"A survey from online marketing experts Sociable Labs discovered that we are heavily influenced into buying products that our Facebook friends "like" or recommend. It's called 'social proofing', and three-quarters of us have clicked on product links shared or "liked" by friends on the site. After clicking, more than half of us ended up buying the product."Let's not pretend that social proofing is a new concept. It's been around since the beginning of time when Phil the caveman recommended using a club made of oak to Hank the caveman for more effective bashing.
Social proofing exists on our shows every day, too, with live endorsements. Your listeners trust you, so when you tell them you lost 50 pounds by taking a pill (that gave you incredible gas, by the way, but we'll leave that part out), they'll give it a shot. This is radio 101.
Facebook just puts it on a massive scale. The study found that when brands have fan pages...
"every fan offers brand exposure to a further 34 Facebook friends of that fan - a multiplier effect with massive potential."It's mind boggling because, let's face it, it's free advertising, and this is our challenge, right? How many times in the last year have you been asked to promote a product on your radio station's or personality Facebook page? It's getting more frequent for me, because retailers know how important social proofing has become for their survival.
What has been your reaction to the request? I get instantly defensive. I'm so afraid of spamming my fans. I'm afraid they'll recognize the "paid status update" as an advertisement and either report it as spam, or just unfollow me.
I've been told by a sales rep that more and more businesses will only spend money with stations that include product placement on fan pages. This, my friend, is the great debate we've been having around the station -- should we use our fan page to blatantly promote a sponsor?
I say no, unless they fall into these categories:
- It's something I believe in, use, and would recommend to my mom
- I'm there, at the business, and can leave a map marker or photo on my post to prove it
- I've promoted other products I use that have no investment in me or my station
