Using Facebook Like to Market Your Business
According to new figures released by a joint survey between Exact Target and CoTweet, Facebook users use the Like option for a brand for one overpowering reason – discounts and special offers.
Surveying 1,550 U.S. respondents aged 15 and older from March 2009 to April 2010, the results found that a whopping 40% of consumers like a brand or company on Facebook to “receive discounts and promotions.” When it comes to getting freebies, 36% would like a brand who offered giveaways.
Add to that 30% of those surveyed would like a brand to get updates on upcoming sales, and it’s clear that having a Facebook page offers a great opportunity for businesses to build loyalty with a willing customer base.
So how can you use this information for your business’s Facebook page?
Coupons and Customer Coding
The obvious way to market would be through coupons of your own. If you have flyers or discount coupons for your brick-and-mortar retail store, you can easily transfer that to your Facebook page.
Grab the artwork from your existing flyer (or make one unique to Facebook) and then transfer that to a tab on your page’s navigation menu. Currently this is created using the FBML application (and some HTML coding), though soon you’ll have to change to iFrame.
Call your tab something simple like Coupons or Discounts to grab attention. Then, to encourage folks to Like your page, only make the coupon or discount available to people after they like you. If you’re unsure how to do this, my friend John Haydon has a great guide on using Facebook HTML as well as hiding offers until people click your Like button.
I used this method when I offered a free Facebook Marketing ebook exclusively to folks that liked my Facebook page, and as you can see by this overview on the metrics, exclusive content definitely works.
Of course, getting folks to like your brand through coupons and discounts is just part of the process – keeping them is a whole other story.
Loyalty, Lists and Like Highlights
So now you have a bunch of folks that have liked your Facebook page because of your discount coupons or freebie offer. But how do you stop them from un-liking as soon as they have the coupon?
Simple – you market. But not just any old marketing – now you use the strengths of the Facebook page platform and make it a no-brainer for folks that like you to continue to do so.
- Facebook Insights are available for admins of any Facebook page, and will give you information on demographics, content popularity, interaction on offers and other useful insights into how people are acting on your page. Use this to tailor audience offers and time-sensitive specials.
- Facebook Updates are the equivalent of email lists, and will send a targeted message to people that like your page. The great thing with updates is that you can completely tailor them so that instead of everyone receiving a message, only those in a certain city, country, age range, demographic, etc, will receive the message. Perfect for gender-specific offers, or cultural events, or national holidays – anything you like, really.
On top of these two options, rotate your coupon and offers, and make sure they’re only available to people that like your page. Don’t settle into a routine – have an offer one week, then change two weeks later, then 2 days, etc. Mix it up so people will always have to be connected to your page to know when a new coupon is available.
Highlight your most valuable users as well.
Folks that interact the most; or use their coupon the most; or share your offer the most – give them special discounts and rewards to say thank you. It shows you value them, and also offers incentives to your other “fans” to become more involved.
These are just some of the ways you can be the brand that customers won’t just like, but be loyal to instead of being a fairweather friend.
And at the end of the day, isn’t that what you’re in business for?
Image: Exact Target and CoTweet
27 Responses to “Using Facebook Like to Market Your Business”
Thanks Danny for (another) meaty post .. and for sharing Johnny’s FB html! V nifty! Loved the strategic focus here of using FB. Do you have a prediction of where FB and Twitter will be in 5 years? What they will look like? Have a good day DB!
Oooh, not predictions, Anne – the sure-fire way to look like an ass in public
I’d be surprised if they’re still around in their current iterations. Perhaps Facebook will be a full-on business commerce resource area, with premium accounts, and a restricted/lesser version for “normal” users.
Twitter’s a bit different; I could see them becoming a great real-time analytics and search sentiment engine. Google-owned.
Danny – Thanks for including my posts in this article! I really appreciate it. And also, thanks for pointing out the CoTweet/Exact Target research.
Two things:
I wonder what Joe Waters would have to say about nonprofits leveraging the discounts or their for-profit partners to boost their nonprofit fan Page?
Facebook Insights are slightly different on Pages with more than 10,000 fans. An additional report showing number of impressions per post and feedback on those posts are included.
Great stuff, guy!
John Haydon recently posted…. You already know everything you need to know
That’s the great opportunity I see for non-profits, John. Get your corporate partners involved – for each milestone, they’ll donate X amount to the charity. Or, they’ll give everyone 10% off any purchase for a chosen period. There’s a lot that non-profits can do with the right partners.
You could tie Google Analytics into your Facebook page for full-on information, on top of current Insight data. I have that at the moment and it’s a great resource.
Or they can say that anyone who becomes a fan by X date get’s a discount from the partner. This could easily be done by sending out coupons to fans via updates.
