Lead with your face...book

Ok, I'll admit that I don't watch much TV anymore. Or read very many magazines. I can get all that stuff "in the cloud", and much more than I'll ever need in multiple lifetimes.

However, when I do watch television, I pay special attention to the ads. Why? Ads can be more shocking, more funny, and more interesting than even the program that I originally sat down to watch. Ads also leave you with a calling card, a place that you can go after the 30 second mini drama to get more information.

I was surprised to find that many of the retail and consumer goods companies that are advertising on TV are leading their digital marketing efforts with their facebook pages. That is to say, the first place these TV ads send you, if you want more information, is directly to their facebook page. Not their own corporate web site. A perfect example of this is Jeremiah Weed, an alcohol company that places provocative, mysterious images before you in their TV ads, before sending you off to their facebook page, where you can hopefully get a sense about what's going on in the big picture. The facebook page for Jeremiah Weed is here http://www.facebook.com/JeremiahWeed

So why lead with social media? Do social media sites really give you enough time and space to tell your story the way a corporate website does?

Technically, facebook is a quick and easy publishing platform. There's no doubt about this. Setting up and maintaining a facebook page takes no time compared to developing and maintaining your own website. But even more important than this, facebook, and all social media, allow users to interact with content, and in doing so, push that content to other users who exist within their network. So, if you as a facebook user like a particular facebook page, then your entire network sees this. You then provide them the opportunity to like that facebook page as well. Suddenly, the company's page that all your friends just saw got a bunch of new eyeballs, or impressions, without the company having to pay a single dime. Unlike advertising. And because your friends might tend to listen to you, that company page that you just liked, is more legitimate in the eyes of your social group.

Business owners should see the lead generating potential of social media. Yet, content is king. As a business who has a facebook page, or might be thinking of starting one, it's important to give your potential fan base something to look at, some thing to interact with, some information that is relevant and useful. Here are some of my favorite customized facebook pages, there are of course, many out there. Jeremiah Weed, Blockbuster Express, TigerDirect, Denny's, Big 5 Sporting Goods.

I like these pages because they each provide opportunities to their visitors and fanbases to interact more with the company. Jeremiah Weed is the most fun on the scale, and Big 5, although not so exciting, provides you with the opportunity to get a coupon to save some money by signing up right on the page. Business owners will appreciate the lead-generating capabilities of these facebook pages.

Check out the CoScient facebook page. Like us and sign up to get your own interactive, custom designed facebook page.