Nick: The ship has sailed

I just want to point out that I am not arguing that companies should not use facebook to market themselves. The point I am asking is how useful is it and what are the returns on investment?

There has been this feeling around the industry that facebook is an elixir that will provide a miracle cure to the marketing problem. I want to take this to task. I do not think this is true. I am happy for companies to adopt Facebook as one part of their IMC mix but I cannot see that Facebook is going to provide most companies with a great ROI and until I do I will remain sceptical. As far as I am concerned you still need a campaign (media or viral) in order to drive people to the facebook page just like you do a product website or a campaign microsite. How is it different? People can blog about companies and have their say on a thousand different websites and companies can set up blogs for feedback on their own sites if they are desperate to and I get emails from companies that I choose to be on the mailing list for all the time. Why is it any better through Facebook?

Chantelle the large numbers you mention and the constant growth proves the problem. Facebook is already saturated. There are 1.5 million companies on Facebook. Would you like 1.5 million companies bugging you to be their friend? Of course not. How do they cut through to you? How do they identify if you are a customer and how do they get to you with appropriate messages if you are? These are exactly the same questions marketers ask in any other medium.

I want to know how facebook is different to or better than any other web-based medium that provides information? I am not saying don't use it I just don't understand how it is a better way to approach customers and potential customers than any other current method?