The Facebook Marketing Hoax Exposed
It seems like everybody is doing “it” these days...
But is Facebook really the "right” place to market your business?
I'm tempted to say "Yes!”...
However, if history is any indicator of future success then I have to shout a thundering: "NO!"
Before I tell you why I believe that is the case...
First, let's look
at the facts:
There are MORE than 500 million "active users" on Facebook.
Yes, that's 500, followed by six zeros! Now, according to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the resident population of the United States is 310,877,956.
(Apparently, only India and China have larger populations than Facebook!)
Here's something else that is every bit as interesting:
MORE than 200 million "active users" access Facebook through their cell phones, iphones, ipads, BlackBerrys and other mobile devices...
This means that 200 million users are constantly "jacked in" to everything that is happening on their Facebook profiles.
What’s more...
50% of these "active users" login EVERY single day.
This quite literally means that the average "power user" checks their profile more often than a drug addict scores his or her "fix".
The average user has 130 friends.
What does this really mean?
It means that at some point in time everyone on Facebook is connected in some way to everybody else on this crazy planet through their friends list!
This is completely nuts...
And if you want to hear something
even crazier...
Believe it or not, according to the Facebook website itself, people spend over 700 BILLION minutes per MONTH on Facebook.
I can't even wrap my head around that figure...
If you really want to picture what this means consider this:
A billion minutes ago was just after the time of Christ.
I tried to figure out how many years 700 billion minutes is but my calculator exploded like a watermelon packed with dynamite.
It gave me a number like 1,331,811.26
No idea if that's right but that's what the calculator told me.
That's a lot of years...
Whatever, it sounds impressive, doesn't it?
That's why everybody is jumping on the Facebook marketing "bandwagon". I mean, why not go where your leads are? Makes sense, right?
It would make sense if most Facebook marketing "tricks" were not in direct violation of Facebook's Terms of Service User Agreement.
Which, by the way, most "Facebook Marketers" violate on a daily basis:
Mainly, "You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser)." Or, "You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent."
The problem is, if you break any of these rules then the “Facebook Fashion Police” will delete your account without your consent.
This means that, no matter how successful you are marketing yourself on Facebook, you can lose it all overnight!
That's not to say that there aren't legitimate ways to advertise and market yourself on Facebook if you stick to the rules.
You may know that I have been a regular contributor in Mike Dillard's monthly What's Working Now newsletter.
So, I'm definitely up to date on what's working now with Facebook...
I'm not arguing against using Facebook as marketing tactic at all...
But Facebook marketing isn't a "marketing plan" or even a "strategy"...
It is quite simply a "tactic" that you can use to generate leads while the "getting" is good.
We already saw what happened with
the "Google Slap".
The "Google Slap" was when Google started to permanently ban advertisers in the home based business industry...
It was a terrible crisis because people lost their entire income stream -- not in days, weeks, or even months -- but quite literally overnight!
They lost everything in an instant...
While Facebook isn't owned by Google, yet...
It is every bit as dangerous...
While some people in our industry are putting all of their "marketing eggs" into the Facebook marketing basket and making a small fortune for now.
This also means that they are putting themselves at risk for the next "slap happy" pencil pusher with a negative opinion about our industry...
I have never believed in building
castles in the sand....
Waves might be good for surfing...
But they dissolve dreams faster than you can build them...
While it's true that trends can make you wealthy almost "overnight"...
They can also make you broke overnight too...
My point is that while Facebook advertising is definitely a great way to generate leads...
While it's still a wonderful place to funnel traffic to your websites...
And while it’s still a cost effective place to run pay-per-click ads...
Don’t forget to keep your eye on the big picture...
What is the "big picture"? Well to start...
There are far bigger "trends" than Facebook in our world today.
I guess you could say that Facebook is really a tiny trend compared to let's say the entire U.S. economy or the collapse of the U.S. Dollar...
Which by the way, is a disturbing "trend" that is well worth looking into...
If you haven't seen this video yet then I hope you will go watch it right now...
It's about predicting trends before it's too late to take advantage of them.
Not "tiny" trends like Facebook marketing...
But the trends that really matter to your financial future.
If you would like to leave your comments on this personal rant of mine, please leave your comments below, but watch this video first – it’s worth it!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REMEMBER TO VOTE, TWEET, SHARE, AND COMMENT:
Hey, if you enjoyed this “rambling rant” about the "Facebook Marketing Hoax" then please share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Better Networker by pushing the social media buttons above this article.
-- Don't Forget To Leave Your Comments Below--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: You should assume that the sender of this message has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the providers of goods and services mentioned in this message and may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
Read More: 
Views: 1,790 | 
Comments: 18 
About the Author: Jason Better
In Reality...
This Email was so true thanks for adding it as a Article on Better Networker. Building you business on quicksand is most definitely not a good for longevity as a marketer.
