Facebook's Start to Success Program gives small businesses an opportunity to work directly with an account manager from Facebook on their Facebook marketing. However, there's a catch. Businesses have to spend at least $50 per day, or approximately $1,400 every four weeks, on Facebook advertising. Is it a budget-buster, the opportunity of a lifetime, or maybe it's comfortably situated between the two? Small business owners will have to decide.
What Local Marketing Experts Think
The idea of a dedicated account manager from Facebook for Facebook advertising makes sense for the objective: advertising on Facebook. Logically, Facebook wants the program to be a success and having an insider available to guide users through the process means happier customers. Facebook can drive revenue from small businesses, and small businesses can drive revenue from Facebook advertising. It can be a nice win-win, when users think of it as an activity within a larger matrix of marketing efforts.
Social Media Marketing For Startups
The new Start to Success program could open more opportunities for startups that need to get started on the right foot. Instead of stumbling through social media marketing guides, Facebook could directly help startups experience successful social media marketing from day one. There are numerous ways to approach the new service offered by Facebook. Its not an all or nothing deal.
Is The $1.4K Per Month Price Tag Worth It?
It is difficult to assign a dollar amount to social media marketing campaigns without dedicating equal resources to optimizing your use of it. Consider the following:
- How much could a poor posting strategy damage an emerging brands reputation?
- How many dollars in revenue were lost after assigning Facebook advertising duties to an intern who has only used Facebook for personal use?
- How many man hours spent figuring out Facebook advertising could have been spent closing deals and boosting sales?
Similarly, it is difficult to figure out how effective Facebook's Start to Success program will be for real business owners in terms of ROI.
In the end, are the goals of making money for your company and Facebook aligned? Do the best price points come with a third party account manager or one from Facebook?
Do It Yourself
- A Marketer's Guide to Facebook Marketing for 2014 (Craig Robinson)
- Seasonality on Facebook (with Kevin Spidel, Voice Media Group)
- How to Plan an Awesome Paid Social Media Campaign on Facebook (Daniel Kosir)