Charlene Li of Forrester Research has recently posted an excellent presentation on Slideshare entitled “Big Brands & Facebook: Demographics, Case Studies & Best Practices”
The demographic information is excellent (it’s particularly interesting to see that 45 percent of users are over age 35), but I think Charlene’s main point (from slide 3) is the key: “Facebook marketing requires communicating, not advertising.”
I think that’s exactly right. If businesses see Facebook as just another outlet for their advertising, they’re likely to do themselves hardly any good, and actually may harm themselves. What’s worse, they’ll miss the tremendous opportunity for building community that is available in Facebook.
Facebook isn’t just a place to get more “eyeballs” for your messages; it’s a chance to interact with the persons behind the eyeballs, and hear their messages, too.
For anyone in a large company interested in seeing how Facebook might present opportunities, Charlene’s presentation is a primo primer.
Technorati: Facebook, Forrester, Charlene Li, Social Networking, marketing, advertising, Slideshare
