Slate.com's The Big Money recently published its rankings of the top 50 brands using Facebook Pages. While it was helpful to have a shortlist of the top players on Facebook, the list didn't really provide any concrete advice to marketers. The rankings outlined the criteria that were used to make the decisions - "fan numbers, page growth, frequency of updates, creativity as determined by a panel of judges, and fan engagement" - but other than providing the number of fans each Page had, there was no real strategic/creative explanation for why one marketer was better than the other.So I decided to assess some of the top brands from this list and glean my own set of strategies about what makes any Page effective, and how marketers can use these 'best practices' to achieve their own Facebook success.
Disclaimer: Before diving into these insights, it's important to underscore the fact that any Facebook page will be most effective when it is one of many social media tools that all fall under an umbrella social media strategy that is tied to all other marketing communication efforts. Today's media landscape is incredibly fragmented and any brand has a higher chance of making an impact when there are multiple opportunities for the consumer to interact with it; social media helps by expanding a brand's self-referential presence on the web.
That being said, here are 4 strategies on how Facebook Pages can play their part in creating your Web 2.0 presence:
The new mantra of Web 2.0 marketing is think like a publisher and Facebook Pages allow brands to publish and share almost any kind of creative content in order to engage with their customers and turn them into fans. While you should be utilizing all forms of social media to promote your brand, consider developing a waterfall content strategy specific to Facebook, i.e. concentrate on sharing one type of content on your Page so that you can develop your Facebook personality in a focused way. This will help you concentrate your creative energies and create an identifiable content theme for your brand.1) Content: pick a format and do it well.
What you choose to share must, of course, suit your brand personality and resonate with your target audience. Pringles (2,786,000+ fans) emphasizes the whimsy of its brand through a string of amateur, but funny, videos that resonate with its young and edgy audience. Gap (489,000+ fans) focuses on letting users explore products through various experiential apps that offer a social/sharing element and appeal to a young, connected and tech-savvy audience. For instance, Gap recently launched a Holiday Factory app (see right) which analyzes the key words in the Information tab of a user's profile and generates a funny holiday tale, like a Mad Libs game. You can then post the story to your profile and share with friends.Key Takeaway: Specialize in providing a particular type of content through your Facebook Page ~ whether it's photos, videos, blogposts, or apps ~ and try to be innovative and exciting in how and what you deliver, so that your Page can be a place that fans will visit again and again.
2) Engagement: give your fans the opportunity to share their own content.Customers love hearing from their favorite brands but can feel even more connected when they interact with other fans, and a common sharing activity allows them to channel their enthusiasm in a creative way. An effective way to engage with fans is to provide a dedicated space for them contribute their content and due to Facebook's excellent photo sharing capabilities, encouraging fan photos is a popular choice.
The ASPCA (205,000+ fans) uploads pictures of pets that are up for adoption, while also inviting its fans to upload pictures of their own pets. This taps into the passions of a typical pet owner (wanting to share photos of your pet) and flipping through albums of cute animals helps create a stronger sense of community around the work the ASPCA does.
Similarly, Starbucks (5,160,000+ fans) communicates with fans through freqeunt status updates and often encourages them to submit photos and videos; currently the page has over 1,400 fan photos of Starbucks products, merchandise, store fronts, and adults/children/friends interacting with them.
Another good way to engage with fans is through Polls; you can ask them entertaining questions or simply do market research - chances are they will respond to make their voices heard. A number of brands I surveyed had a Polls tab but none had utilized them effectively, giving up after asking 2 or 3 sporadic questions. Given the popularity of the 25 Things About Me meme and the Social Interview app (now the 3rd largest app according to Inside Facebook), it is clear that Facebook users love answering questions. Use this opportunity to make them feel like someone at their favorite brand cares about their opinions.
Key takeaway: Create an atmosphere of sharing and collaboration on your Facebook page and provide reasons for fans to share content, whether it's based on different themes or a new campaign or product launch. Comment on fan submissions and thank them for taking the time to upload them, so that they feel appreciated and involved.
3) Landing Pages: make a great first impression.One of the more recent Facebook Page features is that each tab now has a unique URL, so you can decide which tab will be the default landing page for customers. Think creatively about how you can use this: customers could land on the Wall tab dedicated to user-generated content (as mentioned in #2 above) to show that they are a priority for the brand. Or they could be directed to a tab dedicated to your current campaign to raise awareness. Or to the latest app/feature which you are looking to promote to increase favorability.
Skittles (3,521,000+ fans) does this very well; its current landing page ties into its "Taste the Rainbow" campaign by taking you to its Holla app where you can dial an imaginary public telephone and holler at the Rainbow (which appears to be a 20 year old male). Whatever message you leave for the Rainbow can be posted to your Wall and shared with friends.
Bigger brands can use their tabs strategically by dedicating one to each type of campaign they are running. McDonalds (1,462,000+ fans) appears to have one for every segment they target: a Local tab to build local communities; a McCafe tab that appeals to young, urban coffee drinkers; a Quality tab that is likely to interest moms; and an Angus Axiom tab which might attract meat-loving men.
Key Takeaway: Give the structure and navigability of your Facebook Page the same attention you would to your website. Consider where you users to land first (and why), and organize your tabs strategically, whether it is by campaign, target audience or content.
4) Integration: create a holistic Facebook experience.Facebook's success comes from the fact that it is a complete social networking site, supporting every aspect of a interpersonal communication in a 2.0 world (wall posts, chat, emails and more). Leverage this existing communications infrastructure to enhance your presence and show that you understand how your Facebook audience works.
National Geographic tied in with Causes, the site's 2nd largest app with over 30 million subscribers, to raise awareness and donations for 4 causes, including protecting gorillas and big cats (although the app has historically not performed very well in terms of fund raising, the tie-in likely raised awareness for NatGeo's issues and Facebook Page). Similarly, H&M (1,375,000+ fans) has an app that allows users to gift each other Jimmy Choo shoes, tying back to the Gift app which is popular for its fun and creative spin on aspirational 2.0 generosity. Both are examples of how brands can leverage existing Facebook memes.
Assuming that Facebook is one of your many social media tools, use your Page to integrate all of these channels through links, RSS feeds and specialized boxes. Add your blog and Twitter updates, embed your YouTube channel videos and share your Flickr photos through Facebook. You can approach this creatively as well: Coca-Cola (4,014,000+ fans) has a Feeds tab where Flickr and Twitter feeds are aggregated, so a user only has to go to that one tab to see constantly streaming social media updates. Red Bull even pulls in tweets from sponsored athletes and brand ambassadors on a dedicated Athletes tab to benefit from those updates and the related brand associations.
A final note on integration: try to stay on the Page. H&M is guilty of this - many of its links and features take the user back to the official H&M website and I feel that this works against the brand. Facebook users are used to having a seamless experience and should be able to benefit from all the features of a Page without leaving it, or at least without leaving the Facebook site.
Key Takeaway: Offer a holistic user experience that ties back to existing Facebook features and integrate all your social media feeds to create a stronger content echo. Most people don't have to leave Facebook to communicate; try to do the same with your Facebook Page.
With these 4 key strategies in mind, you should be able to develop an successful Facebook page for your company and your bramd. What do you think? Do share your comments.
Note: all fan numbers are current as of 12/8/2009.
Additional Resources (via @mashable):
What is a Facebook Page vs. Facebook Group?
How to set up a Facebook Page.
