Facebook is starting to become somewhere where brands want to spend a lot more time hanging out and engaging with their fans and the best way to do that is through the Facebook fan pages. We have given you some tips on how to set up a great Facebook fan page, the ultimate guide to Facebook and now we wanted to give you some inspiration from some of the brands getting it right on Facebook. These brands have used Facebook to great effect with some innovative campaigns and unique interaction on their pages. Have a little look through the pages and see what ideas you can grab to help you start or improve your own Facebook fan page and become fans of some of these pages so as you can just how good the interaction is first hand….
Coca Cola
We will ignore the tons of great features that Coca Cola have on the page and the great interaction through user generated content and focus instead on the unique way in which the page cam about to show off Coca Cola’s smart thinking…. The page was originally started by 2 fans unofficially before Coke even had a presence on Facebook. Instead of taking the page down Coke gave the users the power to run the page for them, invited them to the Coke factory and showed them around and allowed them to take pictures. The 2 fans are still heavily involved in the running of the Facebook page.
The Hangover
One of the best movies of recent times didn’t limit their marketing to traditional channels and created things like their slick hangover photo app which allowed users to take photos and skin them with the hangover branding and send them to friends through Facebook. The page also features the usual snippets from the movie, photos and allows you to tell them what sort of hangover you have today. Simple but fun.
Red Bull
One of the best branded companies in the world are at it on Facebook too. You can follow what their team of sponsored athletes are up to through the page (and Twitter) as well as being able to interact with them. There is tons of exclusive footage from behind the scenes and you get to see all the events that they sponsor around the world as well as being able to play with some of the little Facebook apps they have built.
Disney
The Disney page is visually stunning and doesn’t disappoint on functionality either. The page features an ‘Exclusives’ tab, where you can buy tickets to exclusive screenings from within the page (leads through to Paypal). The page is regularly updated with images, video and gossip from screenings. Fans are interacting regularly too – there are currently over 3,000 fans’ pictures on the page.
Ben And Jerrys
The Ben & Jerry’s wall isn’t updated very frequently, which is a shame as their last update received 568 comments and 3,216 ‘likes’.The page does feature ingenious apps, such as the ‘flipped out’ app, where you can flip any text you want (in honour of their new flipped out range), details of Ben & Jerry’s events and regular polls on how you like your ice cream.
Oxfam
Oxfam have utilised positive calls to action throughout the page, driving donations, pledges and calls to find out more about particular causes. They’ve added plenty of multimedia content to the page, including games and animations that really help to bring the brand alive. They also have a tab for the Oxfam shop, with sales, featured products and the Oxfam shop finder.
Manchester United
One of the biggest football clubs in the world has lots of interaction on this Fan page including photos of all the action and their players, lively discussion boards where player’s futures and performances are discussed and some fun little polls around the club. You also have the ability to talk directly to the club by sending them an email, the page pulls in RSS feeds from some official blogs and last but not least listen to some of there fan songs.
U2
One of the biggest bands in the world were fairly late to embrace social media but when they did they have come in with all guns blazing. This is our favorite of the bunch as it includes the ability to do lots of funky stuff like get ringtones, get exclusive backstage footage from the band’s concerts, the ability to listen to their music from within the page and lots of interaction around going to the actual gigs and some fun little quizzes.
Ashton Kutcher
The Ashton Kutcher page is regularly updated with short video posts that enhance the page and users also have the chance to join him on a live webcast within Facebook, through the ‘Ashton Live’ tab. The webcasts feature live streams of viewers’ status updates, so you can interact with other fans. This is a great way to encourage interaction on the page and encourages repeat visits as you can RSVP for the next screening of the webcast.
Benefit Cosmetics
Though it doesn’t quite have the kitsch style that the brand is well known for, the Benefit brand have recognised the importance of adding functionality to their page, and encouraging viral spread of content. They currently have a competition to win a Benefit beauty bash, where you have to tag friends in pictures as your ‘Best Benefit Girls’. They also regularly interact on the wall, releasing teasers and new product information, which keep a healthy conversation going on the page.
Update
Christian just pointed out another great example so we thought we would add it in (being Irish and all)
Guinness
Guinness are having a huge marketing campaign around Arthur’s day and have built this amazing page which features lots of interaction including a petition to make Arthur’s day a public holiday and the ability to give your friends a virtual gift of a pint of the creamy black stuff.
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I’m absolutely loving the Guinness 250 Arthur’s Day petition ( http://short.ie/artursdaypet ). Could you imagine getting a public holiday towards the end of September? It’d be such a nice place to have one, and a tribute to one of Ireland’s greatest philanthropists.
Yeah and a great bit of marketing by Guinness
Fair play to them though as I am loving this campaign. They are defo spending shed loads of cash but it seems to be worth every penny as to have people going around (like my friends are) looking forward to “Arthur’s day” and talking about a brand so positively is def a case of job well done on the marketing front and a good one to wheel out every year too as I am sure it will be nothing but a success this year.
Your 10 examples are all massive companies whith huge marketing budgets and expertise. Have you any examples of Sme’s who have made a success of using Facebook
Rob it is a good point and you can be sure that one of our next editions will feature “10 great Facebook Pages from small businesses”. The good thing about FB pages though is that the barriers to entry are pretty low so you don’t have to be a big brand to get involved
These are some pretty cool Facebook Fan pages, but I agree with Rob these are all massive companies with huge marketing budgets and expertise. I too would like to see some smaller companies like Twitter Moms which has used Facebook to really help grow it’s popularity and network community. Or Women in Business Networking, Inc which is non-profit business organization catering to women business owners has gained a good size following from Facebook too.
Niall – happy to hear that you’ll feature some small businesses next time.
Thanks for that Holly. Agreed that there are some great small business pages out there. They often have more personality to them to whith people putting their heart and soul into them. Watch this space very soon for the top 10 Facebook pages for small business and don’t worry I’ll be sure to check out those ones you suggested
[...] up a simple Facebook page and upload your [...]
[...] Facebook pages at great length here in the past and discussed how they are great for business and shared some great examples of the best ones but one question that we always get asked is how do you get more people to become a fan of your [...]
[...] The page was originally started by 2 fans of Coke before the company had their own presence on Facebook. Instead of taking the page down and rebuilding their own, Coke gave these users the power to run the page for them. In addition, Coke invited them to the Coke factory, showed them around and allowed them to take pictures. This aspect of the CocaCola fan page makes the page more genuine rather than a promotional campaign by Coke. [...]
Impressive list of how firms use FB to communicate with their consumers. I was researching the top firms using FB and voila this helps. Thanks