How much are your fans worth?

July 14, 2010 - Yesterday we blogged about stacking the social media deck with purchased fans for your Facebook page and Twitter account. Today it's time to reveal why some less-savvy marketing companies encourage such practices.

Marketing analysts love to try and place a dollar amount or value on everything. This is how they justify selling advertising packages, creating budget plans, and determining where to spend your marketing dollars.

The truth is, a fan or follower is only worth as much to you as their interaction with your social media profile or blog and support of your business. There are 4 major flaws in trying to valuate a fan:

Assumptions - Many of the methodologies marketers are trying to establish for valuating fans assume that all fans are the same no matter what they are a fan of. Fans that are active on the social media profiles for high-profile brands like Taco Bell or Nike are drastically different from the fans of smaller, niche businesses like your law firm.

Equality - A page may have thousands of fans, but for every thousand fans, how many really interact with the page? Just because a person becomes a fan of something doesn't mean they're a guru of knowledge or support about that topic/brand/company.

Acquisition - Many fans join pages simply for a freebie offer and never do anything with the page again. Others, the fans that are technically "worth something" to the page, come to the page organically because they really ARE fans of that product or brand and want to keep up on the latest news.

Cause and Effect - Do fans spend more because they are fans and see Facebook news/promotions that encourage them to go buy, or do consumers buy first and become fans later? If the former is true, Facebook profiles do generate new sales, but if it's the latter, it's just riding the coattails of existing customer loyalty.

All in all, trying to place a value on your fans is a waste of your time and effort, which is better spent concentrating on your business and other Internet marketing strategies.

The best way to support a healthy fan base is to provide your fans with a constant stream of relevant, custom content that focuses on their needs and interests. We Do Web Content offers a variety of content packages designed to suit your needs. Whether you've got a brand new website that's in need of initial content, or if your old website could use some new material, we can develop a content strategy that's right for you.

For affordable, quality content exclusive to YOUR website, blog and clients, contact us today!  1-888-521-3880