If Facebook can’t get a handle on social media business, what can we do?
Look, I really hate to seem like a stick in the mud. I really do. But I guess sometimes I can’t help it. And I guess that’s my image on social media. Unlike a lot of other sales consultants, I’m not in love with social media as a prospect generation tool, particularly for B2B applications. There are a lot of reasons why, but I think my viewpoint has just been reinforced.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks (cue the Geico commercial), you’ve heard about the Facebook IPO fiasco. Perhaps the most hyped IPO in years hit with a big thud – early investors that bought at the $38 per share IPO price took a loss. They’re still losing, too; the stock dropped another 2.25% today to close at $28.19 per share. Everyone is running wild blaming Morgan Stanley, Wall Street in general, the media, Facebook, and perhaps even Justin Timberlake. But there’s a more fundamental problem that tells us a lot about social media’s role in our businesses.
That fundamental problem was discovered by General Motors, who withdrew a $10 million per year advertising program the week before the IPO, saying that it “had not generated results.” Frankly, this is what I hear from the majority of people who participate heavily in social media; they are unable to trace significant results to their efforts.
Ultimately, the Facebook IPO crashed because even Facebook hasn’t figured out how to make money on Facebook. GM’s decision meant the removal of a significant revenue stream; it was one of their top customers if not their top customer overall. And if Facebook can’t make money on Facebook, do the rest of us stand a chance? Maybe…and maybe not. For those of us who would like to use social media platforms like Facebook as well as Twitter and LinkedIn to generate new prospects, there are some potentially big issues.
The biggest issue for those of us in B2B selling is that the people to whom we need to sell, and the biggest consumers of social media, are often not the same people. Virtually every sales trainer will tell you that your role is to sell to the decision maker. Typically that’s the person in the corner office. But how many corner-office occupants are watching Facebook or Twitter to select their vendors? If you’re having a hard time imagining that, so am I.
Compounding this is the fact that social media is a proactive-opt-in platform; i.e. prospects need to make a conscious decision to follow, friend, link, or like you. To do so, they must become aware of you. How do you target your social media efforts to reach the right people? Outside of LinkedIn, there’s no platform that allows for this.
Further, there may be a deeper problem with using social media for business. Social media is inherentlysocial; meaning that most people use it for personal enjoyment and developing their social relationships. There are some analysts – it was referred to in the GM announcement – that suggest that social media consumers actively reject commercial messages in their Facebook or Twitter feeds.
Here’s the truth: I’m aware of a lot of people who claim to be able to tell you how to make money on social media. However, I don’t know of any business owner who claims to make good money from social media – other than the people teaching it. Even Jeffrey Gitomer began 2011 saying that he was going to figure out how to monetize social media, and tell his readers. He opened 2012 saying that he had retained a consultant to help him figure out how to monetize social media.
I’m not saying not to use social media – I’m saying, as I’ve said for two years, that if you want to be successful, don’t replace your conventional prospecting methods yet. That’s a path to failure. Instead, use social media as an augmentation and an image-builder.
And let’s see if Facebook figures out the business side of social media, shall we?
