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Name : SRIJIT CHATTERJEE
Enrollment No. : A0101909442
Programme & Batch: MBA(GENERAL), 2009-2011
Section : C
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Title of the Case: SUCCESS STRATEGIES FOR MARKETING ON FACEBOOK
Abstract: This case discusses the effectiveness of Facebook as a marketing tool for
developing the brand image, engaging the customers and building brand loyalty. The
strategies that can help brand to develop their customer engagement programs have been
discussed and why firms must communicate through facebook .The strategies of various
firms that have successfully used Facebook as a marketing platform to interact with their
customers have been investigated.
Keywords: social media marketing, Facebook, brand engagement, digital marketing
INTRODUCTION:
Facebook has beaten competitors like Orkut and Yahoo to become the top social networking
site in India with 20.9 million visitors in July this year, according to research firm comScore.
According to the report, more than 33 million Internet users (aged 15 and older) in India
visited social networking sites in July. With this, India now ranks as the seventh largest
market worldwide for social networking, after the US, China, Germany, Russia, Brazil and
the UK.
As Facebook usage in India hits 12 million, the number of Indian brands tapping into the
social networking site for PR & marketing is also growing.
India is an important and ever growing market for Facebook. Current estimates put the
number of Facebook users in India at 12 million – small change for a nation with a
population of 1.14 billion. Unlike its neighboring country China, where local social networks
such as Baidu and Kaixin are hugely popular, India is an outward-facing democracy with a
high percentage of people who speak fluent English. This makes India a high potential
market for Facebook and indeed the country is shooting up the charts, recently becoming the
10th most popular Facebook country.
A recent report by emarketer looks at the renewed interest in social advertising – it comes in
cycles – and finds that in the U.S. 6.7% of all online ad spending will go towards social. This
is now a $1.68 billion dollar industry, which shows just how seriously brands are taking
social platforms. While the interest in social media has really been growing among
companies for the past 2-3 years, the budgets have been slow to follow. This report is
encouraging however and shows the serious investment that’s being made. Indeed, the same
report finds that online advertising spend will rise to more than $2 billion in 2011. The
majority is going to Facebook.
More marketers today are understanding the power of facebook as an important marketing
tool to constantly stay in touch with their customers and engage them with their. Consumers
today are bombarded with loads of information creating a clutter in their mind and thus the
reliability of using only advertising as a communication tool is losing its effectiveness. Thus
the role of social media especially facebook becomes significant in this regard as a referral
from an user of that product on Facebook is far more reliable than an advertisement.
Facebook has become an important instrument for brand engagement, disseminating
information to the potential customers, handling customer queries, complaints, asking for
customer’s opinions , suggestions, feedbacks etc. Marketers are even asking consumers for
their ideas and harnessing their creativity for developing the brand thus utilizing facebook as
a platform for crowdsourcing. The time has gone where the marketer can shoot information
at the customers and they were forced to believe it. Now with a multitude of media, brands
and a high degree of interaction between customers across the world what is required is a two
way communication where the customer will have an equal opportunity to interact with the
brand. Thus the brands that effectively utilize the social media platform will be able to
sustain itself and can build the desired image to its consumers.
EXHIBIT 1: ONLINE USAGE IN INDIA:
EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF FACEBOOK FOR MARKETING:
Facebook may have 500 million users, but having an outpost on the social media site won’t
necessarily increase sales or referrals to a website. But the right tools, used strategically, can
help make Facebook an important part of marketing, lead acquisition and customer-service
strategies.
Taking advantage of Facebook Places. This location-based application allows users to
“check in”—or alert their network—wherever they are. If one have a brick-and-mortar
location, they can turn patrons into Facebook promoters by giving them freebies or specials
offers if they check-in from your location, using Facebook Places. But be sure to connect
your check-in page to your company page, otherwise those Facebook users who click check-
in links on their News Feeds and Walls will be taken to a generic Facebook page that doesn’t
contain either your keywords or your branding.
Using Facebook for customer service. Online support forums and live-chat services can be
costly. But Facebook can help you communicate easily with customers who become your
fans on the site. Facebook’s Wall, forums, status updates and other features let you answer
technical and other queries, post new product upgrades or offer a frequently-asked-questions
section. Additionally, your fans can help each other out.
Going “tag” crazy. Tagging is simply to identify a Facebook user in a photo or video, an
action that triggers an update to the user’s News Feeds. Tag your business and your
customers in videos and photos as often as possible. Why? Tagged photos and videos,
especially those tagged by your fans, have a higher likelihood of being seen by more people.
