A Social Media Marketing Trend You Need to NOT Follow

The Trend: Talking the Talk of Facebook Fan and Twitter Follower Value

Simply search for the phrase “Facebook FAN or Twitter Follower value” and you’ll have tens of thousands of results of blog posts, articles, and online discussions that make up the ongoing conversation about the true value of a Facebook Fan or a follower on Twitter. The trend for 2011 is expected to continue the discussion about the “actual” value of a Facebook Fan/Twitter Follower.

While the subject may be engaging and informative for businesses interested in pursuing a Social Media Marketing plan utilizing Facebook, the value of Fans and Followers is completely subjective to each individual client based on their overall marketing goals and the criteria driving their Social Media Marketing plan(SMM). Therefore, calculating a dollar or intrinsic value for each and every person that “Likes” your Facebook Fan page or follows you on Twitter has no real comparable value.

This isn’t to say that individual businesses shouldn’t discern the value that their SMM contracts are bringing to their business. Like any other marketing, there is always a process in place to measure what the efforts in any medium are making for your bottom line, but it’s based more on the intended and specific goals of your marketing plan than keeping up with the Jones’ on Facebook.

It’s no secret that budget constraints decide the options open to any business for their marketing potential. Manpower and time are necessary for researching, writing, and posting blogs or comments on this topic of Fan and Follower, and manpower and time cost businesses money.

The smart money is to focus your resources on honing your social media marketing plan to more effectively reach and engage your target market. The value of each of your individual Fans and Followers is less important than what they continue to learn about your brand through engaging and regular content and networking.