Brands make their mark on Facebook

Over the last few months we have seen a bunch of brands jumping onto the Facebook bandwagon. Trying to take advantage of the trend and engage the youngsters on Facebook — demographics are becoming more diverse — the most recent to see it backfire was Walmart.

My opinion on why Walmart failed, besides all of the other obvious reasons, is that they aren’t a brand that appeals to the youth. It’s like trying to market Pick ‘n Pay or Pep to the youth. They aren’t at the stage in their lives where they need to be bombarded with messages to buy household goods. Sure, the campaign might help with brand awareness but why would a youngster want to interact with a brand that has no relevance to him or her.

So, then, who is getting it right? Apple and Skittles are. Let’s take a look at why it’s working for them.

Apple
Apple created a sponsored Facebook group called Apple Students. What a perfect way to build brand awareness and brand loyalty, as they are present and potential future customers.

Student discounts
In the group, Apple advertises products on the right hand side of the page. What makes these adverts so interesting is that they offer student discounts of between $79 and $249 on selected items.
Student content
This is a feature within the group page which allows users to view original content “Made on a Mac” by students. This is great for students to showcase their work. There are also tutorials to get you started.
The result
Over 420 000 thousand people have joined the Apple Students group. On the discussion board within the group, there are almost 13 000 discussion topics. I think that is pretty impressive. Talk about interaction around the Apple brand.

Skittles
Rodney pointed this out this morning, Skittles sponsored gifts on Facebook.

They created a limited edition Skittles Gum gift and best of all it’s free to send to your friends. To support it they created a sponsored group, Skittles. This has increased brand awareness.

Skittles game
Skittles have included a Flash-based game on the group page allowing user to be entertained and interact with the brand. It’s a really simple game, not the kind that will keep people coming back all the time, but it’s still fun the first time round.
Consumer opinion
Skittles believe that your opinion matters. They ask you to take a short survey to let them know what matters most to you. They also have a quick poll on the left hand side of the group page. There’s nothing like great consumer feedback.
The result
Just over 8 700 users have joined the group, submitted 22 photos, over 400 wall posts on the group page. There are also 26 discussion topics. I am not 100% sure on how long ago Skittles started the group, so I am assuming it is recently. The results aren’t too bad so far. In fact, it’s more impressive than a lot of other sponsored groups and campaigns on Facebook.

If you’re thinking of marketing on Facebook, know how to engage the youth. With so many users in one place, there is some great potential to foster brand enthusiasts and spread viral content which is relevant and appealing (or hilariously funny).