A successful Facebook marketing strategy has a balance of paid, earned and own media. It’s not enough to pay for Facebook ads and ask users to “like” your content, believing that it’s building your overall social media strategy and fan engagement. Now, brands need an integrated approach that balances paid (Facebook ads), owned (announcements on Facebook) and earned (word-of-mouth, shares, likes and recommendations). Earned media is the most valuable type of Facebook content because it’s authentic word-of-mouth marketing.
Why is earned media so important?
Just how valuable is this content? Well, 78% of users trust recommendations from friends, while only 14% trust ads. However, earned media is the most difficult type of content for marketers to develop because they can’t directly generate “likes,” shares and recommendations from their fans. They have to rely on their users to organically create content and share it, comment or “like” it with their networks.
Also, the more recommendations and shares from your users, the more trust your brand will earn and the more engagement you’ll have on your Facebook page. By getting your fans to do the sharing for you, you’ll get a lot more out of the campaign that a Facebook ad. In fact, earned media campaigns have a longer life cycle because content sharing continues even after the initial campaign has ended.
So how do I get your users to share your content? For marketers, this means creating campaigns that are designed for engagement and sharing activity from your fans. Here are four easy ways to build a social media campaign to generate earned media:
1. Each user is unique
Brands are increasingly turning to branded applications (apps) on their Facebook page in order to boost organic conversations about their content. According to a recent Facebook engagement study, users are more likely to broadcast their results if the content reflects their style, interests or personality. Top users of Facebook apps are likely to share their results for quizzes, pick-your-favorites and trivia.
When putting together your next social media campaign, think about how your users will express themselves. If you’re putting together a trivia question, for example, think about how you can ask questions that allow users to express themselves or share an opinion. Also, make sure that there is a button to share the results on their Facebook page.
2. Give them incentive to share
Popular Facebook campaigns – like giveaways, coupons and sweepstakes – are likely to get users to access your app, but the entrants are less likely to share this information on their Facebook wall. Therefore, the earned media value of these campaigns is low because they generate less user engagement.
The reason that the entrants are not sharing your content because they have no perceived value to share. However, this does not mean that you should stop these campaigns entirely. A robust social media marketing campaign includes constant updates and varied content that is designed to elicit different types of user interactions.
3. Keep it simple
What are you asking of your users? Do you want them to upload their own content, enter a sweepstakes or invite their friends to join your branded app? Make sure the instructions for the activity is clear – your users have a short attention span and will quickly move on to different content if the activity is too confusing or time consuming.
4. The age of influence
Not all users are created equal. Marketers want to get users to share their content and grow their network, but they also want to make sure that they’re attracting the right people. Make sure that you are recognizing the fans that are sharing your content the most and give them an incentive to come back. Also, if you’ve asked users to enter a sweepstakes, recognize the winners on your page and give them the option to share that they’ve won with their network.
If you follow these simple tips, you’ll build seamless Facebook campaigns that generate more engagement than paid or owned media. However, keep in mind that a successful earned media campaign is just one component of your overall social strategy – paid and owned media content is just as important to build engagement.
The massive shift towards mobile has opened up new opportunities for companies to communicate with their customers. This mobile landscape is drastically changing the marketing ecosystem: the channels that brands use to sell their products, the product development life cycle, the “mobile first” customer journey, and community growth. The mobile experience is forcing companies to rethink and redesign how they communicate, sell and provides services for their customers.
Mobile first movement
The mobile first movement advocates that brands should design their content, functionality, and user interactions around the experience on mobile devices first – before desktop or tablets. Brands are increasingly embracing this movement because it opens up innovative ways to get ahead of their competitors and provide a unique customer experience.
Brands that focus on building their customer engagement on mobile will unlock opportunities for two-way conversations with customers, and build long-term engagement and loyalty. Through mobile interactions, brands can generate product awareness and community growth faster and more efficiently than ever before.
Integration with social channels
Brands that are succeeding in mobile are taking advantage of the unique characteristics that mobile offers, such as social integrations, interactivity, gamification, real-time feedback and geolocation capabilities. By combining these various channels, brands can give their users a rich experience that they couldn’t otherwise achieve through traditional marketing strategies. Mobile provides a platform to start a conversation, instead of broadcasting product announcements or replicating content on their website.
