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.

This campaign from Sprite is a great example of pulling together a couple of tactics to make a very compelling and engaging brand experience.  I find that too often agencies don’t stretch themselves to expand a core idea beyond the initial focus.  This example, developed by the FullSIX Group, goes above and beyond to integrate celebrity, viral video, user generated content, and SocNet leveraging the following:

Celebrity: The campaign’s core revolves around the up and coming English artist Katie Vogel as she tries to build a successful music career.  You get to follow her through her journey by watching YouTube videos and her Facebook updates.

YouTube: Katie’s music videos are posted for fans to rate and review.  The YouTube Channel links directly to Facebook!  Remember that at this time Facebook is not owned by Google — this is the first I’ve seen a YouTube channel integrating with Facebook.

Facebook: You can be-friend Katie on Facebook and follow her on her journey to be a star!  You can post to your Facebook feeds directly from YouTube!

For more details check out this article on Clickz (article here).

My Two Cents:

• This is the first time we’ve seen YouTube integrated with Facebook.  Keep an eye on this — it may open up some really engaging opportunities.
• The first video includes Katie breaking up with her boyfriend — it’s a bit too convenient to be true.  I’d be careful to mix reality with fictional elements.  You will quickly alienate your fan base if they don’t trust you.
• Katie doesn’t post enough.  She needs to be very active to keep the fan base engaged.  It appears she is only posting updates every couple of days.  I’d highly suggest the she updates every couple hours.

Dunkin Donuts Facebook Page

Check out this interview about Dunkin Donut’s Facbook campaign by eMarketer (link). The campaign consisted of a forum on the Dunkin Donuts’s Facebook fan page set up to discuss DD’s healthy choice menu.  They now have over 430,000 fans!

To promote the forum DD reached out to their house list, bloggers, and through Facebook.  The big take away here is:

“Mr. Tryder: What stands out is that customers are interested in engaging directly with the brand in a relevant and honest way”

Facebook Notes Growth

Have a look at these data points posted by Compete.com (link) on Facebook’s pop in traffic to their Notes featured from the hugely popular “25 Things About Me” phenomenon.  The “25 things” concept is that you post a note in your Facebook Notes application that lists 25 things your friends may not know about you then broadcast the list to all your friends.

It all started a couple months ago — but no one ones who and how it got started!  That’s the best part — this is a completely viral phenomenon.  I’m sure Facebook could back track to the first person that posted the “25 Things” list and find the originator.  I would not be surprised the learn that Facebook created this thing themselves.  But regardless of how it got started there is some great learning for Social Network marketers:

Thoughts:

• When creating a viral campaign dig deep to find something that is very very relevant to the participant.  25 Things worked because most people like to talk about themselves and most people like to learn things about their friends they may not know.
• Viral campaigns work best when their is a high degree of “Desire to Pass Along”.  Facebook makes it easy for people to pass stuff along — the challenge of the SocNet marketer is to prompt that engine.

Facebook Connect

Commenting on Red Bull Site - Facebook Connect

Facebook deployed the Connect functionality late in 2008.  This functionality allows web sites to key off of Facebook’s social network.  For example, Red Bull’s web site allows me to register with a click on a button labeled “Facebook Connect”.  Once registered all of my Facebook friends are notified that I am now connected to the Red Bull site.  Every time I comment on the Red Bull site all my Friends on Facebook are notified.  Facebook also records what sites I am registered on for their ad targeting — more Red Bull coupons for me!

Thoughts:

- This is genius.

- If you have a web site that allows users to post comments then add this functionality now.

- This reminds me of the ewallet craze of yesteryear.  The idea was an ubiquitous service that kept your credit card info safe and usable on any site.  The idea didn’t take off because sites wanted to control their own user experience.  Facebook connect may be different — opening a new age of cross site cooperation.

- The more Facebook connects to your life the more information they know about you and the more than can hyper-target advertising to you.  I see a day when I buy a beer by scanning my cell phone at the bar — which instantly posts a message on my Facebook that I’m at Baron’s Beefhouse with a Weyerbacher in front of me.  Honey, I’ll be home late tonight.