Last spring, Facebook dipped its toe into e-learning waters with Blueprint, a business management portal to teach small businesses and brands how to effectively utilize Facebook’s marketing tools. From creating a marketing plan to understanding how to properly time and schedule posts, Blueprint acts as a powerful tool for smaller brands to make their mark on social media. But Facebook didn’t launch Blueprint out of the goodness of its heart. Rather, it’s a sophisticated method to create a new legion of fans and followers: super clients.
It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane…
What’s a super client? Super clients are those customers who understand a program so innately and completely that they practically do the legwork for a company. Super clients know exactly how to best exploit a product’s features to their advantage, making for excellent word-of-mouth advertising for the business. What’s more, super clients are dedicated to their favorite products, and more likely to continue to purchase from a specific business or brand.
In the case of Blueprint, Facebook is creating super clients who understand how to use Facebook to grow their businesses. They see the value in the tools offered by Facebook, and are anxious to learn more to continue reaping those benefits. In exchange for offering educational tools, Facebook enjoys clients who essentially are creating their own case studies on how successful social media marketing can work for small businesses, making it a highly scalable win-win situation for all parties.
Creating the Super Client
In creating Blueprint, Facebook has used e-learning as a way to educate and train even small businesses in the art of social media marketing. Blueprint offers virtual training sessions, how-to videos, best practice text, and even animations to teach businesses and keep them engaged. These lessons (there are currently more than 35) are easy to follow, quick, and effective.
As of now, Blueprint is free for small businesses. But although Facebook offers the tips pro bono, the training results in companies that are more likely to pay for sponsored posts and better-quality ads for its general pool of users.
Pocketful of Kryptonite
Consider how a super client could affect your business. As an emerging trend in e-learning, client education seeks to create customers who are more likely to be loyal to your brand. When a client understands a product, she feels empowered and has a more positive experience interacting with a business. That, in turn, can lead to word-of-mouth marketing, repeat customers, and less time on the phone with customer service.
Facebook’s foray into e-learning also illustrates just how important engaging virtual training applications are for businesses. It’s a sophisticated way to train: allowing learners to take charge of their own training for their own benefit. Micromanaging e-learning and forcing all learners through the same training path is like kryptonite to super clients: They want training that will get them excited about a product or service; slow, inelegant portals can leave them exhausted and disengaged.
Could your company benefit from super clients? Follow Facebook’s lead: By creating videos, tips, and tricks for brands, Facebook simply hands over the reins to small businesses. In doing so, Facebook wisely capitalizes on an existing user base all while showcasing some of the network’s best assets.
Armed with e-learning, Facebook can create super clients. What’s your superpower?
Andrew Fayad is CEO and managing partner of eLearning Mind, overseeing sales, marketing, and strategic growth opportunities. Prior to eLearning Mind, Fayad led the Corporate Member Development effort at Axial, an online network for the private markets founded in New York City. While completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, Fayad cofounded Olark, a live chat software as a solution (SaaS) solution based out of Palo Alto, CA. He is a Y Combinator Alumnus.
