With over 900 million users – and rapidly approaching the 1 billion mark – Facebook is the prime destination for business to customer (B2C) social media engagement. With the largest population of potential customers in one place, cloud service providers can use Facebook to simply and easily engage with a diverse range of customer and/or client segments instantaneously. While this is great news for just about every cloud computing service provider, there is also the reality that there are massive amounts of cloud computing companies trying to engage with customers on Facebook.
Engaging Customers on Facebook
This is where many cloud service providers go wrong. Some simply believe that merely blasting out Facebook messages about their company will attract followers. While a large number of Facebook “likes” looks good on paper, it’s more important that a cloud company attracts the right users.
In the case of the cloud computing industry, ideal Facebook fans will include IT professionals, tech business entrepreneurs, as well as Web developers, tech journalists and engineers – basically anyone that can be turned into an influencer. Influencers are people that are knowledgeable about your product or industry, and eagerly rave about your services to friends and colleagues throughout Facebook.
One great example of this is from the infrastructure-as-a-service provider, Rackspace. Widely known for their fanatical customer service, they not only go out of their way for their customers, but their social outreach campaigns are effective because they know their customer segment so well. On regular basis they submit questions on Facebook on topics ranging from cloud computing trends to specific questions on Rackspace services. This allows them to create relevant and compelling content – blogs, video, and company/industry news – on a regular basis.
Three Elements of Social Media
- Outreach Campaigns – Launching an effective outreach campaign is a critical component of any social engagement strategy. These are often made up of a hybrid approach including advertising, public relations and social media. Facebook isn’t necessarily the silver bullet, but it is a significant piece of any cloud company’s outreach strategy. With Facebook advertising companies have a pool of hundreds of millions of potential followers. Through the Facebook advertising portal companies can get real specific about the types of customers they reach out to.
- Content – As with any form of Web marketing content is king on Facebook. The key to really engaging customers on Facebook is providing relevant content on a consistent basis. This basically means providing stories and posts that your customers will actually read, and do it on a regular basis. This can be something as simple as sharing a blog post, or as complex as launching a Facebook-based Web video series. Either way, the point is to use Facebook as a content generation platform for your customers to participate in with you.
- Connections – A Facebook campaign is only as strong as your most loyal followers. As mentioned earlier, the best way to measure success is through creating a community of influencers. Some of the best influencers for the cloud computing industry often happen to be tech bloggers. Popular tech bloggers have massive amounts of loyal followers eagerly awaiting their plug for the latest and greatest tech. If you get a popular tech blogger on your side, they can establish your cloud service as the latest and greatest in tech.
It’s important to remember that while Facebook is an important aspect of your social media outreach strategy; it doesn’t work the same for everyone. Each cloud computing company has very specific needs, which translates to very specific customers. But with the crowded space that is the cloud computing industry, the thing that sets you apart is the thing that will help you influence the massive Facebook community.
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Hi
Awesome post. It is very interesting information. Thanks for sharing.
I agree with you strongly. Great Article – thanks for sharing!
Those 3 elements in social media is important and i don’t want to miss. Facebook is getting great even more.
Thank you for this wonderful and beautiful Article added.Please keep on blogging. Really good keep it up.
Yes – I do agree. Push marketing is not the preferred type of marketing that should be applied when on Facebook. Rather use Pull marketing – and the key to a successful marketing campaign is targeted engagement. It doesn’t help to blast the community with interests that is not of their own.
Hi Anton, i am agree with about the matter..Thanks
Facebook is a great network, but I’m quite skeptical when speaking about its marketing potential. It may work for some companies, but no sooner than the last week GM announced that it will stop promoting its products on Facebook, due to very poor results. Therefore, it is better to use Facebook as a complementary tool, as you have also pointed out.
Hi Jack,
I totally agree with your point. It’s quite obvious that Facebook works for some products but not all. It may be due to the reason that marketing of some products demands more than casual interaction with the followers. But, most of the times, due to the nature of product, marketers have to go with a more formal and professional way of interaction, which makes it more boring and people looses interest.
I haven’t known before that there’s an opportunity to facebook via cloud. Thanks for sharing the interesting information, I think I should give this one a try!
Yes, the Facebook or MySpace is an excellent system, but I’m quite not sure when mentioning its marketing prospective. It may perform for some organizations, but no before the other day GM declared that it will quit marketing its products on Facebook or MySpace due to very inadequate outcomes. Therefore, it is better to use Facebook or MySpace as a unique system, as you have also described….Thanks for sharing me..
Genius article i like this article too much face booking through the cloud we can talk outside country friends through Facebook :) Facebook is present god for all peoples
This is such a great idea ! I wish you luck on your new project!
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Awesome post. I agree with u.It is very interesting information. Thanks for sharing.
I think marketing on Facebook is a great for some businesses. I “like” certain business pages on Facebook, but it seems like B2B businesses have a harder time utilizing Facebook. I do not use Facebook to market because my company’s target market use other social media sites. Marketing success on Facebook all depends on the company.
Thanks for sharing the valuable information.
I think marketing on Facebook is a great for some businesses. I “like” certain business pages on Facebook, but it seems like B2B businesses have a harder time utilizing Facebook………….
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