Why Facebook is the new Yellow Pages

I can hear the chatter now.

“Looks like Reardon’s really lost the plot this time: Now he’s confusing Facebook with Google. He’s trying to tell us that consumers look for suppliers on Facebook…”

I’m pleased to tell you that not only am I writing this in a state of complete sobriety, but also in as fine a mental condition as you could expect for someone of my age and genetic disposition.

But Facebook is a social network, not a business directory, you say.

That’s absolutely true, but as you read this millions of consumers are indeed turning to Facebook to ‘find’ a supplier.

No, not in the more traditional way of looking up a category of business for suppliers, but by simply asking their Facebook Friends for recommendations on everything from locksmiths to locket retailers.

Like phoning 100 friends

Just as they do in ordinary conversation, Facebook users are putting their needs ‘out there’ in the hope of getting a good referral.

Of course there is nothing new about asking your friends for recommendations of suppliers. That’s been happening since we evolved from the apes.

But what is new is the ability to ask so many friends and connections simultaneously. Because social networking has now made many of us into broadcasters, our request for supplier recommendations are now going out to what might amount to thousands of people.

Calls for suppliers in real time

To put my theory to the test, I just visited my personal Facebook page to see if anyone was asking for supplier recommendations.

Sure enough, just three hours earlier, a Friend was asking for good gas heating tradies in her location. It’s the sort of call for suppliers that is becoming commonplace on all the social networks, both personal and professional.

But it doesn’t end there.

Facebook not only goes to work when you need a supplier, it goes one better.

It allows providers to offer or suggest their products prior to consumers’ cognisance of the need (or want) for the product at all.

From search to suggest

That’s right, like all good advertising, it stimulates the need for the product/service before you realise you need it.

Marketing graduates would tell you that this capability is working on the ‘attention’ aspect of the ‘attention, interest, desire, action’ behaviour consumers demonstrate in purchasing a product or service.

And that’s a stimulus Yellow Pages and its ilk have never been able to create – their technology (printed and now online directories) has never been capable of it.

Sure enough, in examining my current Facebook feed, probably one in five posts is discussing/suggesting/recommending an event, product or service.

So how can businesses tap into this new stream of gold?

There are two key ways.

1. Delight your customer: The first is by providing products and services so sublime that anyone who encounters them doesn’t hesitate to recommend it to others, either when prompted or, better still, unsolicited.

Yes, there are now far fewer places to hide if you offer poor service. Conversely, the audience who hears positive word of mouth is both much larger and more quickly informed.

2. Engage in the conversation: The second is to embrace social networking yourself, so that you can put yourself in the position of the ‘suggester’, in so doing beating your competitors to the punch.
In other words, grow your Friends and Likes and let them know about the new releases, new product developments and other goings-on in your business on a regular basis.

But as pointed out here before, that’s not necessarily easy for all smaller business operators.

Whilst they might quite happily comment and interact as an individual, representing your business in this way is a new and often scary activity. And it takes time to learn and master, when time can be increasingly hard to find.

What is certain is that hopes that this social networking thing will quietly slip away and leave us alone are looking less and less likely.

In addition to being a leading eBusiness educator to the small business sector, Craig Reardon is the founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team, which was established to address the special website and web marketing needs of SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.