COMMENTS
Wow, this is statistical proof of the power of Facebook for lead generation.
It looks as though one of the lessons here is that there's no point in working on Facebook for business if you're not going to make it a high priority. That is, businesses don't seem to see results until they have 500 or 1000 fans, while a typical small business will need to put in a lot of hours to get a couple hundred. Go big or go home?
Alternatively, since correlation isn't causation, this might tell us that it's a lot easier to get Facebook fans if you're the kind of business that gets lots of leads.
"the data indicates that maintaining a strong presence on Facebook will help you generate traffic and leads online."
Given the content in the report and this article I don't see how this statement is supported any more than "having lots of leads and high web site traffic will lead to lots of facebook fans."
To Rebecca's point correlation isn't causation.
Freakonomics anyone?
@rebeccahaden I really like the way you put that. Checking out your site now. Looks good.
We are now investing heavily into facebook, social media in general
Alternatively, since correlation isn't causation, this might tell us that it's a lot easier to get Facebook fans if you're the kind of business that gets lots of leads.
Excellent points about correlation and causation. You need to look at it prospectively and see if leads grow as FB fans grow and compare to companies that are similar but not doing FB. Obviously difficult but the conclusions are way beyond what these data can support.
Interesting ratios. It would be more interesting to know the data at the other end of sales funnel - qualified leads through facebook (the real sales prospects) as opposed to raw leads.
Facebook is really powerful. Thanks for this statistics.
The Elephant in the room is not the amount of fans or friends you have creating leads on FaceBook. It is the way you communicate with them. Do you provide useful interesting information that people consider relevant to their interests? Will they want to pass it on to their friends? Quality of information is key. With quality content the volume of followers becomes a natural progression.
I wonder if these leads came directly from interaction/forms/etc on the Facebook page, or as a result of having the number of fans.
If we're talking marketing companies that use the number of fans as proof that Facebook works and gets jobs that's one thing, if it's businesses actually getting leads from the page itself that's another. Also, if a company uses an email signup landing page to give a freebie like a whitepaper, is that considered a lead?
Had always wondered on Facebook likes impact on the business. Thanks for the proof!
"These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you they're gold, and you don't get them. Why? Because to give them to you would be throwing them away. They're for closers."
"A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing"
I am John stanborough MD of Icebreaker UK, we are a small company of 2 people, who work with all kinds of agencies helping them seek new business opportunities with companies of all sizes, as we are small, we have small overheads but deliver fantastic results, we always push our clients to have a facebook group page.
Icebreaker are London based. If you would like to discuss further contact me on: john@icebreakeruk.co.uk