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Although not quite an uproar, there’s a little nasty hum in the Facebook world over the changes that occurred yesterday. It’s a “circle of life” thing really… Fb makes changes, people complain, then others start scolding the complainers for grumbling over a free service that no one is forced to use. Wash, rinse, repeat.
People even take time to make cute little graphics about it.
I find this cycle mildly humorous, especially since the mental picture I get is of Mark Zuckerberg wearing a crown of thorns, suffering over the sacrifices he’s made to bring us, the humble masses, the great charitable service that is Facebook.
Puh-leeze. That dude’s suffering all the way to the bank.
Joking aside, I know Fb is free for users in the monetary sense of “free,” but don’t deny it: Facebook is big business.
For those of you living under a rock, the name of the Fb game is advertising. And, much like Google, the enticement for businesses to advertise on Fb is the wealth—like a crazy deep and wide amount—of information available, allowing them to target an audience with sniper-like ability.
And that information, my friends, is the price we pay to play in the Fb playground. So, while you may not be forking over cash to tell everyone you "Lurv @New Girl with @Zooey Deschanel," you pay your fare every time you post, like or update anything on Fb.
Ok, to make this blog useful then, what can small business owners learn from this?
It might be a little stretch, but I think it can apply to any business’s pricing model. I suggest you not think of the price of whatever it is that you’re selling solely in terms of a dollar figure. There are intangible costs that customers pay, whether or not they knowingly acknowledge it. In addition to cash, customers also pay in terms of the time they are/aren’t willing to wait, the level of quality they want, and the level of service they need.
Not a new concept, I know, but maybe a new way of looking at it. Consider this: why not offer a sliding scale that adjusts your price up or down depending on a customer’s requirements in respect to time, quality and service.
For example, businesses charge all the time for “rush service.” But why not flip that around and offer “now and later” pricing. Maybe instead of charging extra for rushes, your “regular” price is for the fastest turnaround you can accommodate, but then you offer a hefty discount for customers willing to wait a little longer.
Same could go for quality and service. If you, Customer, are willing to do your own X then we’ll take X% off the price.
So… maybe not entirely related to the great debate of Fb being free or not and our right to complain or not, but something to ponder nonetheless.
Good talk, Folks, now let’s go make some money…
~Sarah Warren, Emogen marketer
