Facebook Fundamentals Mad Recap

Facebook Fundamentals was our fifth segment in the Social Media Madness Series where we explored Facebook marketing tips and strategies to build brand awareness and ways to reach organizational goals. 

 

 

Companies Focus on Facebook (for marketing)

 

NASA #globalselfie

 

In order to celebrate Earth Day 2014 globally, NASA asked their audience ‘ Where in the world are you’ and had their following post images with the hashtag #globalselfie. The end result was a massive mosaic image of the earth that had been compiled with over 36,000 images from over 100 countries.  

 

Click here to view the zoomable 3.2 gigapixel image.

 

 

Burt’s Bees, Raise Your Burt’s

 

Burt’s Bees isn't the biggest name in the beauty business, but the brand is well known by those who appreciate nature. The company held a contest for their fans, requesting images and real reasons why you love burts. 

 

The prize for best submission was a lifetime supply of Burt’s and be the ‘spokes lips’ for the brand. 

Skinny Girl, Entertain Like a Leading Lady

 

Skinny Girl attempted to profit on hosting a red carpet party inside - featuring their beverages. 

 

Entertain Like a Leading Lady prepared a party package that included what women would need to host a red carpet party.  The package was complete with celeb inspired drinks, entertaining styles and tips, DIY party toolkit (printable party backdrops, bottle labels etc), as well as award badges.

This campaign gained over 50,000 engagements (likes, shares and comments) in less than four weeks.

Where Do you Leave Your Purse?, Breast Cancer Awareness

 

This suggestive campaign to support breast cancer awareness had female Facebook account users updating their status with “I  like it on …”. The sentences were finished with a word that referred to where they like to leave their purse. These updates had caused confusion and questions - enabling a chance to explain reasoning behind status updates. 

This campaign went viral due to the sexual connotation (“I like it on …) 

A.1 Sauce, New Friend Request

 

When Kraft dropped the word ‘steak’ sauce from A.1 Original, they created an engaging and fun video advertisement that would resonate with their audience. A love story was told between edible products, playing off of human emotions ended up going viral and increased the brand’s sales and consumption.

 

The end result of this video was 1.3 million views and 2.1 million impressions.

 

Types of content that engage people on Facebook:

1. Social currency: When we come across something exciting/cool/funny/awesome, we can’t wait to share it with others.

Will It Blend?

 

Blendtec blenders does a great job leveraging the power of social currency with its variety of “Will It Blend” videos. Had the company simply listed the features and benefits of its product in videos rather than test items in the blender, the videos would not be as exciting/cool and worth sharing with others. Since Blendtec found a unique and authentic way to tell its story, and blend a variety of products like the Selfie Stick and iPad along the way, it has been able to reach a larger audience on platforms like Facebook.

 

2. Gamification: This can motivate customers to remain engaged in certain actions for the sake of achievements.

 

Skittles wanted to keep fans engaged after they “Liked” its Facebook Page. With 3.5 million fans in 2010, Skittles was one of the third largest brands on Facebook. They decided to come up with “Mob The Rainbow” which resulted in more Facebook users joining the mob allowing for the brand's awareness to grow.

3. Exclusive Access: Ask yourself: What will excite my customers? What will make them feel unique, or look awesome?

A record Powerball Jackpot of 1.6 billion U.S. took place in January 2016 in the United States. There was a lot of chatter on Facebook about Canadians crossing the border in their attempt to get their piece of the prize. Businesses used the hype surrounding the lottery as a way to reward their fans and customers by sharing the prize money from the lottery jackpot with fans who engaged with their content.

 

4. Seasonal Content: The Holidays are a time when triggers are often used by brands, as a way to remind us or spark off related thoughts or ideas.

 

 

Starbucks Cups, for example, is a brand that is known for its holidays cups. In 2015 the release of the simple red cup caused quite the controversy on Facebook.

5.Emotional Content: helps us connect with one, another, and inspires us to act. Allow your customers to connect with your product through emotions rather than features.

 

 

XBox does a good job of understanding its audience and what they are interested in. The video does not show anyone actually using a video game controller, or showing the latest model or game, but it captures your attention with emotions.

6. Public Awareness: Monkey See, Monkey Do.

 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is just one example of how people on Facebook share content that their friends share to generate awareness for a cause. The results can be pretty amazing when people comment, share and like. In just four weeks the ALS was able to attract global media attention.

 

 

7. Practical Value: - News you can use

 

People love to share tips and tricks, recipes, and motivational content with their friends on Facebook. Buzzfeed realized the potential and Tasty was born.

 

 

Brands, businesses and companies have better success on Facebook engagement when they are aware of their audience and know the answers to the following questions:

 

These insights allow you to make the most of your content strategy.

 

 

With over 1 billion active users, Facebook is vital in your business marketing strategy. Why? Have a look at the numbers:

 

 

While Facebook is a must for marketers, being recognizable is also a key to getting found and liked (especially in Facebook Search), so make sure you are optimizing your business page when possible. 

 

Be sure to bookmark or save this useful Facebook Cheat Sheet that covers all the Facebook image dimensions.

 

 

Advertising

We also recommend experimenting with Facebook Advertising, as it is one social network that has an incredible ability to target a specific audience.

 

 

To begin, create a campaign and determine your ad objective. 

 

 

Check out the Facebook Ads Manager to learn the process step-by-step.

 

 

Facebook Ads allow you to select what audience you want to target your advertisements to.

 

When creating your audience:

 

Choose your ad audience

 

Facebook also gives advertisers the ability to upload their own information in order to make Custom Audiences. With Custom Audiences you can target users by:

Reach customers you know

 

Mad Takeaways

1. How can I help my customers use my products better?
2. What are some of the questions my customers have surrounding this subject?
3. How do I provide answers to questions my customers might not be aware of?

 

1. Visual
2. Relevant
3. Has an enticing value proposition 
4. Clear Call To Action

 

Mad Facts

 

Audience

Figure out who your target audience is and create content that resonates with them, posting video content over photo content tends to get more shares - and shareable is the new viral.  When getting comments or inbox messages, silence says everything so one should always reply immediately.

 

 

 

Content

Remember to create content that will engage your audience. Consider asking questions, sharing needed information, demonstrate how to’s and educational information along with entertainment, images, quotes and video. 

Posts with updates provide value such as; product tips, sales events, behind the scenes images and video. Attempt to engage friends and fans by sharing stimulating posts, inviting fans to comment or respond.

 

Profile

Include a call to action button in your profile, directing your audience what to do

Strategy

Your business strategy should be a part of a community that provides value while appearing appealing - while defining objectives and goals as well as working towards them.

 

Do

 

Do Not