“The consumer isn’t a moron. She is your wife.” ― David Ogilvy
This week Facebook released their third quarter results, with news that they had reached 1 Billion users. Pair that with recent research showing nearly 58% of Facebook users are women, with 18% posting daily status updates and that adds up to more than 500 Million active women on Facebook daily.
So what does this have to do with breaking through the clutter of Facebook?
Simply put, know your audience.
As David Ogilvy famously stated above, it’s insulting if you assume a quick slogan (or in the case of Facebook, a promotion, contest or blankly paid ads) will persuade anyone (especially your wife) to buy anything. It’s the combination of creativity, information, and audience desire that make good ads great, and bad ones worse. The same holds true for Facebook content.
Last week we looked at a number of brands doing a great job to break through the noise on Facebook, and this week we have three more to examine.
Social Fresh uses Expion to monitor the most engaging posts from the past week on Facebook. Out of all the big brands we monitor, we call out at least three Fresh Facebook Posts to feature here.
1. Disney
It’s easy to say that Disney has a rabid fan base not just online but in real-life, we’ll put that on the table up front. So that being said, let’s look to how exactly Disney is leveraging that brand value to communicate with their fans on Facebook.
They have posted a photo of Thumper (of Bambi fame) along with the modified maxim “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” There is no cute caption to the photo, no mention of what movie it came from, yet they have racked up more than a quarter of a million likes and 80,000 shares in three days.
Disney knows the power of emotion and nostalgia in storytelling; it is what drives the stories they create for millions each year. Broken down simply: they’re introducing a cherished character with a universally good message.
The visual emphasis isn’t just about posting a photo for Disney Facebook content, or to drive more sales of Bambi DVD’s (which you know there had to be an influx of search queries for Bambi, Thumper, and the quote) but offering these insanely loyal Disney fans resources to align (and define) themselves with quality characteristics that their favorite brand also shares.
That thought is pretty powerful when you consider how people like to personalize their own timelines.
2. Build-a-Bear
So last week I said never to underestimate the power of a cat photo, this week you can see why. Build-A-Bear released their new Christmas bears exclusively on Facebook this week, and it’s chock-full of cuddly teddy bear goodness.
From this Christmas Cookie bear to the adorable Merry Mint Pup, Build-a-Bear is giving their fans exclusive access to new products on their page. Posts like this can bridge the gap in customer demographics. Teddy bears know no age limit, and there are just as many 30 year old women receiving bears from their significant others as there are 6 year olds going to the workshop with their grandparents and creating the bears themselves.
While there’s no Build-a-Bear branding on the photo itself, they have included the bear name, release date, and photo copyright in the caption, which will inform anyone who sees the image through a share where and when they can get it.
3. Zappos.com
Zappos recently did a feature on Keurig brewers on Facebook, but not only did they use a photo to introduce the topic, they turned a simple status update into a live Q&A session with Keurig themselves participating.
Take a quick look at the ingredients of the post, and you’d think it’s pretty busy. They have a photo with a title, subtle humor from The Office mug, a Zappos logo, a caption including another message about morning coffee, and finally a call to action to save with a mail-in rebate. Yet the simple fact that they’re hosting and inviting live interaction from Zappos staff as well as Keurig makes this post a winner.
While Zappos doesn’t create the product they’re able to create the conversation around it, and help customers answer questions they might not know. For example, did you know you cannot buy the K-Cups from Zappos, just machines? Now you know.
There’s a technological angle here to consider as well, while they’re creating an image that can definitely inspire conversation about what kinds of coffee you like etc., more importantly they are increasing the number of comments on their posts.
From what we have learned about recent Facebook Edgerank changes, shares, comments and likes matter more than ever before. This quick Q&A not only gives Zappos some great interaction on Facebook (while building interest and hopefully demand to buy Keurigs from them), but also injects a healthy dose of comments into their Edgerank equation.
Bonus: Red Lobster
As a special holiday treat, I had to include another bonus post.
This week Red Lobster nailed it, 128,000 likes, 17,000 shares in under two days, and with Halloween still three days away, this will definitely get some more play before the week is out.
There’s not much more I can say about how awesome this photo is except, always get permission from someone before posting a photo of a child.
Exclusivity
Perhaps there’s something special you can do for your fans on Facebook to create this exclusivity within a status update. What if your CEO sat on Facebook for an hour and responded to your fans’ comments? What if you launched your next product update with a Facebook photo?
That kind of exclusive interaction is what travels fast online. It’s what makes Rupert Murdoch responding to an angry WSJ subscriber on Twitter so newsworthy! Break down those barriers and open up to your customers.
PS. Do you have any brands you regularly see breaking through the clutter with awesome content? Let us know in the comments or by submitting them to this form.
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Data provided by Expion, a social software company. Expion provides scalable enterprise-grade software to listen, content plan, publish, moderate, analyze, govern and share content on Facebook and other social channels across thousands of users.