1,000,000 Fans and Counting

A corny gimmick and some free publicity can get you a million or so Facebook Fans fast.  For proof check out the “If 1M people join, girlfriend will let me turn house into pirate ship” group to see how it is done.  This appears to be just grass roots craziness that caught on like virtual wild fire over the last couple days.  It’s hard to tell how the sparks were started but the content is pure geekdom gold (for those non-geeks, Pirates is a geek meme that is only rivaled by Ninjas).  They are trying to capitalize on the success of the site through a CafePress store where they might make a couple bucks.  But the effort doesn’t appear to be motivated by commercial gains.

Which is unlike the effort we saw a couple months ago from TGI Fridays.  Their Woody Fan Page promised a free hamburger for all if the fan page topped over 500,000 fans.  This promotion was also heavily featured on TV.  It’s a great idea that has to be executed very very carefully.  For a primer on what can go wrong just read through Woody’s Fan Page discussion board (link).  Here’s an example of damage control:

Woody Damage Control

Thoughts:

• I’m a huge fan of leveraging communications to build an audience that you can communicate to directly.  What was once your Email capture strategy is now your Social Network Fan base creation strategy.  The bigger your base the more effective the communication.  So look to include links to your Social Networking site in your mass communications.
• Using a gimmick to quickly build your base is a good idea if executed correctly.  But gathering the fans is just the first step.  You need a solid communication plan that nurtures that fan base.  And expect to dedicate resources to it.  But what better way to send a direct personal communication to million consumers!
• WARNING:  Think twice before setting up a persona as the face of your brand.  TGIF’s use of Woody is extremely dangerous.  As you can see for his post he is speaking “to the people at TGIF” — he is not speaking on behave of the company.  What happens when he gets arrested for indecent exposure?  And how does TGIF use this base three years from now when they want to do an entirely different campaign.