Two thirds of user-generated tweets mentioning brands are now executed through mobile devices. Are brands making the most of this valuable channel? Are they analyzing the engagement with their audience and optimizing their campaign accordingly?
At Sparked, we believe that social actions are the key to a successful mobile engagement campaign. A social action is sharing your content through Facebook shares, Tweets, pins on Pinterest or photos on Instagram. Here are a few tips to build a mobile platform that delights your customers and builds long-term loyalty:
1. Build a community: Create opportunities for your customers to connect with other members of your brand community so that they can share content with their networks.
2. Use various channels: Modern devices support rich customer engagement: interactive messaging and voice apps, geolocation services, mobile payments and content curation to name a few. A successful mobile customer engagement strategy will encompass many or all of these mobile application channels by providing brands a rich platform to manage the relationship with their customers.
3. Don’t reinvent the wheel: A successful mobile customer experience doesn’t detract from your customers’ journey. What do your customers want? In what ways do they want to interact with your brand?
4. Design for social actions: Design your app for maximum engagement across various social channels. Are you launching a new product or want feedback on a campaign? Ask your fans for feedback and to share your content with their extended networks.
5. Measure engagement: How are users engaging with your app? Measure user engagement and integrate with a larger CRM system or measurement tool. Use these metrics to help inform your mobile strategy and provide the best experience for your users.
In order to build the best mobile customer engagement strategy, brands need to understand their customer’s mobile profile. How do they want to communicate with your brands and how can your open up channels in order for them to do so? How can you use social actions to enhance the customer journey and use these interactions to measure ROI on your mobile investments?
Many brands use one-off Facebook campaigns to drive traffic to their site, grow the number of fans, generate new leads, or increase conversion. By offering a special promotion, they can often create a spike in sales while the campaign is running. The drawback to this approach is that while the campaign can generate a significant increase in Facebook traffic, it isn’t building overall engagement or long-term brand loyalty. While brands may be bringing fans to their page and generating sales, they are missing out on the long-term engagement possibilities that Facebook (and integration with other social media channels) can offer.
The value of instant engagement
Many brands opt for a one-off campaign because they can see instant engagement and ROI. However, these fans may only be accessing the page to get access to a special promotion, not switching their brand loyalty. In fact, a recent study by AisleBuyer found that 75% of consumers would switch to a different brand if the brand offered them a discount or special promotion.
What are some of the reasons that brands would run a one-off campaign?
- Promotions to drive traffic to retail stores: Some brands offer special promotions to their Facebook fans to generate more foot traffic to their stores or to see an overall increase in their Facebook fan base.
- Fan gate to increase “likes”: Some campaigns provided gated content to capture “likes” or emails to build a fanbase and generate leads.
- Competition: Running a competition such as a photo upload or brand story can be an excellent way for brands to capture Facebook likes and receive unique content from fans.
Not all engagement is created equal
Fans will invest more of their brand passion into submitting user-generated content than liking your Facebook page. Also, by actively managing your Facebook engagement and cultivating a passionate community over a long period of time, you can build a foundation of brand ambassadors. A proactive approach that is centered on improving your fans’ experience with the brand can build a more of a buzzing community.
Here are some of the benefits of long-term engagement versus a one off campaign:
- Authentic conversation versus pacify criticism: Do you use your Facebook page as a customer feedback platform? While this can be a great way to communicate with fans in real-time, you are reacting to the conversation instead of managing the dialogue. By building up a relationship with your fans around unique content and one-on-one communication, you can steer the conversation from complaints to more involvement with the brand.
- Is your content starting a conversation? With more involved campaigns, you can ask feedback from your fans, run campaigns to generate their own content to share with their extended networks or get them involved in the co-creation of new products.
- Asking questions of the community: Using your Facebook page to get feedback in real-time is an often underused benefit of this social channel. As we’ve discussed before, Facebook is an invaluable platform to co-create with fans on products. You already have a base of fans who know your product inside-out, why not use their expertise to mold the product?
Do you know of any great Facebook engagement campaigns? We would love to hear your feedback!
