Are “Fans” the end result?

August 28th, 2009 by Kellie Fronk

Why is accumulating a large quantity of fans so important to those with Facebook fan pages? I recently read an article by Joe Marchese, president of socialvibe, that tried to explain and understand the importance of Facebook fan pages in relation to a company’s success.

Marchese explains that, “Fans, by definition, have raised their hand to indicate some sort of affiliation to a brand. The intent of that affiliation can vary widely, depending on the individual. Perhaps the ‘fan’ simply wanted to tell her friends about a brand she liked, one time. Perhaps the ‘fan’ wanted to get the coupon offered by a brand for becoming a fan. Or perhaps, and this is the one the brands want to hear, the ‘fan’ wants to hear from and talk to the brand going forward.”

The question he asks, and I agree with, is why are brands looking at their fans, or followers as the end goal for their social media marketing efforts? Yes it’s great to have a large following on social networking sites, but as a marketer your job is not done just by securing this “fan” base. In most cases, these are people who already associate with you, or like your product. The people that need more persuasion are those who have not yet opted to “follow” you. These are the people who you need to convince the most.

— Kellie Fronk

This entry was posted by Kellie Fronk on Friday, August 28th, 2009 and is filed under Social Media, Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.