It’s not uncommon for marketers to view customers as the adversary.

Marketers believe that consumers have no interest in making a purchase, thus it is their responsibility to persuade them to part with their money by whatever means necessary.

On the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg assured me a decade ago that things might be different. That businesses and customers didn’t have to view one other as enemies was a huge relief.

He informed me that he was developing systems to automatically provide incentives and punishments for desired actions. You may call it a suggestion engine. Something that would link interested clients with the best possible companies.

In this scenario, business would flourish and everyone wins. They would get information that genuinely interests them. Each party walks out victorious.

The only catch was that

Attempts like this were being thwarted by spammers like myself.

We decided to speak with Facebook about this.
At a private meeting with Facebook, we brought in the digital marketing directors from WWE, Quiznos, and Analog Devices. Alex Schultz, Facebook’s head of growth, is on the extreme left. (I’m the third person from the left in the first row.)

Mark was annoyed that he had to devote so much time and energy (80%) to fixing security gaps we were exploiting rather than creating new and useful services for our customers.

I let him and his compliance chief know that they weren’t planned for.
Incentives for certain actions should be taken into account whenever new regulations are developed.
Just like the search engine optimization (SEO) experts and the clever copywriters who employ algorithms and user behaviour to boost ranking, we were only playing by the ecosystem’s established rules.

Every time we were successful at manipulating the system, we received reinforcement that made future attempts more likely to succeed.

Of all, we could never expect our strategy to continue working indefinitely. Even the most ingenious advertising stunts become thin after a while. The public will eventually quit using them and clicking on them. 

And for Facebook, the best long-term strategy for conversion-focused digital marketers is to DITCH the tricks.

Despite Facebook’s present predicament, this is what you need to know to have long-term success with your Facebook marketing efforts.

Put an end to your futile attempts to outwit Facebook.

Two weeks ago, we made our 70th trip to Facebook HQ to discuss the company’s most recent News Feed updates. Nevertheless, the discussion did not change significantly from that of a decade before.

Evaluation of Your Facebook Posts

Consider the Facebook point system as a means of gauging interest: +1 for a like, +6 for a remark, +13 for a sharing, and -100 for criticism.

During a discussion with Facebook a few months ago, we learned that these estimates are generally correct, with some variation among verticals and circumstances.

People may feel “angry” after a sports team’s loss, but this emotion does not constitute criticism. Users of a platform like change.org, which thrives on user-submitted petitions, are conditioned to voice discontent (full disclosure, they are a client).

There’s a lot of speculation that Facebook’s AI is so complicated that it uses AI to write its own AI language and that not even Facebook’s researchers fully grasp the black box’s inner workings. Just stop thinking about yourself and move on.

As long as we know that the algorithm’s goal is to maximise interest and involvement, we may proceed with confidence that we have a good grasp of its outputs. To a large extent, we may be certain that adhering to Facebook’s policies will keep us safe (with the notable exception of news publishers, who are being disintermediated).

Around noon each day, my robot vacuum goes about its work. It’s not very bright; it stumbles over carpets and can’t figure out what to do with dog toys. But if I set up the place properly, I can count on reliable outcomes every time. I have no concern about being awakened in the middle of the night by the robot’s watchful gaze and ominous bleeps.

Like your future automobile and the algorithms at Facebook, it will grow smarter over time.

Facebook’s Prospects Going Forward

When it comes to Facebook’s potential, I don’t have any strong opinions either way. Neither extreme has my support. I disagree that Facebook should be treated like cigarettes in terms of government oversight, but I also don’t think “free market” capitalism is the answer.

In this alternative setting, when everyone may create their own website, I think individuals should be allowed to discuss whatever is on their minds. Furthermore, I think that stifling free expression, even with the greatest of motives, is a step in the direction of lessening individual liberties.

Facebook will develop into a robust community-based service in due time. One that regulates the pricing and availability of material according on viewer demand.

But until then, we have to do everything we can to make it a reality. And as a thank you, we’ll have an ecosystem that matches our businesses with their ideal consumers via an advanced matching algorithm and a trove of relevant data.