Although Facebook is good for connecting with people it should not be the sole source for traffic and exposure for you business.
Thanks Again Jason
Robin Marks
Helicopter View Always Best
Hi Jason, thanks for posting this along with Mike D's video, here in NZ the gathering at Facebook is like a group of sheep being herded into yards! Seeing the big picture isn't always easy when motivation is steamed from fear. Thank you so much for your wisdom and guidance, very much appreciated
Just Like A One-Legged Table..?
Whoa there Jason Better...
Are you trying to tell me you can't build a sustainable sales funnel focusing solely on the latest and hottest Online trends..?
Holy cow my little BN caricature, that would be like trying to eat a 5 course meal at a one-legged table...Right?
Everything's fine until you really want to put some food on the table. Then watch out, you'll be eating the crumbs off your lap when the hammer comes down...
Ain't that the truth :)
You've hit the nail on the head, Jason. It's amazing how many people do build their business on 'quicksand' as Robin mentioned above... geez (what a waste!).
Thanks for your brilliance, as usual. :)
xo-A
Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
Marketing online is like investing. The key is "diversify".
Great article :)
Diversification
Great article! The secret on business, specially in a fast changing economy is diversification..we talk about multiple streams of income, we must add Multiple Streams of promotion...
George
Thanks everybody!
Just catching up on comments...
And thank you.
Some very insightful thoughts...
Some funny ones too.
And more.
It seems like Facebook is the shiny marketing toy these days.
As valuable as it is, I worry that the "Facebook Slap" will come some day and knock everybody back to the Google age overnight.
Hindsight is always 20/20 vision.
And there's an exciting new year around the corner.
Who knows what hot new trends that will bring?
Thanks, Jason!
Great information ... and another prime example not to put all your eggs in one basket.
Keep them coming!
Ilka
Just like Blogger
Thanks, Jason! But Facebook is just like Blogger.com or anything else you don't "OWN" for yourself. I am so glad that I created my own self-hosted Wordpress blog! Blogger.com is just like Facebook! You can spend a year posting blogs to your Blogger blog, and one day they will slap you, too, and you will lose it ALL! Six months after I created my Wordpress blog (I hadn't even been to my blogger blog for six months), I got an email saying they were closing my account! No big deal since I didn't need it anymore, and I had ALREADY pulled copies of my blog posts down to my computer to re-use on my WP blog.....but for anyone trying to build a business -- what a waste of time! I spend VERY LITTLE time on Facebook, just using it as a catch all for all my other social network activity that I have automatically post to FB. If Facebook slams me, it won't really be a big deal. But thanks for the article because there are a LOT of people who don't realize they can lose their entire account on FB!
It's Their Sandbox
Your article is true to the extent taht it is a bad idea to market exclusively or even heavily on Facebook.
It's their sandbox, they let us play there for free, so if we use it, we need to follow their rules.
Facebook has detailed how they want BUSINESS to be conducted. Do it their way or you'll go away.
I agree with the above comments....diversify....and keep your main value on your own website.
Karen
"Crackberries"
Are you kidding me, what the hell is crackberries? I am not surprised just alarmed that you don't know how to hide your racism. You people are disgusting?
I agree with You Kerry
Great article Jason, really hits home to reality. I agree with you kerry, I use FB the same way as a catch all so to speak, If the powers to be want to turn my FB into a Waste Book, No big deal to me either.
Too true!
Wow! What an eye opener! Thanks for posting!
Interesting
Good to James Stein isn't the only one prepared to speak out against the breaking of TOS on Facebook - despite it being a "popular marketing tool"
Not sure about the disgusting racial slur though.
BlackBerry Phones
Wow, I certainly didn't mean to offend anybody. But over here we all call those little devices known as "Blackberries", "Crackberries" because they are soooo addictive. It's not unusual to hear them called that in the daily news.
My apologies if anybody thought I was referring to anything except an internet enabled device.
To avoid confusion I have changed the reference to the brand name in the article above.
Thank you for your patience.
Just Like Blogger!
Kerry,
I have just read your comments about FB & have to say I wholeheartedly agree with you. I started using FB myself about a year ago, the intention being to build up contacts & share ideas for marketing with other 'like minded' individuals, but as you say its no different from Blogger &, Like you I have a WP Blog, which is far better ( I am no expert at it!!) but I do make posts & like it far better.
I like BN for several reasons, as I am sure we all do, but in light of the FB TOS myself and two business partners have created a letzbsocial a Social Network site which compliments perfectly BN.
Any way I thought I would share those thoughts with you.
Dave
Great Article!
I am just getting into facebook. This is great information to know that this is only one segment to connecting with a warm market. To comply with the rules, I try not to advertise or sell anything but to build a base of friends.
Hoax
I totally agree. its important to learn and progress. We also must understand that marketing is only as good as our ability to connect with our target prospect and build relationships with them, and that can be across many mediums not just social networks.