17 May Facebook Pages We Love to "Like"
While brainstorming for this blog post, I kept flashing back to a scene in Dirty Dancing in which Neil (that rich guy) brags to Baby about his ways with women.
Sometimes it’s easy to feel like the “Jamie-the-lifeguard” of branded Facebook pages. Even when you follow a great strategy, it may occur that the fans and/or engagement don’t immediately come pouring in. Hey, we have deals and discounts! We engage! What does the Starbucks Fan page have the we don’t? (Well apparently you can now customize your Frappuccino…)
In all seriousness, though, the mark of a successful page is not one that scrounges up as many fans as it can grab, but one whose engagement style fits the type of fan it’s looking for. We’ll call these types of pages the “Johnny Castle’s” in the realm of Facebook fan pages. They dance, they sing! They have cool friends and popularity that has been earned on the dance floor…er, Facebook. And they get the girl.
But not all “Johnny Castle” pages are cut from the same cloth. Some pages pull in “likes” because they make fans feel like each and every one of them is making a difference. Others promise excitement and fun. But whatever the tactic, these pages have found ways to attract their ideal fan.
SunChips – “Like” for a Cause
It goes like this – you “like” the SunChips page, then they let you write a blurb stating how you’re going to be good to the earth. Your “ad” also has a chance to appear on some pretty busy sites, such as CNN.com or Discovery.com. And for every new fan the page garnered on Earth Day, SunChips donated $1 to environmental education.
The SunChips/eco-friendly tie-in isn’t just a Facebook thing. The brand’s entire marketing strategy currently revolves around their biodegradable chip bags. But the company’s implementation of this strategy on their Facebook page includes a lot of unique content and activity, directed solely toward their Facebook audience. Fans of SunChips not only get to voice their support for wavy, non-greasy snacks, but they’re also now ambassadors for the environment. Fans of this page have the opportunity to create a short ad that has the potential to reach millions of others on internationally-renowned websites.
By broadening their scope from “healthy chip makers” to “corporation who loves the environment as much as you do,” SunChips is engaging fans by finding an additional reason to garner “likes.” I’m definitely not saying that the “cause angle” is always the way to go to get new fans—it needs to be accompanied by more than “hey if you ‘like’ us, we’ll donate something.” And that’s just what SunChips is doing. They’re giving their fans a chance to broadcast a message before millions.
Stride Gum and 25 Grand – Chew on This, Kids!
The first sentence of this wall update cracks me up.
The Stride Gum Facebook fan page is all about the customized tab. They have three; one broadcasts their new commercial, and two others highlight their current campaigns. You can play a flash game, fending off “Cowbots” with the ultimate goal of winning $25,000 to go to an arcade of your choice. Or, if throwback arcade-style games aren’t your thing, you can submit your craziest idea to “The Vault” for the chance to win $5,000 to fulfill your most ridiculous idea/desire.
So what do a cash-eating ram and pixelated cows have to do with chewing gum? No idea. But, according to Facebook, my fourteen-year-old cousin is a fan, and based on this content, I’d say he is a model example of Stride’s target audience. This target audience is more likely to think evil farm animals are kind of funny and has the free time to bank tens of thousands of points in a simple (but surprisingly addicting) flash game. This page might as well scream “teenagers, come play our games, and chew our gum too!”
And it works. The creators of this page considered their audience and what makes them tick. Stride Gum’s fan page appeals to a specific demographic with something highly engaging. According to their site, the last guy who won money went dancing around the world for Stride and is promoted on their website as “dancing Matt.” Again, not much to do with the product, per se, but I’d bet you three cash-eating rams that Matt can dance and chew gum—Stride Gum—at the same time.
Contests are great, but developing contest winners (and their networks) into brand ambassadors is such a better way to engage with fans than to simply say “Congrats! And here’s a $5,000 check!”
Chanel
No, I didn’t need a tag-line for this sub-head. Chanel speaks for itself. The box below their twenties-era photo logo reiterates this idea.
Whell. Okay then.
I guess there’s no $25,000 contest on this page. But there are buttons. Chanel fans can share their love for the brand by sharing these fun, round designs with their friends. And you can learn the story behind Chanel lipstick on another tab. And, well, there’s not much else. It’s Chanel. This page’s approach radiates “I’m unique, and you’ll love (or at least “like”) me because I’m Chanel!”
This almost reminds me of Neil and his two hotels, except that Chanel has the class, status, and 870,000 fans behind it.
Chanel’s Facebook fan page is almost minimalist in the sense that there are no brand-external additions or campaigns. No cause-related messaging or killer cows, just Chanel logos on buttons and a boutique backstory.
The Rest of Us
So what can the successes of SunChips, Stride Gum and Chanel demonstrate about best uses for Facebook fan pages? These brands use Facebook marketing tools that are appropriate for the niche they’re creating for themselves. They engage their fans in the same ways that they want their fans to see their product. SunChips bags are healthy for the Earth (just like SunChips chips are healthy for you!), Stride Gum is “fun” and “cool!”, and Chanel…is Chanel. Enough said.
Think about what you want your product to “say” to consumers and how you translate this message into a Facebook engagement strategy. Don’t let anybody put your Facebook page in the corner! (Sorry…I had to.)
