Dan Zarrella - The Facebook Marketing Book

Copyright 2010 Dan Zarrella and Alison Zarrella

The Facebook Marketing Book

by Dan Zarrella and Alison Zarrella

Published by OReilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472.

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Editor: Julie Steele
Production Editor: Rachel Monaghan
Production Services: Newgen North America, Inc.
Copyeditor: Linda Laflamme
Proofreader: Rachel Monaghan
Indexer: Denise Getz
Interior Designer: Ron Bilodeau
Cover Designer: Monica Kamsvaag
Illustrator: Robert Romano
Printing History: December 2010: First Edition.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

This book presents general information about technology and services that are constantly changing, and therefore it may contain errors and/or information that, while accurate when it was written, is no longer accurate by the time you read it. Some of the activities discussed in this book, such as advertising, fund raising, and corporate communications, may be subject to legal restrictions. Your use of or reliance on the information in this book is at your own risk and the author and OReilly Media, Inc., disclaim responsibility for any resulting damage or expense. The content of this book represents the views of the authors only, and does not represent the views of OReilly Media, Inc.

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Originally a network for select college students, Facebook first expanded into high schools, then larger networks, collecting students and colleagues across the country and, eventually, the world. Now you can not only identify your romantic partner and growing circle of friends, but also your parents and siblings. Your mom is on Facebook. Your sister is, and your daughter as well. Your college roommate, your first crush, and the former best friend you havent spoken to in years. Your grandparents may even be tagging you in family photos you forgot existed. Seventy percent of Facebook users live outside the United States. The fastest growing segment of users? Women 55 to 65 years old. Depending on how you measure it, Facebook either has already surpassed Google in traffic levels or is about to. The Facebook Application platform alone has been used by over one million developers to build more than 500,000 active applications.

Try to pinpoint the average user, and youll find most users are anything but average. Typically, a Facebook user has 130 friends, is connected to 80 Pages, Groups, and Events, and has created 90 pieces of content. Where else could you find someone who talks to over 100 people a day? And thats not even accounting for super users or influencers who often have thousands of friends.

Figure 1-2. The number of daily newspapers published in the US is down, as are their circulation numbers.

), and most television ads arent profitable. Facebook has a far larger audience than old media. That alone has been enough to convince some that its the perfect place to try a new marketing plan. If you need more incentive, consider the huge amount of personal information that users give the site and, therefore, advertisers. Facebook provides brands with new ways to target ads more effectively than ever before. The best part? All of this information has been volunteered by users. In many cases, they have actively opted in to more targeted advertising by liking ads or allowing Facebook to share their data with select external sites and partners.

Big Brands on Facebook

The worlds largest and most well-known brands are leveraging Facebook to build engaged and profitable communities. Coca-Cola has over 11 million fans of its Page, while Starbucks is closing in on 13 million. Vitamin Water launched an extremely successful contest on Facebook to choose the flavor, design the package, and name its newest drink. The company now has 1.7 million fans.

Figure 1-3. Sprinkles Cupcakes is a good example of a small business leveraging Facebook to improve its marketing.

Furniture giant IKEA announced the opening of a new location by posting showroom photos to Facebook. But it didnt stop there. Each item in the photo was up for grabs and given away to the first user to tag a piece with his or her own name. Within hours, thousands of people were scrambling to tag the pictures. Software maker Adobe targeted college students with its Photoshopped or Not game, asking users to decide whether an image had been manipulated. Six percent of students who saw the game clicked on a Buy Now button. To promote the launch of a vampire movie, Sony rebranded its popular Vampires application and launched a sweepstakes. In three weeks, it drew more than 59,000 entries.

How You Can (and Should) Use Facebook

Even small brands can get in on the action. Sprinkles Cupcakes () has more than 150,000 fans because of a Facebook-only promotion that ran in its stores. Luxury hotel chain Joie De Vivre offered a similar Facebook-only discount and booked more than 1,000 rooms because of the deals. Your existing and potential customers and all of their friends and family are not only on Facebook, but also logging in regularly and engaging with content on the site. Your competitors are probably already there, too. If youre not on Facebook, you need to play catch-up to avoid appearing out of touch. If your competitors are not yet using Facebook, youll gain major points with your audience by being there first.