If you decide to launch a Facebook promotion, try to find ways to integrate tagging into the
plan.
Befriending Facebook group administrators. Search out influencers on Facebook and
offer them specials, coupons and other perks they can offer to their Facebook groups.
A status update, Wall post or even a message from a group’s administrator will return better
results than a mass message to their members from you.
Adding a well-placed “Like” button to the website and newsletters. Don’t just throw a
“Like” button on your site, integrate it into the customer experience and surround it with a
call to action. For example, place near your mailing-list sign-up form. Users are more likely
to click a “Like” button while opting-in for a subscription. Test, track and adjust this tactic
until you see results.
It takes more than a great brand and good content to keep the audience engaged on a
Facebook page. After all, with 500 million active users and growing, Facebook represents the
third most populous country in the world. With over 80 communities on Facebook, Cisco
puts engagement at the core of what they do on Facebook.
Cisco’s corporate Facebook page in particular, has averaged 450 more ‘likes’ each day and
has an average of 70 engagements, which includes comments and ‘likes’ on each post. When
they first started there were 12,460 fans on August 3, 2009 with zero engagement from
Cisco. While their ‘fans’ were coming to their Facebook page to find information on Cisco,
they realized they were also coming to engage with the people and the personalities that
make up Cisco and their page.
For Cisco, engagement is about building a real community and strengthening the brand
relationship with their global influencers including press, analysts, customers and techies.
While they're continually learning and adjusting their activities and approach, here's a
snapshot of what has helped them build an engaged community on Facebook:
Content: Facebook is a place to aggregate and share the best content that they create
across their other sites. This variety of content helps attract a wider audience, and
ensure a higher level of quality. Content that does particularly well are interesting
videos, photos and studies. In addition, content that includes a specific question or
action item for the community keeps the audience engaged and can help drive
responses.
Frequency: Continuity and consistency is extremely important for keeping your
community engaged, however you don’t want to overwhelm your fan base. Cisco
tries to post anywhere from 2-4 new pieces of content per day. Since their community
is global, they found out that content fairs best posted in the early morning or late in
the afternoon/evening. They are also currently building out a more global program on
Facebook where content publishing and engagement is 24/7.
Interaction: Responses to comments can be just as important as the original content
pieces themselves. As soon as content is posted, community managers check back
frequently to observe feedback about the post in real-time. This is also why they are
building out the global Facebook program because it's important for them to be
present while the dialog is happening at all times.
Video: Video is the next best thing to meeting with your community face to face.
They've found that short video pieces generate the most community interaction.
These include teaser videos created for a product launch, product placement clips
from popular movies or television shows, and any content related to a recognizable
public figure such as Cisco’s CEO, John Chambers. They have also created a short
little video clip of myself, the main community manager to help put a face behind the
page.
Listening: Cisco tracks the comments for each post (negative or positive) and adjusts
their engagement strategy accordingly. By listening, they’re able to understand
interests and concerns from our community, and make sure they share the content the
community actually wants. Polling is also a great way to receive instant feedback
from the community. When Cisco was trying to decide on a new name for their
corporate newsroom, they polled their Facebook community and were able to receive
feedback from thousands of their fans on what they think our new name should be.
Acknowledgement: Encouraging and acknowledging your fans for being engaged on
the page has its benefits as well. By encouraging and rewarding engagement, the way
Facebook fans communicate on their page has changed drastically. One way, they
have done this is by creating the Cisco SuperFan program where the most engaged
Cisco Facebook fan is chosen as the Cisco SuperFan of the month. The fan is chosen
by their volume of comments on the page, participation in discussions and posting
their photo in the fan photos section. They just announced their first Cisco
SuperFan and hundreds of fans have since expressed their interest. Acknowledging
your fans for their participation is a great way to show your company’s appreciation,
encourage engagement and build brand loyalty.
Personality: Having a personality and showing that there is a person behind the page
is a key factor in building engagement and trust on a Facebook page. They try to add
their personality to as many aspects of the page as they can. Whether it’s in the wall
posts, commenting back to the fans or talking to the fans through video, there are
many ways to reach your audience and connect. As stated before, they created a short,
simple video of themselves thanking the Facebook community after they received
100,000 ‘like.’ Adding your own personality into the page helps your community
relate to not only the content, but the brand as well.
