Although it is a relatively new phenomenon, social media platforms are very quickly turning into a vital aspect of any marketing campaign. For any business having a flexible presence on the “BIG THREE” (Twitter, Facebook and Google+) is a must if a business is to succeed on a global scale. You can be very successful as a local business but if you don’t have a website or are not actively posting information on social networking sites then you are potentially missing out on the opportunity of having many of the 665 million daily users that are actively using Facebook viewing your products and services. Unfortunately if you are lacking a Facebook account or a website the strategic link to reach out to your consumers is missing.
Still not convinced? We have provided some quick facts (2013 Social Media Marketing Industry Report) that clearly show the tremendous role of Facebook in today’s world of business:
- 89% of businesses that have a dedicated social media platform as part of their marketing strategy report of a significant increase in exposure
- 86% of businesses state that social media is a very important aspect of their business
- Over fifty percent of businesses who use social media report that they noticed a significant increase in sales
Now that we have identified the influence Facebook can have on your target market we take an insight into how successful companies showcase their brand on Facebook as a way of building their reputation and updating their consumers on social happenings.
Coca-Cola
In 2013 Coca-Cola used Facebook to compliment their TV campaign to help deliver a message to a much wider target audience, to encourage engagement and inevitably to see extraordinary results. This forward thinking and innovative company worked very closely with Starcom Mediavest (media agency) to develop a novel strategy that set itself apart from anything that has been done before. It made full use of Facebook advertising over a period of two months while promoted a six minute video that followed a family of bears take their journey across the arctic. The key to the success of this video is that it was broken down into thirty seconds clips and shown during prime time TV. On the day the video was aired Coca-Cola ran a logout experience on Facebook that played a video piece when the user logged out.
In the same period Coca-Cola experienced an increase of 27% in sales which were mainly due to the Facebook campaign running in conjunction with the TV campaign. The impressive fact is that Coca-Cola only used 2% of their media budget and the majority of the success was down to active engagement from the public.
In reality people enjoy being a part of a business that is proactive in building a lively community. Having an emotional connection will only strengthen your brand meaning this kind of relationship building opportunity should not be dismissed.
