Jounce

Three Types of Brands that can Succeed on Facebook

I started using Facebook as Bowdoin’s first user back in the summer of 2004. Shortly thereafter, many of my friends in school started using it for its nice interface and access to lots of others’ personal information, but it remained a tightly-constrained community, as only those affiliated with a college could get access. Meanwhile, other people were going in droves to MySpace, which has an awful interface and seems like it may catalyze seizures in many folks. Since then, Facebook has opened up to all audiences, added a ton of new and occasionally-useful features, and has released a developer API to leverage its platform. MySpace, on the other hand, just keeps staying ugly.

So now it seems that every company and its subsidiary wants to leverage Facebook. Company X often doesn’t know how, and it frequently doesn’t have a good reason why, besides the tens of millions of eyeballs they want exposed to their product, brand, or cause. Instead, they just say “how can we use Facebook?”

It’s true: some organizations have had great success marketing through Facebook’s incredible viral potential. But many, many more have failed in trying to do the same thing. The difference is that the successful organizations on Facebook have identified what they bring to the table for Facebook, and the community has identified with it. These organizations generally fit into three categories:

1. Those that do something great for the user

Brands that users love to evangelize are the best candidates for this category. Think brands like Apple, TiVo, and some car companies. If users like to show off the brands to their friends, they’ll likely show it off on Facebook too, especially if the product can claim to be an underdog.

The most basic way of engagement is a group like “Apple Students” or something like that. The point here is to grow a group to a significant number so that the brand is even further evangelized on users’ feeds. If Veronica sees that Melissa, Tom, and Steve all love their Havaianas, she might give them a try this summer too. If simple association isn’t enough of a reward for people to join, small giveaways or special access to something online could be good and cheap ways of enticing association.

2. Those that do something great for others

If the brand or product isn’t the type that churns up evangelism like the ones above, maybe the company’s good deeds are worth spreading. Consider a brand like Burt’s Bees, which uses all-natrual ingredients in their cosmetics and declares that they do not test anything on animals. While their cosmetic products themselves may be good, they are known more for these “greener” traits, and would be best served on Facebook by focusing on them.

The difference is that the successful organizations on Facebook have identified what they bring to the table for Facebook, and the community has identified with it.

Again, groups are the most basic way to take advantage of this, but instead of focusing on the brand, the group should focus on the issue. Burt’s Bees, to extend the example, would be well-served by launching or supporting a group that protested animal testing. The brand would get plenty of exposure via the group, and would be supported by all those who support the issue. The balance here is how much to highlight the brand as opposed to the cause. For some brands, a group name like “Join with Burt’s Bees against Animal Testing” might be too much — for brands that are heavily identified with the issue, it might be just fine. In any event, placing branding material on the group’s image and in the description should be okay. If membership in the group can

If the organization is itself a charity, the Causes app on Facebook not only provides an additional viral platform, but one that can actually generate revenues. People can associate themselves with the cause just like with a group, but can also give money directly to the organization through Facebook.

3. Those that have great data or an angle for an app

If you’re a website or a social network, read no further: make an app that people will use. It worked for iLike, so look at what they did and apply it to your site. It might not do quite as well as iLike, but it’s your best shot.

If you’re a consumer brand, there are relatively few prospects in Facebook’s much-talked-about application platform. People aren’t likely to install an app just to show support (that’s what causes and groups are for), and few consumer brands have the ability to create a compelling application that will actually do something for those who install it.

Applications need to be dynamic and personal. Dynamic meaning that things will change from time to time, preferably on a relatively frequent basis. Having an app show the exact same content for a year is exactly what an app should not do. And even if there is something that would change, it should be about the user. Most consumer brands and products don’t have much of an ability to do these things, and it takes a really ingenious idea to be successful without those two qualities. So, in general, apps tend to be out of the scope of discussion.

There are, of course, exceptions. If the product has some sort of electronics angle or interface, there may be a good, compelling app that would really do well on Facebook. Consider Nike+iPod: some users may find it great motivation to have their running logs from the last week or so on their Facebook profile. Consider TiVo: an app that shows upcoming shows to be recorded would be huge for those users — I’d use it, and so would most other TiVo users. Consider General Motors: their OnStar-equipped cars could allow users to put some statistics about their car on the site, such as miles traveled in the last week, fuel economy, the car’s approximate current location, etc.

Many of these apps can be a bit revealing and useful to stalker-like folks, but thus is the nature of Facebook — people revealing too much personal information.

For all others

Of course, there are ways for other types of companies and products to use Facebook, but it requires a bit of original thought, and perhaps some offline resources to make it happen. Are you launching a new product that will be marketed nationwide? Set up Facebook events for launch-day events around the country and try getting people to RSVP to them. Do you just want a lot of exposure? Create a sponsored Feed entry or simply run banner ads (sold by MSN). Do you need specific demographics of people to do something in a hurry? Run some Facebook Flyers. Is public opinion on your side? Run a poll.

But don’t expect your “ACME-brand gum is the most minty!” group to get off the ground. Really, it’s just not likely to happen.