The Now Infamous Sarah Lacy/Zuck SXSW Interview & A Few Notes on FB

I don't need to throw my two cents in here about what a crappy interview(?) Sarah conducted here: but I do want to take the chance to point out some oddities to Facebook that as a marketer I just don't understand.

Its not a mystery that FB is struggling to figure out how to monetize, to somehow merit its infamous valuation--when the answer is right below the surface. Literally. (Its the data, d'oh!)

Take their Business Pages, for example. The whole spiel behind the BP's is that it gives companies a free presence from which to community build, leveraging its already aggregated crowd. From FB's perspective this is the carrot that gets the companies in the door-- to then upsell them on SocialAds or the targetd "self-serve" ads. Thats about as far as the vision goes (it seems).

And on Zuck's "Organic" Monetizing Goals:

I'm all for it, Zuck. Yes, monetization in social networks WILL need to be "organic" or authentic if you will. Integrating brands seemlessly into the ongoing conversation rather than through explicit advertising (we're all aware of the dying CPM). With that objective for monetizing, what FB needs is to do is better merchandise themselves by better merchandising the rich user behavioral data teeming beneath its skin. This is the data marketers want-- and will spend through the nose to get. Also, FB, beef up your customer support, if you're wanting to upsell to paid media, you have to help your businesses to appreciate the value of a Page, making simple things like specific URLs and searchability more readily available. Also, try allowing trial runs of SocialAds for those early companies brave enough to dip their toe in social media. Help marketers help you by sharing the data they need to satisfy their clients and encourage ongoing business relationships. Eck, brain just went out.

PS-- one more thing about Lacy-- when he was speaking about their monetization strategies, she had no idea what to do with that-- but what he was saying is exactly what social media marketers want to hear. Now, we just have to get FB to better achieve that monetization goal.