Facebook Home hit half a million downloads this weekend. This is only a fraction of the more than a billion active Facebook users as well as Android’s billion active user base. In other words, less than 0.001% of users have downloaded the platform. The slow adoption has been attributed to the limited number of devices that Facebook supports, such as Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, HTC One X, and the HTC One X+, along with the HTC First.
This application is trying to position Facebook at the center of mobile users’ digital lives. This is a strategic move considering the amount of time people access their mobile devices. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the average mobile consumer looks at their screen at least 100 times a day.
Location and content will be a new opportunity to track behavior
If users adopt this technology, advertisers will be able to interact with consumers in new ways: geotargeting will give them opportunities to reach customers through the places they frequent and access to friends’ interests will give advertisers the option to show customized recommendations.
Many users originally joined Home because of the attractive design but found that the app’s ability to tap into all aspects of their social network overwhelming. The app may be prioritizing social features over the basic user experience, such as making calls or accessing other apps. Also, there is no ability to curate content that your friends are posting. So everyone can see your friends’ embarrassing photos on your lock screen or home screen.
Is this an app or an operating system?
What does this app mean for the consumer? The app is off to a rocky start with mostly negative reviews and some cumbersome functionality. Also, it may be facing challenges because it fits somewhere between an operating system and an app. Wired has given it the appropriate title as an “apperating system”; others have labeled it a “launcher.”
What can users expect from Facebook Home?
- Newsfeed ads that include page posts and sponsored stories
- Uninterruption in brands’ ability to show ads. Consumers can access their friends’ content and be served relevant ads through the “Cover Feed” and home screen
- Cover Feed that shows your friends’ activities
- Texts and Facebook features all in one places
- Profile features let group chats seem more personalized
- For multi-taskers, you can now chat from anywhere on your device, even if you’re surfing the web or watching a video.
For advertisers, Home is an exciting opportunity to access users by providing content that taps into their personal experiences. For users, Facebook takes over their phone, which many people find cumbersome and invasive. Are you a Facebook Home user? What do you think of the user experience?
As we’ve discussed before, many digital strategists struggle with finding a balance between engaging a core group of superfans or focusing on lower levels of engagement with a larger pool of fans. At Sparked, we believe in growing your superfans so that you have a bigger base of really passionate brand advocates.
Current social media technologies are limiting in the tools they provide for community management: less than 1% of fans engage with Facebook content and Twitter shows the same content for all of your Facebook fans. With the Customer Advisory Board, brands see fan engagement of between 10% to 20%.
But how can you grow this group of superfans? Here are some quick tips to turn your passive fans into superfans:
1. Provide some friendly competition
Want to try out new brand messaging or product view? Create a contest through the Customer Advisory Board and get feedback on from your social media brand ambassadors all in one place. The reward for giving feedback to their favorite brands is enough incentive to keep coming back to participate in more activities. A leaderboard will also drive your fans superfans to engage more with your content.
2. Stay up-to-date
This may sound obvious, but keep track of industry news and form your activities around trending topics related to your product. It’s likely that your fans are following the news as well, and have opinions about best practices and what’s going on in the industry.
3. Recognize engagement
Your superfans want to feel that they’re being recognized for all the work they’re doing for your brand. When your fans reach a new level, or unlock a badge, give them a shoutout on Twitter or Facebook that they’re doing great work for your brand. These shout outs will create awareness throughout your less active fans that there is opportunity for rewards.
4. Game mechanics of scarcity
The concept of diminishing resources is not new. Applying this concept to motivating your superfans will spur them to act faster to reach new levels and participate in more activities. For example, provide a reward for the first 10 users once they reach a certain level and make sure that you notify the rest of your community that you reward participation. This is especially relevant for eCommerce companies, since scarcity and exclusivity can really drive users to interact with your content.
5. Building a culture of innovation and creativity
Your most loyal fans want to feel like they are a part of your brand. Asking for feedback on products or to brainstorm on campaigns is a great way to get real-time feedback and drive engagement. Plus, your fans might come up with some great ideas that you can use in their next campaign. Do you have trouble coming up with trending hashtags? Ask your fans what they think the next hashtag should be.
Marketers are shifting their focus from courting “likes” on their Facebook page to generating content that their fans want to share. When a consumer shares content, they are endorsing it to their extended network. This is especially significant for marketers because consumers are really paying attention to what their friends are buying, sharing or liking. 68% of Facebook users are more likely to buy based on an earned media (such as a share or comment) from a friend.
