Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Social Tuesday - Why does everyone use the Facebook 750Mil user number?

This is the biggest load of horse shit ever. They never say how many people you can reach today on Facebook. They say there is 750mil users. Well considering in the US the average user logs in 23 times a month. And of course many people log in more than once. So there are many heavy users. And many more casual users. You can't reach casual users. There are maybe 25 million active US users on Facebook today doing something. 1 in 10 US Consumers.

SO YOU CAN"T REACH 750 MILLION PEOPLE ON FACEBOOK! 
or 200 MILLION ON THE TWITTER!

What is your business? Unless you are a media company most of the users are never ever going to be customers. If you are a small business, say a restaurant in Albany, NY or Des Moines, IA what does 750 million users mean to you? It means less than Diddly Squat!

As a small business, the type of business will determine the radius for potential customers. And the number of Facebook users in that radius is all that matters. And guess what? That data DOES NOT EXIST! Well I bet Facebook will give you some data if you want to buy Facebook Ads. But they will not give you that data if your strategy is a Brand Page. How do you know how many people you can possibly connect with on Facebook that can be customers? For MOST Businesses your street sign and store front will always out perform anything you do on Facebook. ALWAYS!

If I see another presentation or media material from a Social Media Agency, Guru, Mashable, etc saying 'With 750 Million Users.....' I am going postal and showing up at their offices and throwing dog poop on their desk because that is what they are dog poop for lying. Because I hear small business owners throwing these numbers around casually like they actually mean something to them.

Do you ship to Pakistan? Mongolia? No? Then why do you want to reach those users in those countries? And the only way you can reach people on Facebook really is with Facebook ads which are more expensive and perform 50% less successfully than traditional digital ads. And guess what? The average Facebook user spends only 31 minutes a day on the site. Down from 55 mins in April 2010. Why is that important? A digital ad network can reach people online during the 87.5% of their 4 hours online or on Mobile. While Facebook can only reach people on Facebook.

Think about it!

BTW Dear Bob Hoffman the Ad Contrarian. I am sorry. I can not believe I just supported Digital Advertising but over Facebook and Facebook Ads....it kicks ass!

4 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot for sharing this one to us.

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  2. Thanks for coming by. Just trying to help businesses focus on what the important aspect of marketing is, which is what affects their business vs what the Social Media folks keep touting.

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  3. Hey Howie,
    That's why I only stick to the 25mil on G+ :)

    Just kidding, you are right and the other topic is also that perhaps looking at how many people visit people my blog matters a lot more to me. Going through my analytics and finding out which pages they are interested and which ones they spend time on.
    I prefer to have 2 visitors who are very interested and fill in a contact form, rather than 100mil who ignore me.

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  4. This is so true ... you need to be where your customers are. It reminds me of the fabricated figures publications in the UAE would make to push you to advertise with them.

    I remember catching one magazine out when they said they had a circulation of over 5million - that was 1 million MORE that the ENTIRE population!

    Be where your niche is. Talk to them in the way they respond.

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