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Companies are now spending billions of dollars annually on social media to create brand awareness and lead generation. A significant percentage of this money will be spent on Facebook, with the goal of increasing a brand’s fan base through either Facebook page applications or Facebook ads. The number of Facebook pages with 1 million fans or more has soared from 300 in November 2009 to 3,000 in August 2011; there are now more than 140 Facebook pages with over 10 million fans.
As the race for fan count becomes less rewarding and distinguishing, marketers should take a look at innovative opportunities to increase brand awareness and loyalty within Facebook by hosting or promoting exclusive content on their pages. A significant prospect is for brands to take advantage of new social entertainment opportunities by sponsoring movies, music, concerts and sporting events on Facebook.
Here are a few tips on how today’s social media-savvy marketers can leverage Facebook to differentiate and engage fans:
1. Sponsor popular pages that your fan base would appreciate. Companies can sponsor live concerts on Facebook in exchange for dollars and promotion of the event to your fan base. For example, in June rock band Widespread Panic’s concert was sponsored by companies like PayPal, Heroku, Symantec and others in exchange for partially funding the live event to 19 countries around the world.
Each sponsor was given significant exposure during the event and on the event page, and fans were treated to some of their favorite songs.
Finding partners to sponsor the broadcast of live events will reduce the cost significantly while still creating lasting impressions with fans. While social entertainment hasn't yet reached a critical mass, there are enough events in the works that could benefit from sponsorship dollars. Early adopters of these sponsorship opportunities are likely to get good deals, so keep an eye out for these opportunities.
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Managing the New Customer Relationship: Strategies to Engage the Social Customer and Build Lasting Value
Valuable Content Marketing