Social Media Tells Marketers Everything - Nearly

My work today has been to make progress addressing two different, but related challenges.

Preparation is underway to launch a new venture and I have been working on this. We don’t intend to be secretive when we launch meaning we will engage in some marketing and awareness activity.

And it is the marketing of the new venture that makes up my second challenge.

The funds we have available to allocate to marketing are minimal; in fact, funds are at the lower end of minimal.

This is not so much of a problem as it might have been in times past because now we can resort to the wonders of social media.

There are all the usual options, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Tinder, Blogs etc; come to think of it, perhaps not Tinder.

We can simply “put it out there” and wait for the millions to discover the sheer wonderment of our offerings. However, it was the science of coordinating these various platforms that was driving my investigative talents today, including the design of an ongoing social media maintenance plan.

My work was progressing well and I moved forward in my own comfortable paradigm aided greatly by a compelling combination of little knowledge and huge naivety.

And then……………

I discovered “Psychometrics”. Before you reel backwards with much scorn, please note again my confessed high level of naivety.

Psychometrics is a data driven sub branch of Psychology. This science is fascinating, incredibly powerful and just a little scary. 

Specifically, I discovered the extensive work of Stanford Psychologist, Michael Kosinski.

However, before I talk about his findings, I pose the following for you to consider. If you are a low to moderate user on Facebook, it is possible you have clicked the “Like” button, all up, on 68 occasions.

Michael Kosinski has proven (proven not assumed or calculated) that based on an average of 68 “Likes” by a user, it was possible to predict:

• Skin Colour to an accuracy of 95%
• Sexual Orientation with 88% accuracy
• Political Affiliation (85%)

He also quotes being able to predict if the “Liker” smokes, drinks or takes drugs and even the current marital status of their parents.

In Australia/Oceania, 48.1%* of the population are on Facebook. In North America, it is 72.4%.* Worldwide, 26.3%.* are on Facebook.

The ability for a moderate to well-funded Corporate, Political Party or any entity with a position to promote, idea to push or product to sell, to communicate carefully tailored messages via Facebook advertising and posts to separate highly specialised demographics' is amazing.

To this amateur starting out, this is all just a little intimidating.

But maybe there is another way, another strategy to adopt? Now, for Tinder, do you swipe right to approve?

*Source – internetworldstats.com/facebook