Facebook and Brands
With 500 million members, a movie about how it came to be and a 23-year-old founder who is the youngest “self-made” billionaire on the planet, it is no wonder Facebook is in the news and a part of research studies all the time. I recently came across a six-country survey from DDB on Facebook and brands and thought I would share some of the findings.
If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest behind China and India (United States would be fourth). It added over 200 million users in less than a year. In May 2010, Facebook topped Google for weekly traffic in the United States. Here are a few more stats:
- More than 400 million active users
- More than 35 million users update their status each day
- Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
- 50 percent of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
- Average user has 130 friends on Facebook
- Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
- Average user is invited to 3 events per month
- Average user is a member of 13 groups
Based on much of the information I shared above, it is not hard to understand why Facebook is becoming such an important marketing vehicle for companies. But wait, there’s more:
- More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
- Nine brands are followed on average
- More than 80,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect since it became available in December 2008
- More than 250 Facebook apps have more than 1 million monthly active users
- Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
- There are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile phones
- People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice more active than non-mobile users
- The main reasons these people connect to Facebook is fun (49%), talking to close friends and family (32%) and information (16%)
Of people who follow brands on Facebook, 55 percent of them follow brands in the media/entertainment sector, 51 percent in the causes support sector and 46 percent in fashion/luxury goods. Ads are the primary driver to brand pages at 75 percent followed by a friend’s invitation at 59 percent. Personal research (web search) came in at 49 percent.
As to why people “Like” a brand on Facebook, taking advantage of promotional benefits came in first with 84 percent saying this is very important. Liking the brand, wanting to know about new products, access to exclusive information, being able to give opinions about the brand and to express support of the brand are a few others that followed.
Since following brands on Facebook, 36 percent want to buy the brand’s products more and 61 percent want to buy the brand’s product as much as before. A whopping 92 percent also stated they would recommend the brand to a friend after following it on Facebook.
Based on some of these findings, here are a few tips for making sure you are getting the most out of your brand’s Facebook Page:
- Treat your fans like VIPs – offer exclusive content; provide information about products and give promotional offers before going to the general public
- Create events at your company and invite your fans
- Provide the ability for your fans to take part in games and competitions on your Page
- Get fans involved in the development of new products and offers
- Provide the ability to order products directly from your company’s Facebook Page
- Make your company representatives available for discussions with your fans
All of this information makes a pretty strong point for a company to have a Facebook Page. However, don’t just start a Page because the research tells you to. Make sure you go through the proper planning phases before launching your Page to ensure your customers are truly receiving a benefit for connecting with your company.
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