11 Apr MTV: Facebook Fan Page Example in Detail #6
I want my MTV… on Facebook! Keeping the 26 Facebook Fan Examples in Detail party rolling, we continue with #6, the MTV fan page. Over 18 million people like this page and it’s easy to see why. The MTV Facebook page posts consistently, delivering real-time wall content including behind-the-scenes video, sneak peeks and music news announcements. More importantly, they also serve up interactive games that act as extensions of their successful reality television shows, capturing fan attention beyond the television screen.
So let’s take a deeper look at what makes this fan page (grossing 1.5 million fans just last month) tick…
Jersey Shore Game Tab
Capitalizing on the phenomena of Farmville, MTV threw in hair poofs and ‘t-shirt time’ to create its own Jersey Shore game on Facebook. The game awards virtual cash for activities such as going to GTL, battling (literally) other players in a mini-game, hitting up the club and answering trivia. Players can use this money to buy outfits and accessories for your avatar, take simulated roadtrips and unlock new dance clubs in the game.
The game’s landing tab promotes a sweepstakes you enter just by playing. The prize is a trip to New York City for you and a guest to have dinner with Vinny and Snooki, two stars of the show itself. Certain game interactions also count toward extra entries in the contest so the more you play, the more your odds of winning increase. This dual purpose appeals to both casual gamers (who could potentially become fans of the show) and hardcore fans of Jersey Shore playing for the sweepstakes.
The Jersey Shore game also does a good job at integrating the show in real-time. Each week the game updates with items or avatars on ‘sale’ from that week’s episode. This constant updating keeps the gamers engaged and also interested in the storyline of Jersey Shore. Collecting each item gains the player a higher status in the game to unlock locations and accessories, including various battle weapons.
According to AdWeek, 1.7 million unique players interact with the Jersey Shore Facebook game each month. MTV has also taken advantage of game traffic to promote other media by giving away ‘free cash’ to do things such as watch movie previews. See the example below from the movie No Strings Attached where players received cash for the initial view and additional coins for each day they viewed after.
Interactive Tabs: Temptd & MTV Me!
Temptd is another interactive tab that lives on the MTV Facebook page promoting their new show, ‘I Used To Be Fat.’ The television show is an inspirational documentary of teens battling their weight the summer before head off to college. Each episode illustrates the mental and physical struggles the teens endure, but more importantly the support system they find in the trainers that help them.
Tempted is an excellent extension of the show, embodying its ideas in two ways. First, the application acts as a support system for those trying to lose weight and awards points for helping others as well as sharing your own struggles. Users can gain willpower points by sharing what their goals are, such as cutting back sweets or hitting the gym. On the flip side, users can also gain karma points by encouraging others on what they are trying to achieve. Second, the actual trainers from the show are also interacting on the application. They comment on certain posts encouraging users and offering advice. The reward for fans using Temptd is gaining real-time support as well as earning different colored ‘belts’ for their achievements.
The ‘MTV Me!’ application wraps up MTV’s current tabs by allowing fans to superimpose themselves with MTV celebs in their very own MTV logo. Fans pick a background, select their favorite MTV celebrity and add themselves into the photo to share on their own page or with friends.
MTVs Content Strategy
Wall content on the MTV page is mostly video content ranging from music video premieres to show previews. At first glance it appears the content is exclusive to the Facebook channel, however, it all comes from MTV.com. The wall functions more as an MTV News newsfeed—pushing out content from their site or blog and only allowing fans to comment on that content. The Wall is not enabled for open commenting.
By disabling the wall, all comments/likes have to be associated an MTV post thus increasing their frequency in Facebook Newsfeed inclusions. MTV could increase the value of being a fan by incorporating exclusive content on their page, such as TV show bloopers or an extended interview with an artist for Facebook fans only. It is important to reward your fans for liking you with special exclusives when possible.
Earlier in the 26 Facebook Fan Page Examples in Detail series, Cassandra examined the Disney fan page. In her blog post, she compared the MTV and Disney Facebook pages noting that video content performed best for MTV. While this is still the case, you can see from the chart below that Disney outperforms MTV in terms of average fan engagement. I found this is mainly due to the high volume of responses Disney receives from nostalgic posts, such as quoting an animated movie. MTV could try a similar nostalgic strategy on their page by posting an old music video, clip of an outrageous award show or images of their old 1980s ads along with a question that elicits a response to see how it performs. If anything, MTV should keep executing tabs that act as extensions of their more popular shows as they prove to be a successful component of their page.
What do you think of the MTV Facebook page? Check it out and share your comments with me below!