Facebook has even updating its algorithm to adapt to the increased value of shares. Facebook’s Newsfeed algorithm gives up to 1,300 times more weight to shares than likes, when it comes to the content that users see at the top of their feed.
Brands know that content is king. The trick is to generate the right kind of content that gets your fans buzzing and bringing them back for more.
1. Brand engagement or click bait?
The shift from likes to shares has forced many brands to rethink the type of content they’re posting on their Facebook page. While a photo of a cute puppy might get a lot of likes, it’s not building overall brand engagement or adding to the overall brand story. Creating meaningful content such as an infographic or case study will increase your engagement and build up advocacy.
2. Give them something exclusive
Giving your fans a unique offer in exchange for a share can be a really powerful motivator. Especially for the social shoppers out there, sharing content with their community in exchange for a coupon is a social proof way to generate authentic engagement.
However, exclusivity doesn’t have to be a special reward or coupon: giving your fans access to an elite community can be enough to boost participation. For example, many brands are rewarding their most loyal fans by giving them access to content. This is especially prevalent in the music industry where fans are given the option to “share to reveal.” Fans are given access to music videos or song downloads In exchange for sharing with their networks.
3. Ask your fans for feedback
Asking your fans for help is one of the most underused and most powerful ways to encourage sharing. The bottom line is that your fans want to feel that their opinion is heard. Offering them the opportunity to give feedback on your brand, such as which version of a product is better, or to vote on special offers, helps boost engagement and ensures that they’ll want to share.
4. Identify and reward your “superfans”
As we’ve discussed before, superfans are extremely valuable to your Facebook engagement. Giving this group of social media experts recognition for the work they’re doing for your brand not only will increase their level of sharing, but it will encourage your passive users to want to join the “superfan” club. These fans generate successful campaigns by recruiting their extended networks, creating their own tweets, Facebook posts and pins.
Once you’ve identified these superfans, you need to make them an integral part of your marketing campaigns. Reward them with preferential treatment, such as early access to new items, or shouts out on Facebook or Twitter.
5. Promote. Analyse. Repeat
You’ve created that infographic and sent it out across your social channels. Now what? Evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign and how much engagement it generated. Who are you most loyal fans? Do they want brand stories or special rewards? Maybe a promotional video isn’t the best option to build social engagement. Review the effectiveness of your campaign and make sure you follow steps 1 through 4.
Mobile has become much, much more than another device to share content; it is an essential opportunity for brands to develop authentic customer experiences. 46% of users log in to social media through a mobile device and consumer engagement with mobile apps increased 85% from 2011 to 2012. Many brands are struggling to find how they can leverage this device to create experiences that are valuable to consumer.
What does the mobile phone provide for social media?
- Immediacy: Users expect immediate satisfaction when they interact with a brand’s mobile app.
- Simplicity: mobile is ideal for creating seamless and organic brand experiences.
- Context-focused: there are no other distractions that take the user away from the brand experience. When the use clicks on an app or video, they are completely engaged with that one medium.
Too often, brands focus on how they can get the most out of their customers, not why their customers would want to use the app. When developing a mobile brand experience, you need to consider these three questions:
- What does the user want?
- What does the user need?
- What unique experience can the brand provide to make the user continue to come back to the app?
As the future for brand interactions, the mobile environment will also lead to greater engagement and result in more conversations. Rather than being bombarded by ads from the brand, consumers feel that they are engaging one on one.
As brand interactions shift to mobile, so does the campaign strategy. Frequent exposure to a brand is not the same as a quality brand experience. Instead of multiple touch points from various ad media (print, banner ads, digital campaigns or social campaigns), consumers need a platform to build a long-term relationship with the brand.
The good news is that brands already has a ready and willing influencers to spread their brand message; customers are more than willing to engage with your brand. These fans often define who they are by the brands they love – whether it’s, “liking” a brand on Facebook, pinning their favorite designs or touting it on Tumblr.
Maybe the discussion should shift. The question is not how consumers can engage with the brand but instead how brands can become part of their fans’ personal brand. Brands now have the opportunity to build a more organized structure for these organic conversations with engagement platforms and services.
