BI Revolution

The Facebook ROI Mystery
This post combines several recent infographics one from my friend Bill Ross  @LinchpinSEO and another from @JeffBullas to ask a simple yet complex question. Does Facebook make money. 

I hate answering questions in the negative, but I can't see other way to answer this one. I called on a piece I wrote over a year ago - Social Media Marketing The Most Important ROI ( http://www.atlanticbt.com/blog/social-media-marketing-the-most-valuable-roi/) to answer in the negative. 

What if you DON'T create ROI losing social media marketing? The answer to that question is PAIN and then more PAIN. Even if you've failed 100 times my advice is to fail 100 more times, and to reframe your #SMM discussion. 

Ways to Reframe Your SMM ROI Thinking

• Don't require same ROI from Social as from everything else (go easier).
• Don't spend less than 10% of your marketing budget on social media.
• Be generous with conversion funnel attribution (very generous). 
• Don't look for Stimulus - Response curves in social. 
• Invest in social for our FUTURE even if you FAIL now. 
• Failing just means you need to test more. 
• Contests and Games, Games and Contests

Facebook and Social Media Marketing may be a mystery wrapped in an enigma, but stay the course. Keep at it even if it means failiing miserably 100 more times :). 

Why Facebook Sucks For Internet Marketers
* The minute you figure something out they eliminate or change it.
* They HATE marketers and think we are all spammers.

* There is no "mutual benefit" since minute you figure something that works out they take it away. 
* Facebook is always about the PROMISE of ROI never actual ROI!

I was excited and ready to give Facebook another chance. I'm reading Gary Vanderchuk's Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook and he makes a compelling case for Facebook Sponsored stories. Put the book down and am about to tweet how interesting sponsored stories sounds and I get a Mashable alert that sponsored stories will be eliminated on April 9. 

Boy have I been to this rodeo before. As a Director of Ecommerce we spent thousands trying to solve the riddle that is Facebook marketing (we never did preferring to give up instead). Why any IMer would spend time and energy on a platform that clearly HATES US is a strange mystery. 

They hate us because we are spammers, stupid or don't get how to be "native' on their platform. The only reason Facebook gets any time or budget is the promise of a billion connected users with an amazing BI overlay. Problem is if the minute you finally find something that works they eliminate then Facebook wins again and we marketers are stupid indeed. 

As I point out in this post on GPlus, we are doing our bit. We want to tell great stories, we want to learn how to tell great stories on Facebook and other social platforms. Marketers ARE NOT THE ENEMEY, so please stop treating us as if we are or shame on us for continuing to fund such bad treatment. 

With the growth of "niche, targeted and closed" social nets most are prediciting for 2014 maybe we will have new ways so share our stories, new ways to learn from our customers and Facebook can do what it does best - let you share pictures of your children with your parents.