What is a Facebook Promotion?
What exactly is a Facebook promotion and why should you run one?
We’ve spent the last year building Facebook promotions for brands such as Buick, PETA, Red Vines, and The Black Eyed Peas. Based on our work experience, I’ll throw out our definition of a Facebook Promotion.
A Facebook promotion is a marketing campaign that aims to achieve at least one of these three goals on the Facebook Platform.
- Acquire new users/Likes
- Engage an above average percentage of my existing fanbase
- Bring coolness and relevance to my brand
#1 Acquire new users/Likes
You can bring new users to your Facebook Page from three channels: owned media, bought media, or earned media. A Facebook Promotion can act as a converter to convert users from these channels into Likes on your Page. Advertising a Facebook sweepstakes with required Like from an email list is a good example that converts an email address into a Facebook Like. Sharing within the promotion can also gain reach as your promotion will virally spread. We have had promotions that began with 1,000 users spread to over 10 million users.
#2 Engage an above average percentage of my existing fanbase
Promotions should be exciting to your fans. We use the term NJS (not just a status message) to describe the value a promotion offers. Many brands have difficulty thinking up interesting content to post on a regular basis. There is good reason for this. Most customers engage with your brand primarily through your product. They may like your product but not care deeply about connecting with your brand messages. Promotions that involve product giveaways or sharing product experiences can give brands NJS content to post that can regularly excite the fanbase.
#3 Bring coolness and relevance to my brand
With the quickly changing communication channels of consumers, it can be easy for brands these days to fall behind and become “your parents car/appliance/beverage/etc…” Nurturing an active fanbase on Facebook is a strong message to consumers that a brand is communicating in modern ways and is relevant to modern consumers. A sharable promotion can bring additional coolness/relevance. If a brand gives fans something compelling to share, the friends of fans will encounter the brand via friend endorsements. This is a fresh replacement to the normal top down advertising model.
What are the exact types of Facebook promotions I can choose from?
We have identified three types of promotions on Facebook. These don’t hold 100% of all Facebook promotions, but likely somewhere around 90%.
- Give Stuff Away (examples: Giveaway, Sweepstakes, Contest)
- Create Content to Share (examples: Make a Baby, Me WRT to Your brand)
- Let users give stuff away (examples: Like Match, Community Giving)
In our next post, we will dive into these three types of promotions and give you decision metrics for choosing what will be best for your brand and your goals on Facebook.
Like to know more about Facebook promotions? Check out our free webinar: “Choosing Facebook Promotions For Brands”