At first, the price of shares in the company went up. Then, they went down. Then, they went up, again. And then, a few lawsuits were thrown into the mix, as well. As Forbes' writer Steve Schaefer sums it up in his excellent recap, Facebook's first week as a publicly-traded company was "anything but quiet."
But hidden in all this turmoil, is there a teaching moment for marketers? What can we learn from the ups and downs surrounding the Facebook IPO?
My take is this: The perception of value is the key driver of Facebook's IPO seesaw. While new brands like Facebook are widely recognized as fundamental components of today's digital economy, the market is still deciding how to quantify the value of connections vs. revenue.
With 901 million users worldwide, there's no question that Facebook can make connections. But, what marketers (and all of Wall Street) want to know is this: What are those connections worth? What is the business value of social media engagement?
Forrester analyst Nigel Fenwick took a crack at answering those questions, and he concluded that for companies using social media marketing "the true potential lies in the ability to collect insights about the people who like brands, products or services - be it your own or someone else's."
I couldn't agree more. As I've mentioned before, all online marketing channels could benefit from increased optimization.
Both B2B and B2C marketers need to start using big data to drive more targeted and effective campaigns, but unfortunately, few are taking advantage of all today's technology has to offer. The real value from social media networks isn't from click-throughs on banner ads. The real value from social media networks will come when marketers put systems in place for data collection, automated analysis and targeted distribution -each of which increasingly depends on IT expertise, particularly as campaigns become more and more centered on customer insight and real-time analytics.
It all comes down to pulling the braid tighter, remember? The omnichannel revolution is upon us, and now that customers increasingly interact with brands across multiple channels, insights from big data analytics and Integrated Marketing Management (IMM) solutions will help marketers interpret results, act in real-time and demonstrate ROI, showing the value of their efforts.
Right now, though, most companies are only starting down that road . . . and so the potential of social (and mobile) channels remains mostly unrealized.
What will happen to the value of social media platforms once marketers start tapping into all that potential? I'm no Wall Street analyst, so I won't venture a guess. But I can say this: For CMOs like me, the prospect of using social media to enhance the customer experience is exhilarating, and I'm looking forward to seeing how digital marketing technology will continue to create opportunities for brands to engage with consumers across a wide range of both off- and online channels.