John Haydon recently posted…. You already know everything you need to know
That’s an interesting idea, John. The retailer could offer the discount for “liking” the nonprofit page. It’s a great way for a nonprofit to build a following. But as Danny notes, you also have to figure out how to keep them “liking” you.
I’m also thinking about about how you could tie this in to a point-of-sale promotion, which as you know, John, is a big part of my business. You could either tie-in the activation of the coupon I put on many of my pinups to the like page or offer an additional discount to people who go and like the page.
One last thing, on our next POS program we’re using a QR code for the very first time. You’ve got me thinking that maybe this should link to a Facebook like page instead of a web site. Then at least I get the “like” and the ongoing dialogue, which I don’t necessarily get with the web site. Also, I can tie in the coupons that will be a part of this fall campaign.
Hmmmm….lots to think about. Thanks for bringing it up!
Joe
Joe Waters recently posted…. Causeon- Groupon for Cause MarketingQR codes are a hugely under-used area for marketing, Joe. We’ve been using them with clients, and diverting to mobile sites specifically for that offer or, as you mention, Facebook. Very successful, definitely something to look at.
Danny,
The like pages on facebook are getting very popular and marketers are getting even more creative with them.
It’s just another powerful marketing tool from FaceBook.
“TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
TrafficColeman recently posted…. Rob Rammuny Exclusive Podcast Interview with TrafficColemanHi Danny,
Thanks again for sharing a valuable post. I have a real time problem running an SM campaign for an organization providing IT services. We are trying to use FB for months and no matter what content we upload and how regular we are on facebook, we don’t seem to attract too many fans (fyi we are very active on twitter and run a very regular blog). Now since this is an IT industry we are talking of, we can’t give out typical coupons as we do for a brick and mortar store. Could you please suggest some ideas?
Thanks again!
Sanchita recently posted…. Get Rid of NegativityIt depends if it’s enterprise or consumer IT solutions, Sanchita. Then look at their buying patterns, and build from there.
Quick update for you and your readers, Danny: FBML is slowly being phased out. Facebook prefers new developers use iframe references. See http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/fbml/
Ari Herzog recently posted…. How I Produced an Online MovieHi Ari,
Thanks fella – I mention that in the post:
Currently this is created using the FBML application (and some HTML coding), though soon you’ll have to change to iFrame.
iFrame is so 1990, huh?
Danny,
I love your style and almost afraid to visit your post each day. Frankly you blow me away with your details and thoughts. (Slinking away wondering when will I think of these great things too)
And any idea why they are going to iFrame? Isn’t that backwards?
I’m wondering of it’s because FBML didn’t like Flash embeds (so it was really difficult to get YouTube videos running on a Facebook tab without dedicated YouTube app).
iFrame is being adapted by YouTube (I tend to use it on any video embeds now), so perhaps it’s a natural progression?
And thanks for the compliment
Danny (and John):
I don’t stay up on FB changes anymore so I’m glad I saw this post as I had no idea you could hide a tab until someone “likes” your page.
Michelle Mangen recently posted…. Droid X- Must Have Social AppsThat’s a wonderful insight Danny. Thanks for sharing both the strategy and tactic that makes Facebook offers and coupons work.
Yet, the part that most businesses lose their way in is the follow through engagement and loyalty retention. It isn’t very difficult with the right recipe – one of which you have laid down here.
Social media platforms lose their charm and aura the moment they become run of the mill marketing channels for any business.
The only way for them to retain their sheen and effectiveness is to have a razor sharp focus not only on the getting your audience to like and friend you – but in over-delivering on the promises and creating experiences that last them a lifetime.
Do you need to gain permission from FB to run like-gated coupons??
Can you set the coding so that only new “Likes” can access the hidden voucher. as it appears that all existing “Likes” can download the voucher as well as new “Likes”?
Hi Matilda,
Yes, you can. From the post:
“Call your tab something simple like Coupons or Discounts to grab attention. Then, to encourage folks to Like your page, only make the coupon or discount available to people after they like you. If you’re unsure how to do this, my friend John Haydon has a great guide on using Facebook HTML as well as hiding offers until people click your Like button.
I used this method when I offered a free Facebook Marketing ebook exclusively to folks that liked my Facebook page, and as you can see by this overview on the metrics, exclusive content definitely works.” (links are in the post)
You just select the option you prefer.
The big promise of marketing on Facebook is that a marketing message won’t just hit one person, but their friends as well. It’s that multiplier effect that gets marketers salivating. Additionally, third party validation (the friend)makes the marketing message more trusted and powerful.
Mark Jason recently posted…. Fabulous Characteristics of Stickers
Thanks for this – I wondered how you did that cool hiding offers bit. Now I know.
Phyllis recently posted…. Links for 2010-08-31 delicious