Even though your boss may have ‘like’-vision, take a moment to think about what worked before the Facebook era to determine if other vehicles are perhaps playing a ‘behind the scenes’ supporting role to Facebook brand successes.
I am going to jump onto the Facebook bandwagon to bring you what I have learned so far (but I do not promise to stay on the wagon for long). I know that Facebook is an inexpensive form of advertising and yes, I agree, it has forever changed marketing.
Below I dig out three high level key takeaways gained from playing in the website and fan page sandbox thus far.
Across both platforms, it still holds true that it is not just about quantity but about quality of traffic.
So this means that while you may have X amount of traffic, X number of fans and X number of likes, these numbers are arbitrary unless the proper audience is attracted to the experience and (secondly) the experience influences them with the right information. To provide insight into traffic patterns for each platform, I generally see that the Facebook fan page attracts entrenched brand consumers who want to spend time engaging with the brand on a personal level, whereas the brand website takes on the role as an educator across a multitude of visitor types. The stratification in visitor-typing should be built into the foundation of each experience to provide relevant information to each audience.
Branding efforts can differ across experiences and should be planned accordingly.
As the Fan page becomes more popular in the media mix portfolio, the role of websites is more streamlined today but yet holds stronger influencing power over the bottom of the purchase funnel. Furthermore, exposure to the Facebook fan page often leads to increased equity scores. This is not to say that both platforms don’t do the job, but that each persuades more strongly at different parts of the purchase funnel (with the fan page moving equity and relationships while the website makes the conversion). It is a graceful balance.
So to be more specific, the website should house several different types of product information such as detailed content about existing products, product reviews, product suggestions, replacement suggestions for discontinued products, new product announcements and product ingredients. But where I have seen the Fan page act as the perfect ‘friend’ to existing owned media (i.e. brand website) is when fan page content tells a complementary and cohesive storyline. This is done by extracting information from the bigger picture shown on the brand website and creating a chapter to bring to life on the fan page.
The influencing power is strongest when there is exposure to both experiences.
Again, this is especially true when both platforms work together by pulling out a focused storyline for promotion on the fan page. This strategy makes sense especially when cross-promoting on the two platforms; capturing attention on both will only solidify the core brand values, as our research shows that equity statements resonate to peak levels when a dual experience occurs. However, when it comes to WOM metrics, positive buzz is most likely spread after the website visit (differing from all other KPIs that usually are higher after a dual exposure to both experiences).
This is an interesting finding for two reasons: First, perhaps Facebook is wrongly labeled as the top platform for WOM growth, and second, it seems the website is still needed to stand behind all other Digital experiences to push up KPI levels.
So again, I challenge you to think back to the time when Social Media was not as prominent and merge those learnings into today’s Marketing execution. For me, the data shows that the brand website can still stand alone, but I am not fully convinced that this would be true if the situation were reversed (for Facebook).
I am open to change this thought especially with the rapid pace of the Digital realm, but for today, I personally need more evidence that Facebook is not just a 2010-2011 trend in marketing.
CRM Metrix
-An Inflexion Interactive Partner
