to talk about their business to others. I always have to take them back to basics. I like to start with the concept that people buy so they can share its novelty with others. People love to talk about what they buy and in my opinion there are two clear reasons:
- They want to increase their social benefit (how they are perceived by the other person or people).
- They want their friends to help them justify their purchase.
- There’s something in it for them. They have an ulterior motive.
As online business owners, we want to focus on the first reason because there is nothing more viral than the mouths of people seeking “social benefit“.
So what was it about my uncle’s iPhone that influenced other members of my family to buy them too?
Well it was for the social benefit it gave. Because my tech-geek uncle felt so good about his purchase, he couldn’t help but rave about it. My dad was instantly sold on the social benefits it held, and couldn’t resist acting the same way.
On FaceBook, this concept is no different however it is as if social benefit is on steroids 24/7. It’s the most viral platform the world has ever seen. And every day new groups explode as a result of their ability to produce social benefit on their members’ walls. I recently joined a group called the “Feed a Child with a Click“. The people who went on my Wall and saw this update took an interest in this development, and investigated it for themselves. This can lead to more people joining, and a snowball effect is created.
Your challenge as an online business owner is to create groups that add social benefit to FaceBook. That way, you can produce the same level of social benefit for your fans as Apple produced for my uncle.
About Author :
Sam Bakker has been making money online for the past 7 years. If you would like to find out more about social media then you can visit his website about internet marketing.
About Lee Ka Hoong
Nice example “iPhone” Now we are in 2010 where is your iPhone Sam. Any way nice full info on Facebook, I concentrate more on fan page rather than groups but yeah I regularly participate.
Thanks Sachin, glad you liked the info. I’m not sure why I ended up listing “Groups” as the focus opposed to fan pages, fan pages are what really generate the viral traffic. I’m going to focus some future articles around the some of the tests I have been doing on Facebook recently to make money. Are there any questions or parts of Facebook you would like to know more about?
.-= Sam Bakker´s last blog ..Is Facebook’s LIKE Plugin Changing The Way We Search Online? =-.
Good insight, Agree with all your points.For me Fan page are more important, I only join groups where i can share my views or get some suggestions.
.-= Whiztechy´s last blog ..Post Blog’s RSS Feeds to Facebook Wall with RSS Graffiti =-.
Hey Sachin and Whiztechy,
Thanks for your feedback. Your both right, I had intended to have this page written about fan pages opposed to groups e.g. the “feed a child with a click” example. Fan pages are very hot right now and should be the major focus for any business who wants to generate some serious viral traffic. I have been following a fan page which started 5 days ago. In just 5 days the group based around a funny 1 liner has ballooned to over 1.5 million fans.
.-= Sam Bakker´s last blog ..Is Facebook’s LIKE Plugin Changing The Way We Search Online? =-.
While I’d never put the iPhone on the same level as a charity for “social benefit”, but a good story nonetheless. ;)
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Oops I Lied-HAHA =-.
Hi Dennis, Haha I guess I could have picked a more suitable fan page to base the example on. I really just wanted to throw it in there because it’s a great fan page idea which has built up to 6.5 million fans. Glad you liked the story :)
.-= Sam Bakker´s last blog ..Is Facebook’s LIKE Plugin Changing The Way We Search Online? =-.
Joining Facebook groups is difficult for us. We do not really benefit from joining groups about our industry, as all our competitors are there. Then, the things we enjoy for fun do not have groups in our small area. We are not a big city, so we are lacking the benefit of Facebook those in the bigger cities benefit from.
.-= Colleen@Kennewick Real Estate´s last blog ..Homes For Sale In The Pasco Washington School District =-.
Start a group you think your clients would be interested in, then put the link on your business cards, etc.
.-= Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..10 Social Share Sites Chosen – Do You Agree? =-.
It’s also because it’s incredibly easy. One click and bam you are essentially spreading the news to all of your friends about this new group. It’s ingenious really.
Hi guys,
I usually join a Facebook group if it’s something that I’m interested in or if one of my friends ask me to. But I will reject the offer to join a group if I find that the content is offensive.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
I have seen many people joining Groups just for the sake that their friends have created it when they have not interest in the Topic. Marketers on Facebook can see the Money making side but others are there mostly to hang out..for fun!
.-= Rohit Sane@Tech Stuff´s last blog ..10 Major Reasons Why your Google Adsense Account Request will NOT be Approved =-.
I personally used it for business connections, but with all the recent privacy changes at FB, I’ve actually deleted my account………they make too much info public for my taste
.-= Frank@Jobs For felons´s last blog ..Jobs Fore Felons | State to Pass Law Against Felon Job Discrimination =-.
Hi Frank, Alot of people have deleted their accounts due to the privacy concerns. There is alot that Facebook has exposed as well. Im not sure if you were aware but just 2 weeks ago there was a bug which allowed users to spy on their friends chat conversations. Also with their open graph changes they have exposed peoples profiles to be abused by spammers off site. I know of scripts which can make people “Like” websites and pages automatically without the profile owners permission or knowledge. For users their are still potential risks however for marketers it presents alot of opportunity.
.-= Sam Bakker´s last blog ..Is Facebook’s LIKE Plugin Changing The Way We Search Online? =-.
I think one of the reasons why so many people join Facebook groups is the ease of joining. Unlike RSS and other subscription methods, all you need to do is ‘like’ or ‘join’ it.
Since most of us already have FB, it’s only a click away.
.-= Murlu´s last blog ..3 Easy Ways To Making More Sales (And How To Do Each) =-.