Ok. I admit it. I spend too much time on Facebook. And you are right when you call me Facebook Obsessed. But damned if I will let you laugh when I say that my time on Facebook is partly an exercise in consumer research.

Don’t believe me? then read on…

Advertising is a Science. Go ahead…admit it. And it is a serious sub-set of Marketing. And Communication rules…and that is why they say Content is King!!!

The most effective Advertising Strategies are those born out of experiential wisdom and inspired by common day to day life examples. For instance, a child crying to ensure that it is fed…or that it attracts the attention of the mother is a phenomenon that brings together the complete circle of communication life. A Need is felt…a Desire is expressed…The Need is Recognized…the Desire Fulfilled…and thus are the threads of advertising woven around a demand-supply matrix and a target acquisition program that ensures that the circle is complete.

But I digress…I started off by objecting to my Facebooking being called a waste of time…I believe that it is as fulfilling and result oriented as body watching and is certainly as enlightening.

Take a look at the string of comments, a single post of mine generated.

What happened was that my younger daughter came up to me this morning and said…hey Dad, I feel like having some Cup Cakes…can you help? Being a ‘Food Critic’ and a Reviewer of many an outlet…more importantly, a personal friend of some of Hyderabad’s best bakeries, delis and eateries I could so easily have picked up the phone and ordered in or sent off my driver to a designated location and return forthwith with the item being demanded.

But NO…I threw it open to my Foodie Friends because they were perhaps cued in to some places more contemporary and more recent. Also I knew that a lot of them were home business professionals who dished out food of the most exotic kind to public on demand.

Within seconds of my putting up the post, suggestions began pouring in. One person said ‘A’ was the best option. Another asked me why I had not thought about ‘B’. Someone recommended ‘C’ and even included a photograph by way of testimonial. Yet others ran through the alphabet in their attempt to give me useful tips.

Till a friend (Aparna Karve) stepped in to the jungle with a very brief message…the message said ‘Call Unnati 0123456789 for the yummiest Cup Cakes ever.

Here was a classic advertising statement. Product Promise (yummiest Cup Cakes ever)…Relevance of Message (Answering my question in my domain)…and Action Point (Call Unnati 0123456789). My needs had been identified…I had expressed desire..a solution was suggested…with an immediate action point…the circle was truly complete.

As I went through the comments I saw that there were more lessons on offer. Everything from ‘Don’t Dos’ to examples of perception being quite different from reality.

Go through your Facebook Posts…carefully this time…and not just to click the Like Button…study the string…and patterns will begin to emerge…and then slowly, you will realize…that Facebooking is an education…and not an objectionable obsession…sorry I have to cut my blog short…I have to go and convince the wife that 1230pm is way past our bedtime…and she should spend some quality ‘non facebook’ time with me…after all even I have a few like buttons that need to be pressed