We’re aware that social networks are essentially digital places for people to find and engage other like minded people. We’re also aware that communities usually formed on these networks or physical contact tend to get segmented further based on topics or causes of interests . For e.g. Facebook or Linkedin groups. So far so good.
Here’s the thing. People who frequent social networks are trying to do “social” things in there. So, for a business to market its products and make its brand prominent on a social network, it needs to have very strong relevance or context so as not to adversely affect the brand’s image, stature and standing. Today, many businesses are extending their marketing efforts on social networks with Facebook being the one of the first platforms that they venture into. And, rightly so. According to this article from MSN, Facebook now has a global user base of 200 million. While this blog attemps to understand consumer behavior, a presentation by M&C Saatchi made me wonder about analyzing business behavior and so, without further ado, here are four types of businesses that are trying to make a play on Facebook.
1. The Confused business : This is a business that knows that it has to be present on social networks but has no idea on how to use it. Walmart’s here – but why? See their Wall comments. A page like this is an automatic beacon for every anti-Walmart activist.
Sure, they have 11,000 fans but that’s nothing compared to the millions of members that Facebook has. So, Walmart, gets the “confused business” on Facebook prize of the day.
Another business that has absolutely no idea of what its doing on Facebook is Travelers. 
With multiple groups and pages on Facebook and a few hundreds of fans (most of them company employees, one suspects), and no user generated content, this exercise was futile before it even took off.
2. The Hopeful business: This business is optimistic. They don’t know what to do and whether their presence on Facebook will change things but they’re as hopeful as hell. 
I don’t quite understand what Victorinox is trying to prove here but hey, at least they have 1550 fans.
3. The Experimenting business : This business knows about social networks and their relevance, they know that they have to be involved and want to experiment with them to understand them better. Typically, these businesses tweak their online strategies based on their experimentation and either stay on the social network if all works well or get the heck out of dodge, if it does not. 
So far, Aveda’s Facebook page has worked for them, there’s a lot of positive feedback with users asking for details on how they can purchase their products and this is working well for them. Now, all they have to do is build up this user base by ensuring that there’s good feedback, keep them appraised on promotions in stores and keep the page interesting by running polls about existing o r new products or even solicit product ideas.
4. The insightful & participatory business : This type of business knows that their customers participate on social networks and by a combination of good market research and a strong understanding of customer behavior , know how to interact with their customer base. These businesses have a social media strategy and combine their participation in social networks with an overall Internet marketing strategy where all elements of the marketing mix combine to achieve the overall online marketing goals of the business. See how Whole Foods are able to solicit interest with their wall posts (note the comments and thumbs up votes)
The takeaways from this brief overview of businesses on Facebook are :
1. Relevance : Make bloody sure that you know what you’re doing. Don’t just jump in because everyone else is. Understand the nature of the social medium and how you can strategically use the same to achieve your business objectives.
2. Community : Understand your potential audience on a social network and understand your customer base. Do they more or less have similar characteristics, if so go ahead, If not, reevaluate your position.
3. Involvement : Get involved in the right way. Don’t just prop up a Facebook group or page with a snazzy ad and hope that that folks will flock to your business. The nature of social networks involve the engagement of the communities within and enabling them to be brand spokespersons on your behalf.
4. Measure : Measure the success of this initiative by having some stated goals at the start of the exercise and evaluating the progress of the same at the end. It’s that easy.
