Brands are always clamoring for more Facebook followers. After all, more followers translate into more engagement, which in turn means more visibility. Check out four of the most successful brands of Facebook — and what you can learn from them.
1. Disney
With a Facebook audience that is 100 million strong, Disney is nothing short of a social media gold mine. Loads of fans means that Disney content always attracts loads of attention. While the average number of Likes for brand-initiated Facebook posts is 571, Disney’s postings average a stunning 115,792 Likes.
So, what’s the key to Disney’s success? Track Social credits it to Disney’s emphasis on visually driven content that virtually every American can relate to, from pictures of princesses walking down staircases to princes on magic carpets. The takeaway here? The more people that can relate to your content, the better.
2. Coca-Cola
With 57 million fans, the one thing that Coca-Cola doesn’t lack is followers. The beloved America soft-drink brand is actually the second most popular brand on Facebook. It’s true that Coca-Cola’s engagement scores aren’t as high as some of other brands on this list.
In part, that is because of the brand’s sheer number of Facebook followers (the larger the audience, the more Likes and comments are needed to keep engagement scores high). While the brand’s engagement scores might not be out of this world, its “buzz” score, which reflects the number of followers talking about the brand online, is one of the highest to be found on Facebook.
According to Track Social, which monitors the Facebook activity of more than 10,000 companies, Coca-Cola has the fifth highest Buzz score of all.
What’s the secret to Coca-Cola’s success? Well, the brand has structured social media content around storytelling. Marketers have constructed “a collection of your stories showing how people from around the world have helped make Coke into what it is today,” the brand explained.
Coca-Cola lets fans do the telling, engaging in and not controlling the conversations. Each day, fans from around the world visit the page to express their love and share stories about Coca-Cola, which plays a key role in their lives. The brand is taking a backseat by joining, not hijacking, these online conversations.
“Doing so shows respect for our consumers and celebrates their creativity,” the company’s blog explained. The brand also poses questions to fans and followers, such as: “What’s your favorite time of day to enjoy an ice-cold Coca-Cola?” This is, in part, is what works to drive up the brand’s buzz score.
All in all, Facebook has proved to be a tremendously successful marketing option for Coca-Cola. 27% of Coca-Cola’s incremental sales are generated by Facebook using only 2% of the gross media budget, and Facebook offers a higher ROI than all other forms of media advertising. Furthermore, a recent study revealed that 35% of total purchase behavior was driven by the synergistic effect of Facebook + TV.
3. Starbucks
This coffee giant not only reigns supreme over the world’s coffee market, it also has managed to develop a loyal Facebook following. With a following of more than 27 million people, Starbucks has more Facebook fans than many countries have citizens. And when it comes to Facebook, Starbucks just might be the king of engagement.
Posting an average of one a day, Starbucks’ feel-good, artsy posts garner an average of 15,000 Likes per day, which is three times the global average. Comments are more than 15 times the global average. While the average post will bring in about 37 comments, Starbucks posts rake in an impressive 567 comments.
One of the tricks to Starbucks’ tremendous Facebook success: Encouraging engagement via incentives. For example, when preparing for the annual rollout of the beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte, Starbucks decided to let its Facebook fans decide which U.S. and Canadian cities would be able to enjoy the beverage for a week before the official national launch.
An innovative Pumpkin Spice Latte app allows fans to earn points for their cities by doing a city shout-out or solving a daily challenge. A real-time leaderboard on Starbucks’ Facebook page kept the competition intense all the way up until the end of battle (spoilers: Chicago and Calgary won and were served delicious Pumpkin Spice Lattes a week before everyone else).
4. Red Bull
A killer social media strategy has given this brand social media wings. This prominent energy drink company has managed to situate itself as an adventurous lifestyle brand across social media. Bold content is the key to Facebook success for Red Bull, which is currently about 39 million fans strong.
Each piece of content it posts regularly garners thousands of likes, comments, and shares, making Red Bull a true Facebook success story when it comes to engagement rates. Red Bull’s Facebook proves that the brand is about much, much more than 8-ounce energy drinks — it’s about adventure, excitement, and extreme sports.
The goal isn’t to flash Red Bull products or the Red Bull brand across the site; it is to provide Red Bull fans with content that is exciting and visually compelling.
From pictures of snowboarders pulling off extreme aerial twists to mud bikers flying high off of a ramp, if there is one thing Red Bull is good at, it is capturing audiences’ attention (and pictures of flying athletes not only captivate, they also mesh quite well with Red Bull’s “Give You Wings” tagline).
And that translates into success both on social media and off of it: The company sells a staggering 4.5 billion cans of Red Bull worldwide each year.
From MavSocial | Complete Visual Content Management & Social Publishing Software
