• by Joe Marchese , May 11, 2010

As marketers continue to search for the best path to engage with consumers in social media, there will be wrong turns taken. Various tactics will be tested to achieve any number of metrics. What marketers need to remember is that their tactics matter as much, if not more, than the metrics. Because even the right metrics can be bastardized if the tactics used to achieve them are wrong.

Over the past couple of months, the marketing world has become obsessed with fan counts -- in part because fan connections CAN be valuable for a brand, but because a fan count is something that can be measured. But to paraphrase Albert Einstein, not all things that can be measured matter. The tactics used by marketers to grow their fan base matter, but it's not as easy to measure. So marketers have focused on lowering cost-per-fan.

 I have said it before, and I will say it again: The Internet industry is full of very smart people who will deliver whatever the people with money (aka marketers) demand. If the people with money demand the lowest cost-per-fan, with no regard for how the fans are acquired, innovative and creative companies will line up to supply fans at any cost. However, what happens then is that the very value of the metric begins to erode, since tactics that achieve fans at the lowest cost, and tactics that are good marketing, are not always the same thing. Worse still, it creates a poor consumer experience and can compromise the very platform that Facebook has looked to create for marketers.

So Facebook has been forced to change the rules to restrict marketers from acquiring fans using certain tactics. It's sad that Facebook has to regulate something that the marketing community should have realized is actually in its best interest to stop. But it's a bit of a prisoner's dilemma for marketers: If their competitors are using particular tactics to build their fan count, but they try to take the high road, it's their job is at risk. I know this firsthand from work my company had done for its brand clients. If our network couldn't deliver fans at a cost way below a natural state, then business would be taken from us and given to a competitor.

With Facebook's new regulation of tactics to acquire fans (or "likes"), we feel pretty confident that this will stop. As a matter of fact, I will say this: If a partner is willing to absolutely guarantee you something on a cost-per-fan basis, be very careful that they are not violating Facebook's new TOS. 

All of this said, fan acquisition is one very good measure of engagement with your consumers in social media, but there is a right way to do it. Fans should be one result of a good marketing effort, not the single focus. From what I have seen, here is the right progression Engage consumers in an interactive brand experience; explain why they might like to become a fan; let people make their own choice about becoming a fan. This will generate quality connections to consumers with whom a brand and/or a particular marketing message resonates. People choosing to "like" a brand should be a function of how the brand engages them. People want to know what it will mean to "like" your brand and form a connection.

The upside of Facebook's new regulation is that marketers can get back to the real art of marketing, rather than mechanically focusing on one metric. A good marketing effort will impact people's perception of a brand (brand lift); get people to talk to their friends about the campaign (shares);  generate fans (likes); and in the end, drive sales ($). Marketers should be demanding all of these results, instead of focusing myopically on one metric at the expense of building great campaigns -- and now Facebook is forcing them to do so.

If Facebook's new policy on fan acquisition had a "like" button, I'd click it. How about you? Post your thoughts in the comments or drop me a line on Twitter at www.twitter.com/joemarchese

This post in 140 characters or less: Facebook To Marketers: You Can't Buy Love! Facebook forcing marketers to get back to marketing by @joemarchese http://bit.ly/5PPZbV