BENEFITS OF USING FACEBOOK AS A COMMUNICATION MEDIUM:
There are frequent debates in about whether the time and effort spent on building Facebook
marketing or brand experience is worth it. Is it really positive when it comes to return on
investment?
Let us walk through an interesting example of an ROI evaluation of an Indian brand’s
community on Facebook. Ching’s Secret’s Facebook community has around 120,000 fans.
According to Ajay Gupta, chairman and managing director of Capital Foods Ltd., the brand
owner of Ching’s Secret, Smith and Jones and Raji brands, this is how he compares the ROI
of its community on Facebook with the ROI of advertising in print:
1. A half page ad in a city tabloid (with a circulation of around 100,000 readers) costs around
200,000 rupees ($4,350). The “opportunity to see” as defined by the same tabloid is around
300,000 (100,000 multiplied by three, the average number of readers per household). In
reality, only a fraction of readers actually see the advertisement.
2. The OTS of any message posted by an administrator of Ching’s Secret’s community on
Facebook is 18,000,000 (120,000 multiplied by 150, an average number of connections on a
Facebook user page). Surely, this number is theoretical and will never happen. However, to
whatever fraction you may want to discount this number, the final number of people who will
see the message will still be much larger than the reach of an advertisement in print.
But the real ROI of the Facebook community, based on the parameters below, is extremely
positive when compared to other competing advertising media:
–Recurring Cost: To reach out to the same readers they reached earlier through print, they
will need to pay for every new advertisement. In the case of Facebook, it doesn’t cost them
any money for a new message.
–Engagement Level: The quality and quantity of engagement on Facebook far surpasses the
potential engagement opportunity in print. According to the company, they can expect 0.5%
to 1.5% of fans to engage with their message on Facebook. In the case of print, if they
present an opportunity for readers to respond through an SMS, they can only expect 0.2% as
the response rate.
–Visibility: In the case of Facebook, they have complete visibility of their audience’s profiles
while they get negligible visibility through print.
–Virality: Finally, the opportunity of their existing Facebook fans bringing new fans or
influencing other people’s decisions toward their brand almost doesn’t exist in the case of
print but is exponential on Facebook.
These are smart rules of thumb that can be applied to any business, small or large, while
measuring or planning a Facebook presence in a marketing plan.
SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK MARKETING STRATEGIES BY ORGANIZATIONS:
With changing times & trends, Facebook is no longer limited to just connecting with friends
or playing games; businesses are increasingly using it as an interaction platform to engage
with their target audience, identify prospects, market their products, provide customer
support and handle customer grievances! Tapping on this need, Facebook smartly introduced
Facebook fan pages to cater to the specific needs of businesses. Organizations are
successfully using several tactics like poll contests, interesting apps and videos amongst
others to drive participation, which would result in word-of-mouth and better engagement
with the brand.
On the company page of Rootsgear's, which designs T-shirts with political and social
messages, people can look at the firm's designs and see a calendar of upcoming
events. The company stokes its group membership of about 1,400 by every few
months sending out invitations to join to new Facebook friends collected by
cofounder Sunmit Singh. Mr. Singh says the Facebook page drives more traffic to
Rootsgear's e-commerce site than Google's search engine or MySpace, another social-
networking site where it has a presence. And Facebook has helped the year-old
company's sales.
The company page on Facebook of Junnoon, an Indian restaurant in Palo Alto, Calif.,
includes basic information such as address, hours, prices, photos and coming events,
as well as reviews from local newspapers and Zagat. By opting to become a "fan" on
the company page, instead of just a Facebook friend, people can make reservations
directly from the page and post ratings and reviews. Although company pages are
free, Facebook hopes companies that use them also will buy ad space through its new
Social Ads program. Ads can be used to target Indian food enthusiasts in the local
area. Companies can either pay per click or per page view. The minimum cost is $5
per day.
Sony:
Company Background:
Sony Pictures is the television and film production and distribution arm of the technology
and media conglomerate Sony. Its group sales for 2010 are estimated at $7.2 billion.
