"Making Facebook Marketing as Easy as One, Two, Free"

You know how in life many of us tend to over complicate things? Admit it, you’re guilty of doing this from time to time. Someone asks you for directions to somewhere and the next thing you know you’re giving them the Magna Carta.

Well today, I want to make things very easy for Mr. Brand Manager and Mrs. Brand Marketer and any and all social media marketers out there entrusted with a given client’s Facebook page. All the folks who are asked to increase the number of Likes – even though we know size does not matter, there are still many brands who insist on seeing a large following.

The guys and girls at Lab42 – a research company, recently conducted a survey and I guarantee you this will not be the last one to reveal the following findings. Not by a long shot.

How do I know?

Easy, it’s human nature to want something and after all consumers are people, too.

[[from a much larger infographic - full version is at the end]]

Wow, how about that? A combined 55% of consumers will like your Brand – no, not because they think you’re swell and groovy. And no, not because they feel a sense of loyalty.

But because they want something in return for their precious Like. They want a promotion, they want a discount and you’re darn right – they want something for free.

By the way, my ‘wow’ above was completely sarcastic in case you couldn’t pick up on that.

And speaking of loyalty or lack thereof, check this out:

You see this above? Of the 46% of respondents said they Liked a brand on Facebook, over half of them said they did so to get something in return, AKA something for free.

And under the heading of “restating the obvious” this from the same infographic:

The moral here kids is give consumers want they want. Give them something in exchange for their Liking your page and then keep them engaged with interesting content and yes keep the discounts, promotions, free stuff coming, too.

Post With Care

There are a couple of other interesting findings from the survey/infographic and I want to share one with you and it deals with the ways brands can turn people off to the point of they (aghast!) un-Like them on Facebook:

So ease up there Mr. Brand Manager and Mrs. Brand Marketer and any and all social media marketers who want to keep posting more and more content to their client’s Facebook page. Slow your roll there just a bit and think before you hit post for the Like you save you may be your own.

As for the entire infographic, here it is for your disseminating pleasure.

"Nobel Gives Peace Prize to Crisis-Ridden EU"

works to contain the debt crisis in the euro zone. WSJ's John Stoll reports from the Nobel announcement in Oslo.

Norway's Nobel Committee handed its 2012 Peace Prize to the European Union, even as the bloc faces its most serious crisis since it emerged from the ruins of two world wars, an award that served as both endorsement and warning.

The committee, whose decision Europeans both celebrated and mocked, said the prize recognized more than six decades during which the conflict-ridden continent pulled together and became a harbinger of "peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights" at home and beyond.

"The award of the Nobel Prize of Peace to the European Union reminds us that the EU is endlessly more than [interest-rate] spreads and bailout funds," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said.Reaction to the decision was mixed. Many politicians took it as an opportunity to commemorate the EU's achievements at a time when much of the discussion on Europe focuses on the struggles of its currency union.But Thorbjørn Jagland, the committee's chairman, also stressed that Europeans should see the prize as a warning of what the 27-country bloc stands to lose if the current economic turmoil breaks its cohesion.

Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso—as presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, respectively, the EU's highest representatives—said the award "shows that in these difficult times the European Union remains an inspiration for leaders and citizens all over the world."

Others, however, questioned why the bloc merited the prize during a period when it has been hobbled by internal troubles and when anti-European, and sometimes anti-German sentiment is growing. Just this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to recession-hit Greece drew tens of thousands of demonstrators rejecting EU-mandated spending cuts and economic overhauls.

"Today's award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU is an insult to the people of Europe themselves, who currently are experiencing an undeclared war as a result of the barbaric, anti-social austerity policies that are destroying social cohesion and democracy," said Rania Svigkou, a spokeswoman for Greece's far-left Syriza party, which came in second in general elections this year.

The Nobel committee didn't gloss over the economic struggles that have rocked Europe, and particularly its currency union. Since 2008, five euro countries—Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus—and several EU members have had to ask for billions of euros in bailout money to patch over holes in budgets and banking systems. The crisis revealed fundamental flaws in the architecture of the euro zone, leading to fears of some countries leaving, or even a breakup of the currency union.

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From left, Mr. Rajoy, Mr. Hollande, Mr. Monti and Ms. Merkel talked in Rome this past summer.

Now, a push to resolve some of these issues by drawing the euro zone closer together threatens to deepen the rift between the 17 countries that use the euro and the 10 EU states that don't. Those troubles are set to intensify in coming months, as the euro zone seeks to build up common regulations to supervise its banks and even create its own central budget.

"We don't have a position on how to solve the economic crisis, but we believe it will be important to solve it and that European unity can be kept so that Europe can move forward," Mr. Jagland said.

By selecting the EU as this year's laureate, the Nobel committee follows up on other controversial—and some say politically motivated—decisions, such as presenting the prize to U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009 and to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli politicians Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin in 1994.

Jan Techau, director of Brussels-based think tank Carnegie Europe, said the award was both a message to Europe and the rest of the world. "There is merit in cooperation and there is a need for multilateralism," he said.

Mr. Techau added that despite its shortcomings the EU could still serve as a model to less-integrated regions such as Asia, where tensions have been growing between China and Japan.

The prize may also be a wake-up call for Europe to take a stronger role in international affairs, he said. The EU is the world's biggest donor of humanitarian aid, but its members have often struggled to take a common view on important foreign-policy events.

Divisions over the intervention in Libya last year, in which France and the U.K. participated, but Germany didn't, were just one example of that.

Somewhat ironically, the EU will receive eight million Swedish kronor, or about $1.1 million, as part of the award, down 20% from last year, as the value of the Nobel foundation's investments declined amid the crisis. It isn't clear how the money will be spent.

Mr. Jagland favors Norway's entry into the EU and is the author of a book called "My European Dream" about European unity.

"There are many things to say about the economic crisis—where it originated, for instance," he said. "Actually, it started in the U.S. and all of us had to deal with it."