Why You Should Target Friends Of Fans On Facebook

A recent comScore whitepaper, The Power of Like, revealed a number of interesting data points related to Facebook marketing including the amount of time spent on Facebook sections. (click on image to enlarge) Fast Company's Gregory Ferenstein recently discussed the even more powerful insight that focusing on friends of fans is a relatively unexplored way to spread one's brand.The conclusion: To spread your band or brand on Facebook, don't just target your fans, target their friends.

"The Power of Like" is a free comScore whitepaper designed to help market their Social Essentials service for measuring social marketing efforts. It focuses on reaching and influencing fans and is well worth a look for anyone doing marketing on Facebook or related social networks.

I was drawn into the report via Ferenstein's article, "To Spread Your Brand On Facebook, Don't Target Your Fans-Target Their Friends", which pretty much sums up what I find to be the most interesting takeaway from the comScore report. As ComScore VP of Marketing Solutions, Graham Mudd puts it, "friends of fans represent about the most untapped potential in Facebook marketing."

Of course, you've got to build fans first but to broaden one's reach to their friends, who represent a much larger population, one must "reach friends of fans through [Facebook page] messages that are shareable, and promotions that require voting, checking in, or other interactivity." The idea is to get featured in the main newsfeed in a way that encourages interaction, a topic I previously discussed in relation to EdgeRank, "10 Tips To Get Your Music News & Content Into Facebook's Top News Feed".

In addition to focusing on what's posted to one's wall, it would also be helpful to encourage use of the Like button for one's Facebook page and off-site content.

Though one couldn't call the idea of increasing one's presence in Facebook's newsfeed or encouraging Like button usage anything new, focusing on friends of fans is a solid way to reframe the expansion of one's fanbase on social networks.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. Flux Research is his business writing hub and All World Dance: World Dance News is his primary web project. To suggest websites and related topics for review, please contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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