Facebook Poke – The Most Underestimated Facebook Marketing Tool

This Facebook marketing tip relates to the personal profile marketing tool in Facebook.  For clarification on where this tip fits into the greater Facebook marketing picture, please view our post Facebook Foundations: Facebook’s Marketing Tools Explained.

One of the most common Facebook questions we’re asked is “What is a Poke”?

Wikipedia defines a Facebook poke as:

The poke feature is intended to be a “nudge” to attract the attention of another user. Many facebook users use this feature to attract attention or say “hello” to their friends. A previous version of Facebook’s FAQ gave additional insight into the origin of the feature, stating: “When we created the poke, we thought it would be cool to have a feature without any specific purpose. People interpret the poke in many different ways, and we encourage you to come up with your own meanings.

To most people, the poke is a fairly meaningless, trivial aspect of Facebook.  However, Pixel Coaching contends that the poke is actually clever and very simple marketing tool (see why below) that can be very effectively used as part of your overall Facebook marketing strategy.

Poking 101:

If you are looking to initiate a poke, you can do so from under the photo of any of your friends:

*12.7.10 Update* If you have switched over to the new Facebook layout that was released yesterday, the location of the poke functionality has changed.  Poke as been “promoted” to it’s own button which is visible in the upper right hand corner of any of your friends profiles:

If you’ve been poked, you’ll notice an indicator on the right hand side of your newsfeed when you log into Facebook that looks something like this:

From there, you can “Poke Back” by clicking the link, or close out the Poke by clicking the “x” next to it.

Regardless if you return a poke that has been initiated by a friend, or you are the one initiating the poking, you will see the following two screens are part of your poking process (click images for full view and clarity on the text):

Once you poke someone, a notification appears on their home page.  That is all there is to it.

So, why then should you consider poking your friends as part of your Facebook marketing strategy?

Why Poke:

• Engagement matters on Facebook:  Engagement is king on Facebook and poking is a great way to create a level of engagement with your friends.
• Poking is easy.  It doesn’t take much to figure out, and it is far simpler than developing and executing a full blown Facebook page strategy.
• Poking is efficient.  It takes hardly any time at all to poke someone (3-5 seconds depending on your poking prowess and internet connection speed).  Poking is one of the quickest ways to reach out specifically to one person on Facebook with the least amount of effort.
• Poking is private.  When you poke someone, it doesn’t create an activity feed.  This makes poking the quickest form of Facebook direct messaging possible.
• In a world of reciprocity, once poked, many users feel obligated to poke back (particularly competitive ones).  And, when they do, they will see your name and your profile photo and be told that you will be notified of the poke.  It’s a very simple way to have your name and photo appear in front of your friends and to stay top of mind.
• Poking is personal.  People feel singled out and selected.  You may even make them feel important.  When trying to build or deepen your relationship with someone, these are all good things.
• It is lighthearted and fun.  Poking is perfectly in line with the casual nature of Facebook.  It keeps things light and is clearly not a sales pitch…two things which are helpful in properly using your Facebook profile to cultivate relationships.
• You can’t over poke.  If you try to poke someone and they haven’t cleared it, you get notified that you can’t re-poke them:

Poking Cautions:

• Don’t “poke” people who might mis-interpret or find it annoying (or who have a restraining order against you – check out this woman who was arrested for her Facebook ‘Poke’).  With the meaning of pokes being intentionally vague on the part of Facebook, some people will hold poke to a different meaning than you do.  Use your best judgment and don’t poke people who might take offense or get irritated.  That is not a good marketing strategy.  Nor is it a good marketing strategy to poke every friend you have on Facebook.  It’s best to start with people who you are close to.  See what the response from them is.  Then decide if this is a good strategy for you and branch out (or don’t) from there.
• Poking may never end.  By poking someone, you may be starting a poking war.  Proceed with caution.  Note that you can close out a poke war by simply hitting the “x” next to the incoming poke.  That person will then have the ability to initiate a poke to you again.  If you’d prefer that they didn’t have that ability, then simply leave the incoming poke active on your homepage and they won’t be able to send you another poke.

So let us know…how many people do you poke?  (It’s a far more innocent question than it may sound!)  Do you agree that this can be an effective part of your Facebook marketing strategy?  Share your thoughts with us.

This article is part of a month long series of tips, tricks, and strategies for real estate marketing with Facebook. View additional posts from our “Tip a Day” series on Pixel Coaching.