Who Do You Trust More, Google or Your Friends?

You wake up with a horrible toothache. You need a good dentist right away. What do you do?

A. Google dentists in your area
B. Ask your friends for a recommendation

For most of us, the answer will be B. Most people will give more credence to a friend's opinion or recommendation, so it’s therefore a simple jump in logic to conclude that Facebook inquiries and recommendations are more valuable than a Google sponsored ad or organic hit. The former results are from your social network, from people you know and trust. The latter results are more arbitrary and less reliable.

This simple concept spurred word-of-mouth guru Dave Kerpen to rename his business Likeable Media and to focus his company's efforts on helping businesses be "liked" on Facebook and to use Facebook and other social media as an effective marketing tool. In his new book entitled Likeable Social Media, Kerpen shares the secrets to increasing your Facebook page's likeability and will help any CEO improve their social media marketing efforts.

Kerpen covers the importance of listening and engagement, how to handle comments, how to build your fan base and a host of other useful topics, including various ways to improve your social media efforts. While easy to implement, these best practices will require an ongoing effort.

One of my favorite case studies in the book is the example of "I love Mary @ McDonalds/Chandler". Mary is a beloved McDonald's employee. One of her fans created a Facebook page for her and she now has over 1,400 fans. Various comments are posted on the page including "Mary is the best! This is the picture of us at my 40th birthday party on Saturday night." Clearly, this example shows the importance of the people within your organization.  

Full disclosure: Dave used a story from my traffic ticket law firm as an example of good storytelling (pages 141-144) and also gave me a free copy of his book. Even if I had to pay for it, I recommend Likeable Social Media and give it two thumbs up!