What would you do if for free 600 million people would share their life with you?
Everything! And you could capture it in a data base to monetize?
What if you could learn what they like and don't like. What they ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner and who they ate it with.
What if they told you who all their friends are and what they ate as well?
Can you imagine the data and what can be learned about people, their preferences and behavior if you could pull off a free life time survey with 600 million people!?
Imagine knowing what friends they love, who they chill with on the weekends and where they go. What neighbors they like and who drives them bonkers.
What if you knew their bowling score, their golf handicap, their favorite online games and even how they would build a farm if they so had the chance!?
You might even know their spouse is having an affair even if they never get caught!
You know when grandma is sick and when Johnny got a bike for his birthday. You know that he crashed on the bike the second time around the cul-de-sac. Oh and you also know the brand of bandage they put on his knee and that it had an Elmo on it.
You know Mr Wiggles the pug runs away every chance he gets. Good thing neighbor Johnny is always home because he retired from the Army after being in Iraq and losing an arm.
You know Johnny's daughter is drinking beer on Saturday night when she stays at Lisa's house. You also know Lisa's dad, Jim is an unregistered sex offender scheduled to be arrested tomorrow. Chances are Johnnys daughter will be there when the cops knock on the front door.
Wow, you could even know what their unborn child's name is before it's born and before Johnny finds out his wife was pregnant, again! You know it's an unplanned pregnancy as Johnny has an appointment with the doc next month to ensure such. You know because he checked into Facebook places and also sent his wife a Facebook message with the confirmed date and time so she would schedule a sitter for the kids.
Now for the fun part. Combine all this and overlay it with data from other sources such as income, purchase behavior, credit scores, twitter friends, LinkedIn contacts, professional and personal recommendations, and social influence scores.
And even better let's now customize the experience visitors have to your Facebook page or website based on this data. Thanks to tools like Involver's Klout Coupon application, Facebook experiences can now be customized based upon Klout scores.
So let's pretend you are the CMO of Audi for a moment. If a Facebook users Klout score meets your desired criteria, they have kids at home and they drive an Audi that has a lease expiring, you start nurturing them 3-6 months prior to lease expiration. You develop targeted ads that speak to their likes, dislikes and purchase behavior. You can help them make the decision to buy another Audi before they even know it's time.
And even better, thanks to Facebook facial recognition features, you may soon target all of their friends who attended the governors benefit dinner and smiled for the mass group picture! Bingo!
Or how about the small airline serving the Caribbean! You know what families are overworked and want a vacation. Based on their Facebook photo albums you may even know when and if they have visited the Caribbean. You probably even know how many times they have posted as a Facebook status stating they want to go back. You know they have a vacation coming up in 3 months. You also know they havent chosen a destination.
You know granny lives nearby. So you launch an ad campaign that provides an offer, an incentive to help the mom talk granny into taking the kids for a long weekend. You give them a deal they can't turn down for a trip to Bahamas, all inclusive. Sold! You give them a deeper discount and a free dinner at a local restaurant if they share it on Facebook, tweet about it and give you the email address of three friends. Done.
But what about Johnny the retired veteran? His wife loves to shop and is a coupon clipper. Their son just went off to college. They need financial help . They need hope. They need a good car loan as theirs finally quit. You don't need their credit score to know this. They talk about it every day on Facebook. Banks can send them offers for school loans, eBay can post ads on their wall for local used cars.
A local charity supporting healthy families can invite them to the online community supporting parents with kids at college or how to deal with a daughter who is drinking. They also could also use resources on how to best handle a discussion with their daughter about Lisa's dad being an unregistered sex offender and why her time at Lisa's house is no more. You can push the helpful resources to them via Facebook ads before they even know they need them or start to look for them.
The local church they use to attend can inform them of an upcoming parents of college students life group they can join for support. They have been talking about going back to church. Who knows, this might be the week.
Last but not least, you customize their experience on your Facebook page based on all of the above. It will determine what videos they see, what offers and coupons are presented. You will showcase who of their friends is already a fan of the page.
So you think you know Facebook? Or does Facebook know you?
They got you and your data. Hook, line and sinker.
Be careful what ya like! ;)
