Is Facebook Too User Experience Focused?
UE Matters
Facebook seems to put more emphasis on its members than it does on those who allow for the site to even exist in the first place – the advertisers.
Facebook just doesn’t pay nearly as much attention to marketing as it does to user experience.
After reading these two statements today from a “marketing guru” about Facebook, I have to ask once again, “Seriously?”.
Advertisers do not pay the bills nor do they allow Facebook to exist.
Their dollars follow customers. Their customers provide content for the likes of Facebook. This user generated content and its existence is what draws others.
Without a solid user experience, users can go elsewhere along with their content. There are many options available these days, in fact.
Facebook, like any proper growth company, understands that UE (User Experience) matters. Ok, maybe they have made some mistakes when it comes to UE, but anyone who gripes about the woes of marketing due to a company’s emphasis on user experience is just living a paint by number mentality.
It sounds good to say that marketing pays the bills. The checks are only written though because shareholders want results and expect a brand to be social. Being anti-social just doesn’t work well for the business model these days.
A business that understands how to be social will outweigh a business that is anti-social. I write from experience.
Advertisers do not pay the bill. Shareholders do .. users do.
Yes, creative marketing extends beyond a paint by number approach. Never confine an artist to color within the lines. Real genius tests the boundaries and paves the way.
Marketing has changed. The approaches and thinking toward marketing no longer fit within yesterday’s 1 is blue, 2 is green, 3 is purple rationale.
A productive marketing strategy revolves around this core fact :
Without users, there would be no Facebook.
There are some who say that users are the product. Well, many users are also the investors. Many recommend products and services to their friends. Users are where the check writing process begins. They are a company’s most valuable asset.
Also, without shareholders, there would be no one to provide the dollars behind those checks. Without users, why would anyone write a check anyways?
So lets not say that paint by number marketing is what allows Facebook to exist.
#UEmatters - It’s time for marketing folks to broaden their painting skills.
