Brand Engagement: Ooops - the Value of a Facebook Fan is Zero!

"It is a question I hear several times a week:  What is the value of a Facebook Fan?", Augie Ray begins his post.

And I know all the answers. They just depend upon who is giving them:
Agencies want to sell their stuff, so the value must be high. Everybody is doing the facebook game, so it must be right, and have a high value.
Marketers want to sell their works internally, so the value must be high.
Both want to get higher budgets, appreciation and bonuses.

But, says Augie:

"The smart marketer will approach the question of value as if the answer is zero -- there is no intrinsic value to a Facebook fan. This might sound sacrilegious to social media marketers, but think of it this way: What’s the value of an email subscriber if the company never uses the database for anything? And what’s the value of the same email subscriber if the company has a smart, user-focused strategy for email? It is what companies do with fans that creates value, not merely that a brand has fans. "

Too many marketers just mirror into Facebook every activity they pursue outside of Facebook. That does not make sense. Fans want to interact, fans want to be entertained with a difference, informed, 'incorporated'.

Fans want to get to know the real stuff, they want to know the secrets, they want to be near their object of desire. They want to belong to the inner core.

Real fans that is. But most marketers just try to enlarge the fan base by gimmicks, gadgets, rebates, competitions, free samplings. They want to buy fans. They have not understood what happens at Facebook or other social media venues of people. Why people are here - and what the benefit of a real fan might be.

If you have to buy your fans, they are worth nothing. They are just a number. They will have no loyalty. They symbolize high reach, but they do not symbolize high quality. And without quality - why should they have any value at all?