Objective:
In February 2010, Sony Pictures ran a campaign on Facebook ahead of the release of the
romantic drama Dear John. One goal was to build awareness of the movie starring Channing
Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. The other goal was to get more people to connect to the
movie’s Facebook Page – the free public profile that enables companies to share their
business and products with Facebook users on an ongoing basis. Dear John represented the
studio’s largest social media campaign to date and focused on using social media marketing
to spread word-of-mouth recommendations
Approach:
On January 11, 2010 – a month before the film’s February 5 release date – Sony decided to
run a type of media buy on Facebook’s home page called a ‘reach block’, which guaranteed
that Sony could reach every Facebook user that logged on that day. Sony ran several types of
ads including Premium Engagement Ads that allowed Facebook users to interact with the
Dear John brand, directly from the advertisement. The ads consisted of Premium Event Ads
and Premium Poll Ads, which invited users to vote on “the best part about chick flicks” from
among several options, including “getting tips from the pros” or “sitting in the last row”. The
reach block used Facebook’s anonymized and aggregated targeting to build word-of-mouth
promotion for the movie among its core demographic of 13- to 24-year-old females. The
studio typically tailors its ads according to its target audience. It has noticed that polling ads,
for instance, tend to resonate more with females.
Results:
• Some 298,853 people connected to Dear John’s Facebook Page on reach block day – a
1,200 percent increase on the previous day’s total
• More than 1 million people eventually connected to the Dear John Facebook Page by
the opening day of the movie, marking the first time any Sony movie had achieved this
milestone
• A study on the Facebook campaign conducted by media research firm Nielsen found
that the ads drove a 16 percent increase in overall audience awareness of the film
• The same Nielsen study also found that the campaign led to a 2 percent increase in
“purchase consideration” for the film
Future:
The success of the Dear John campaign has led Sony to use the polling features available on
Facebook to gauge interest in upcoming titles – and to validate or change release dates
accordingly. The studio says this gives it an early sample of the intent to see a particular
movie by giving the title and actor names, and comparing the data to other movies being
released at the same time. With word of mouth being one of the top marketing drivers for
getting people into the theater, Sony says the peer-to-peer recommendations on social
networks like Facebook are invaluable. As part of another strategy on Facebook, Sony is also
getting talent involved in building online communities. For Dear John, Channing Tatum
provided personal video messages for users who clicked to ‘Like’ the movie.
FASTRACK:
Interesting applications like the “FT Girl”, “Store locator”, “Bikers”, & “Kickass cards” exist
on Fastrack page. All wall posts revolve around their products, offers, brand ambassadors,
stores across country etc. Applications on Fastrack page: Interesting apps on the Fastrack
page like, FT Girl where in Fastrack selects a pair of shades for you in an interactive way or
Bikers where in exclusive Fastrack accessories are presented in an interactive and appealing
way. But the best app of the lot is Kickass cards in which crazy kickass cards are be sent to
your lazy friends to make them stop procrastinating and start studying during exam time!
Such apps not only prop up the page but also make the user return to the page; thus
increasing user engagement and aiding in development of a bond between the user and the
brand.
FAST FOOD CHAINS:
Pizza Hut & Barista have maintained their fan page in an active manner, ahead of other
brands in this category. Pizza Hut has various interactive applications – “Hot on Dot”, “Hut
locator”, “VIP club”, which help community members in knowing new offerings, locating
their store, and creating an identity. Barista also has interactive applications – “happy hours”
and “breakfast”, which help them in engaging with their community members. The
administrator of Pizza Hut fan page handled discussions on varied topics such as FIFA, the
new hot on the dot plan by Pizza Hut, to the best getaway zones in the area.
TELECOM BRANDS:
The sector that has the fiercest competition in the Indian market does not quite have the same
competition when it comes to Facebook Fan Pages or social media marketing in general. As
can be seen from the visuals TATA Docomo is leading the pack with a large margin.
All brands in this category had their YouTube and Twitter accounts integrated with the fan
page, which is generally considered to be a wise strategy. Idea & Tata Docomo are the only
two brands to have used photos and videos on their fan pages.
Another popular brand in this category gives a clear message of acting as yet another sales
point. They had special tab for promotions and they also had many links to their website
regarding tariff plans for various purposes.
There is one brand which seems to be saying upfront that they are here for customer support.
They have 24 x 7 Chat applications, which they claimed was the first in the country on a
Facebook fan page.
TATA Docomo that leads the pack has a very well laid out page with links for their services
such as buddynet, online recharge, GPRS plans & mysongs. Moreover the page administrator
is very active and has replied to almost each and every query or complaint. (Imagine replying
to queries of almost 2 lakh people!) Although the other brands (except Airtel) are also doing
this, but then compliment goes off to the Docomo guys for effectively managing a fan base
of almost 2 lakh. Also brands like Docomo, Idea and Uninor have Facebook buttons or
banners on their company’s website to promote their Facebook page. The same is missing on
the websites of Airtel & Vodafone-India. This could be one of the primary reasons for Airtel
& Vodafone having less community members on their fan page.
