Social Directory is a product developed by Chad Nicely, Karthik Ramani and Matt Ford. It allows users to create directory pages on Facebook fan pages.
What does the product offer?
Social Directory offers users a way of creating directory Facebook pages quickly and easily through an online web application. What this essentially translates to is that by using Social Directory you can contain lots of information on a single fan page which can then be further broke down into categories with different pages contained within those. To use the example that Chad Nicely, Karthik Ramani and Matt Ford provide, you could set up a directory of restaurants in an area which are broken down by cuisine style and then a list of all restaurants under that category. Social Directory comes with a list of features which can then be attached to listings including ratings and reviews, videos and imagery as well as Google Maps location and a click to call button if you are working with brick and mortar businesses. Furthermore, it can also be used to market products through the Amazon Affiliate Program.
How does the product work?
Chad Nicely, Karthik Ramani and Matt Ford advertise Social Directory as having multiple uses. They say that you can charge businesses to be included in your directory or to control what is on their page (such as ads etc.) however I am not convinced that this method will work. Other options include affiliate marketing purposes such as Amazon products in a certain niche and information products or you could ultimately use it as a launch platform for the Facebook Fanpage for your own business and products which I feel has arguably the most merit.
What is the initial investment?
There are 3 pricing plans available for Social Directory which come with some small differences. The Basic package retails for $27 per month and is restricted to one user and 10gb of storage. The Pro package is $37 per month and is for 10 users, has 30gb of storage and comes with email priority support and free updates. Finally, there is the Pro Plus package which is $297 which is for unlimited users, has 100gb of storage and comes with everything the Pro Package has plus 24/7 support. The Pro Plus package costs $297 per year.
What is the rate of return?
There isn’t any advertised returns and really this is a difficult thing to gauge. Personally I don’t feel that Social Directory has much of a monetary value however I do believe that used correctly it can help you to develop and build your brand.
Conclusion
Social Directory is really a mixed bag. Chad Nicely, Karthik Ramani and Matt Ford have put together a solid product that does everything that it advertises. My question surrounds the use of Social Directory really. The idea of using this as a tool to market to bricks and mortar businesses seems moot simply because I don’t know of one person who searches for general information such as “restaurants in [area name]” on Facebook. These kind of searches are usually reserved for Google. The same applies to becoming an authority in a certain niche for purposes of marketing through Amazon and their affiliate scheme.
In my opinion this only really leaves the idea of using Social Directory for self promotion and given the fact that any marketer worth their salt will have a website, it seems kind of pointless paying $27 per month for a fancy Facebook fan page.
