Facebook: a Stage for Promotions

This article appears in Promo Master Class: Enduring Lessons from Promo’s Award Winners and Top 100 Agencies. To subscribe, or view the current issue, click here.

Brands have been testing how to best use Facebook to gain access to, and connect and converse with, its vast user base. We asked several digital pros from companies listed on the 2010 Promo 100 ranking of the top 100 U.S. promotion agencies to share details of Facebook promotions they’ve created for clients, including objectives, promotion strategies and measurable metrics.

SWEEPS PRIZES DESIGNED TO CALL IN A NICHE AUDIENCE

Client Speed TV

Agency GMR Marketing, ranked No. 15 with an estimated $96.8 million in U.S. net revenue

Objective To drum up viewers for its TV series Car Warriors, which debuts in February. Car Warriors pits a team of all-star mechanics and car builders against local car shops to transform in 72 hours the rough shell of the same type of car into a beautifully polished piece of machinery.

Time frame Feb. 1, 2011, through April 2011 (12 weeks)

The promotion Build and leverage a Facebook page to be the central locale for creating a dialog with motorsports and car enthusiasts, who will then extend the reach of the show by sharing with their network of friends. A sweepstakes is the hook to pull fans in to “like” the site; a prize will be awarded every 72 hours, which ties in to the idea of creating a custom car in 72 hours. The prizes include sponsor-donated products and merchandise related to the automotive industry, gift cards and a grand prize of a “car lover’s dream package of products and services.” Fans can enter daily during the promotional period. The key here, as with most other Facebook pages, is to create content that fans can share with their friends.

Metrics Obtain the highest ratings possible for premier show; sustain or grow that metric for the following episodes; garner a 2%-5% share or comment rate. “If you can get to that rate of engagement you’ve got a pretty active community, and your fan base will continue to grow on a exponential basis,” said Bryan Rasch, senior vice president of digital and mobile solutions for GMR Marketing.

Marketing Twitter, SpeedTV.com, on-air promotions, TV spots, digital media, print, banners, social media placements within multiple networks

“The big aspect of this program is to create an opportunity to have an ongoing dialog with fans of the show and then amplify their passion for the show out to other individuals,” Rasch said. “There is no magic bullet with social media, so ultimately we’ve got to test, monitor and enhance throughout the lifecycle of the promotion.”

TAKING ON THE CAUSE

Client Pet Care

Agency Catapult Action-biased Marketing, ranked No. 31 with $33.7 million in 2009 U.S. revenue

Objective To acquire new Facebook fans using the pull of a philanthropic effort

Time frame Six months during the second and third quarters of 2010

The promotion People who “liked” the site triggered a donation to the philanthropic effort. The image on the wall page promoted the program through lively creative and clean, simple, clear directions that explained what the fan was required to do to participate. New users coming to the site defaulted to the promotion microsite, which was also linked from the wall. A share tool allowed fans to disseminate the brand message and recruit friends for the promotion.

Marketing Facebook ads and other online ads, emails to the brand’s database, print, ads on the brand’s home page, Twitter

Metrics Increase in number of fans and share-tool downloads during the promotional period

Results A starting based of 60,000 fans increased to just over 1 million, with a 10% download rate for the share tool.

“If you can find the parts of your brand that people are really passionate about, it is amazing the velocity with which things can change through word of mouth and sharing with friends,” said Mark Evans, vice president of digital for Catapult Action-biased Marketing. “That’s the great thing for brands. If you reach one person, they have a slew of friends and can reach them in a quick and effective way versus traditional advertising. You’re fishing where the fish are.”

USING AN OFFLINE CAMPAIGN TO GROW FACEBOOK

Client Miller Lite

Agency Digitas

Objective Extend the offline/online “Miller Lite Fantasy Football” campaign to Facebook and grow that existing community

Time frame Six weeks (August/September 2010)

The promotion Play ball! These customers love sports and are passionate players of Fantasy Football. The ultimate sweepstakes prize was used to attract them to the Miller Lite Facebook page: the chance to attend the fantasy football draft process at Texas Stadium—the home of the Dallas Cowboys—and to sit in the Miller Coors luxury box. A dedicated tab from the Facebook page linked to the promotion page and all the details. Continual rounds of fresh content kept them coming back to the site.

“If you build it, they are not necessarily going to come and stay,” Dave Marsey, senior vice president of media at Digitas, said. “The best promotional strategy using Facebook is to create a compelling hook to drive ‘likes’ that is aligned with the target affinity. But the work doesn’t stop there. We drive constant engagement of the community through content created and managed by a ‘community manager.’ The result is steady fan growth through naturally occurring engagement, and as we continue to create new promotions to drive additional ‘likes’ it’s important to reward existing fans.”

Marketing Online ads, ads within the Facebook page

Results No specifics could be provided, but the promotion was termed “extremely successful [in] driving significant engagement and fan growth” and will be expanded in 2011 to other teams and stadiums where Miller Coors has an alliance.

If you are handling a Facebook promotion you would like to share with us, please email [email protected].