3 Reasons Direct Marketing Is Better Than "New" Facebook
Yesterday the world shook for many as Facebook announce sweeping changes to their social media platforms. At the same time, Google+ opened the flood gates and enabled anyone to subscribe.
What does all this mean for business marketers?
Facebook and social media have become the buzz words for marketers who hope to be "in the know" when it comes to marketing strategy. Especially with the recent changes to Facebook and the addition of Google + as a social media platform, it's safe to say the social networking worlds are still figuring themselves out. So many grumbles about the "new" Facebook lead most marketers to wonder what the fallout will be.
Direct marketing takes the guess work out of whether or not a recipient will receive your message. The tried and true methods of connecting with your prospects have always delivered results if the message and timing and delivery are appropriate.
There are three reasons to consider direct marketing instead of Facebook for your marketing strategy:
1. Facebook owns your information and the platform. If you were involved with creating a Facebook page when they were first introduced, you may remember that the original pages were created in FBML. One day, the Facebook machine decided that all pages would be in iFrames. POOF. No more FBML pages. It's difficult to justify the expenditure on Facebook pages when the platform could change any time. A smarter approach is to use Facebook to encourage visits to your Website. With direct marketing, you create your program and there is no outside ownership to worry about.
2. Direct marketing can be targeted to a unique customer and personalized. Instead of using tricks to get someone to "like" your facebook page, the tone and message of direct marketing can be geared to the recipient and their needs. By effectively managing the information and analytics of a database, specific subsets of a population can be targeted for message delivery. With a Facebook page, once people like your page, there is no way to message them individually or as subsets.
3. With direct marketing you have complete control. Whether your direct marketing campaign includes a QR code that links to a specific webpage page with a customized offer, or you have a three dimensional mailer, such as a key that has to be brought to a location to unlock an incentive, the control over timing, message and delivery is completely within your control.
While social media can be a tremendous way to supplement your marketing programs, heavy reliance upon platforms such as Facebook opens the door to unexpected change and lack of control. Any time another entity owns your information and delivery program, there may be reasons to beware.
Wilde Agency specializes in creating direct marketing campaigns which harness the psychological triggers that drive consumer behavior.