Facebook Messages: E-mail marketing Terminator?

If Facebook’s massive user base adopts Facebook’s new messaging platform en masse and continues to abandon e-mail, marketers will have to adjust. If only it were that easy.

Facebook is constantly in flux, and the platform is evolving so fast that what was true even 2-3 months ago may not be true tomorrow. And with every change that FB makes, the implications seem to be more wide-ranging that the last time. But if email is going to go the way of dinosaurs and telephone calls (remember those?), e-marketing is about to undergo a seismic shift, especially if the only people you can contact are those who are your “friends” or say that they “Like” you.

While that’s seemingly good news for end-users who’ll hypothetically no longer be inundated with herbal enhancement junk-mail offers, it presents plenty of challenges for marketers who still have yet to master traditional e-mail.

Then again, some brands already have a much larger Facebook following than their existing email database, and “Likes” grow at a rate that email could never hope to achieve. So perhaps this change is already underway…

If Facebook really does kill the e-mail star, chief among the concerns would be Facebook’s spotty reputation with regard to security issues. Given the platform’s ever-growing functionality, security is just as important (arguably, more important) for the brand as it is for the unwitting end-user. Because while a user who carelessly clicks on a rogue app and gets hacked can likely recover, the potential damage a hacked brand would endure is orders of magnitude higher. Which begs another question, why are fan pages administered by simple Facebook user accounts? Seems like a huge security risk.

If Facebook ever goes Skynet on us and becomes self-aware, we’re really in trouble.

Facebook Messages is just one more thing to keep an eye on, and it seems like every day there’s a new development. The changes are coming fast and furious. It’s our job to keep up. And it’s a full-time job.

Worth a quick read: Facebook Messages: Email Marketing Analysis

One Comment Add yours

  1. Daniel says:

    great post, thanks for sharing

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