Moreover, brands like Idea, Docomo & Uninor have shared many interesting photos of
offline contests that are regularly conducted by them. This not only increases a fans
attachment with the brand but also increases the fan base as friends of the person in the
picture also visit the page to view those photos. No such photos are shared on either Airtel or
Vodafone’s page Moreover, presence of interesting apps on the page of Docomo further
pushes up its engagement with its users.
CONCLUSIONS:
The importance of social media usage for marketing & PR purposes is gaining momentum
amongst today’s firms. Brands are coming up with innovative solutions to engage the
consumer and create brand recall and brand loyalty. Thus the important points to remember
in marketing on facebook are:
Fan Pages are public: As fan pages are indexed on search engines, any individual is able to
view firm’s fan page, through a simple search action. So, an individual need not be a
Facebook member, but still could visit firm’s fan page.
Facebook Engagement: A Facebook fan page could be an additional touchpoint between a
firm (brand) and its customers. The incremental cost of creating this touch-point is almost
negligible compared to other alternative media. Fan page enables firms (brands) to engage
with their current and prospective customers. We feel this should be the focus of firms in
creating a Facebook fan page
• Emotional Attachment: An engaging and an active fan page create an emotional attachment
between the brand and the fan.
• Brand Evangelists: It is not necessary that each and every member of the community would
be a present/prospective customer. Instead some members could play the role of a brand
evangelist. These members could share their experience with the firm and product with their
network members and play a role of brand evangelist.
• Engagement Tools: Facebook fan page facilitates firms to build varied custom applications.
These applications could be simply enlisting the offers and other sales promotions or could
also take form of some games, puzzles, etc. that ensure engagement with the community
members.
• Integration with other social media platforms: A firm’s fan page could be integrated with
other social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, TripIt, etc. Also, the RSS feed on firm’s
website and blog posts on firm’s blog could be integrated with the Facebook posts. However,
it doesn’t mean just automation of feeds would bring in engagement. Virtual medium users
are very sound these days and could easily make out the source of the feed. Hence, it is
essential for firms to bring in a human touch to the feeds and provide community members
true engagement
• Negative comment is not indeed negative for the firm: The fan page administrators should
not behave in an offensive / defensive manner on viewing a negative comment. This should
be looked upon as an opportunity to improve the shortcomings and create a base for future
better customer experience.
Product category - Engagement match: It is very essential to execute right type of
engagement with the customers depending on the product category a firm belongs to. This
could be monitored based on criteria like frequency of posts, type of posts, type of apps, etc.
A fan page administrator should take a call on whether contests and polls are going to benefit
the firm in any respect.
QUESTIONS:
1> What is the future of marketing on facebook in India?
2> Does ad spending on Facebook justify for Indian firms engaged in mass marketing?
3> What can be the consequences for Brands like Airtel and Vodafone losing to Tata
Docomo in terms of customer engagement on Facebook?
4> What other innovative programs for customer engagement can be designed by the
brands discussed above?
REFERENCES:
http://blog.socialmaximizer.com/14-tips-for-marketing-on-facebook/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Facebook-Marketing---How-You-Can-Create-a-Tidal-Wave-of-
Customers&id=4722793
http://www.yourstory.in/resources/social-media/4834-social-media-tips-for-startups-how-
facebook-marketing-will-transform-brand-awareness-in-india
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/07/13/more-consumers-using-facebook-and-
twitter-for-brand-engagement
http://entrepreneurindia.in/10-dos-and-donts-for-facebook-pages/6119
http://entrepreneurindia.in/use-facebook-to-promote-your-business/2725
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Facebook-beats-Orkut-in-India/
articleshow/6432385.cms
http://ads.ak.facebook.com/ads/FacebookAds/Sony_CaseStudy.pdf
http://www.indiasocial.in/fastrack-fans/
http://www.koolred.com/blog/viewblog.php?
blog=A130889480_1_1_1_1_1&pid=A130918816_1_1_1_1_1
http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/facebook-marketing-requires-unique-
success-strategies-7-success-strategies-to-effectively-market-on-facebook-3788336.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook