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Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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Name : SRIJIT CHATTERJEE Enrollment No. : A0101909442 Programme & Batch : MBA(GENERAL), 2009-2011 Section : C ______________________________________________________________ _______________ 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
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Page 1: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

Name : SRIJIT CHATTERJEE

Enrollment No. : A0101909442

Programme & Batch: MBA(GENERAL), 2009-2011

Section : C

___________________________________________________________________________

__

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

Page 2: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

 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

Page 3: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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:

Page 4: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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.

Page 5: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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

Page 6: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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

Page 7: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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.

Page 8: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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

Page 9: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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. 

Page 10: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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.

Page 11: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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

Page 12: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

• 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.

Page 13: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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!

Page 14: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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.

Page 15: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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

Page 16: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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.

Page 17: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

• 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.

Page 18: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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?

Page 19: Facebook Marketing Strategies Case Study

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


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