It was reported today that Facebook is sending out window decals with text-to-Like SMS instructions to select local businesses.
Mashable got the tip from B.J. Drums, who works for the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. Drums apparently sent Mashable proof that Facebook is taking their "like" feature seriously via a letter and some of the sticker samples.
This move by Facebook is proof positive that online engagement strategies need offline counterparts.
Social media marketing can't work in a vacuum and in order for the machine to do what it needs to do — engage audiences — it needs to work in tandem with offline counterparts.
In Facebook's strategy, the offline counterpart is a simple direct marketing initiative. The key, however, is that the outreach is personalized and it 100% relevant to the audience, i.e. hi, this is Facebook and we want to help you get more users to like you on our site. Here's how you can do it.
Now, traditionalists will tell you that social media is just a fad. The tech geeks and social media nuts will tell you that direct marketing and other "old school" tactics are just that, old and don't work.
However, if one of the biggest online brands (with a massive share of voice to the tune of 400+ million users) leverages direct marketing to promote their services, don't you think both "old" school and "new" school brands should think seriously about their marketing channel counterparts?
Read more: http://technorati.com/blogging/article/facebook-like-decals-proof-that-online/#ixzz0mLxsBHkr