This is a continuation of my Web A Neur Series – a series to help entrepreneurs leverage the web for their success, and other tips on starting a business.
To me, it doesn’t even matter what your start up venture is.
In fact, to me, it doesn’t even matter if you’r a start up or you’ve been in business for years.
One thing is true in today’s day of the web, and that is Facebook can give your business (products, service, ventures, initiatives, etc…) more exposure, faster, and for less money, than any other marketing tool in the history of business.
I believe that today, one of the most underutilized (which means biggest potential) ways in which Facebook hasn’t been leveraged is through the sharing of products.
Let me give you an example of what I’m talking about:
This is an update I just posted on Facebook of one of my favorite T-Shirts from Holy Ghost Swag. Plus, that’s my friend in the picture!
Exactly what you see above just went out to my 743 friends on Facebook, and those people are now seeing it exactly the way you see it above.
What I love about “product” sharing on Facebook:
1) pictures in Facebook updates get a lot attention – they stand out from the rest of the text updates in people’s news streams.
2) Along with pictures, the title of the product, along with supporting info, is posted – this gives people instant information, in “sales” format, about the product. This means, people get the picture, and the sales title, all in their Facebook news stream.
The power of syndication and “going viral”:
No, I’m not talking about biology here or some sort of disease!
When I say “going viral”, what I mean is that on Facebook, the power of sharing can take your product from being viewed by only a couple of hundred people initially, to potentially tens of thousands of people within just a few hours – and this can happen with only of few people interacting with your Facebook update.
For example, the update you see above was one that I initially posted on my Facebook profile where I have 743 friends.
Now, the average number of friends people have on Facebook is 150.
So let’s say that only two people over the course of the next hour or so re-shares this update.
That would be an additional 300 (2 people with 150 friends each) who would see the product in the news feed just like you see it above.
As you can see, the more people share your Facebook updates, the more exposure you’ll get.
Social games on Facebook, like Farmville, Cityville, and MafiaWars, spend hundreds of millions of dollars in development in finding innovative ways to get people sharing links from the games with their friends on Facebook.
Why would these companies spend that much money in figuring out ways to get people to share links on Facebook?
Because they understand the power of having exposure in people’s news streams. And they understand the syndicating and viral marketing exposure that happens when people are reacting to links being shared.
Basically, getting info (products, links, etc…) into people’s news stream on Facebook is the best way to generate massive exposure, quickly, for your business.
Facebook is a platform that I’m quite fascinated with and I write a lot about ways that businesses can leverage Facebook.
You can read more of Facebook strategies and tips at my Facebook Tips tab on my Facebook page.