How to Utilize Facebook Fan pages for Branding

There has been a paradigm shift in branding methods with social media becoming an integral part of a company’s marketing plan.

And with Facebook being the most popular social networking site in the world, it is an obvious choice for firms who want to leverage the medium to connect with the youth.

Boasting of a whopping 900 million active users and with the third largest population in the world after China and India, Facebook is the best platform for brands to spread word of mouth, create awareness about their products and directly interact with their target audience.

Innovation is the key

The fan acquisition number game is definitely a yardstick that measures your brand’s popularity index.

Coca Cola with more than 50 million fans on their Facebook page, Rihanna with more than 60 million ‘Likes’, are known to have the most popular Facebook Fan pages with the maximum number of loyal fans.

Why loyal?

Because the biggest challenge for a Facebook page lies in holding the fan’s attention to the fan page so that he keeps coming back in spite of the numerous distractions that pose a threat to lure him away.

And both these brands have successfully managed to keep their fans glued to their pages.

Constant innovation, creativity and out-of-the-box thinking are the three most important ingredients of a social media branding mix.

Every brand is vying to grab mindshare by breaking the clutter and going ‘viral’ in the digital space.

The power of word of mouth has never been so strong.

Now you can ‘like’, ‘share’ ‘tag’, ‘post’ and in no time an entire network of ‘friends’ and ‘friends of friends’ will be discussing and talking about your product.

Ingredients of a right social media mix

A visually-appealing Facebook page layout, eye-catching photographs, videos and links, cool apps, exciting promotions and contests – all in all a heady concoction of fun and thrill is sure to make your Facebook fan page a runaway success.

Announce launch of new products and services, generate awareness about your brand by frequent post and updates, and engage your customers by seeking their opinion and feedback.

Truly, a vista of opportunities lay before you to explore a cost-effective branding tool in your FB fan page.

Engage the audience

The success of a Facebook fan page is primarily because of the ‘we are in this together’ feel that it creates by collaborating with the audience on a personal level.

It serves as a boost to the customers’ ego by urging them to share their ideas, thoughts and experiences with the brand, thus enhancing brand loyalty.

Other strategies like contests offering exciting prizes, rewarding the ‘Best Fan’ with maximum activities clocked on the page also help to increase customer involvement and augment customer delight.

Customers appreciate value additions.

Additional links relevant to the quintessential features of the brand like ‘fashion tips’ if you are a cosmetics brand, ‘fitness tips’ for a health food brand or interesting applications add a lot of value to the customer’s lives and enhance their experience with the brand.

Hit the bull’s eye with Facebook Insights

A crucial aspect of branding is to identify your exact target group to chalk out a scalable media plan that helps boost your sales and take your revenue curve to an all-time high.

The Insights section of your Facebook fan page will provide you with all the data you wanted regarding your fan’s visits; helping you to tweak your plan for future activities accordingly.

Not only are the biggies, even the small and medium size enterprises are using Facebook as a branding tool to reach out to their customers.

But it is important to have a concrete plan in place to leverage the maximum benefit out of this medium.

So don’t rest on your laurels if you have just acquired a whopping fan base.

The challenge is to constantly engage the audience and keep their interest alive.

Use your Facebook fan page to feel the pulse of the market and get an edge over your competitors.
You’ll win.