Patrick Yu:
https://www.facebook.com/facebook
Almost every big company today has a Facebook page. Some are obviously more impressive than others. Often it seems as if rival companies compete for who can have the best, most successful, and most viewed Facebook in an attempt to spread their name. Out of all the companies in the world, one could assume that Facebook itself had a wonderful page on its one site, and they do. Facebook’s Facebook is a well put together and clean looking page which obviously uses all their site has to offer. This could be an attempt to set an example to other companies, encouraging them to use all of Facebook’s features, or a way to promote themselves by using their own features.
Due to the nature of Facebook's product, their page doesn't give away any premiums or have any promotions to attract customers. However, they do routinely post with statuses and updates regarding their new features and services in an attempt to spread the word about new options.
In order to encourage user participation and interaction, Facebook offers live Question and Answer sessions with celebrities and people who they promote. They also encourage the average Facebook user to comment on their posts and updates. Facebook statuses on the Facebook Facebook page often generate 15k "likes" and 10k "comments" along with a few thousand shares.
Along with the Q & A sessions and the user's ability to comment, Facebook routinely creates a post about what the average Facebok users is doing on a special event, such as Valentine's day, often highlighting a few users who take advantage of the features well.
Facebook doesn't really respond to people who post to their page due to the fact that they receive so many comments. It's pretty impossible for Facebook to even remotely answer all the questions they receive on their page. The flow of information is mainly one way.
New material is constantly being posted to the page, often highlighting a new Facebook feature, an event that Facebook sponsors, or just a cool video that they want to share, in an effort to be just like an average user.
As a whole, Facebook does a pretty good job with their page. I particular like the fact that they use all the features of Facebook, even the ones that the average user would not use. They use these features well and it encourages users and other companies to do the same. It eases the transition when Facebook changes its user interface. Facebook also does a good job of marketing themselves. They often post updates about themselves that show them in a positive light, making them a more like-able and marketable company.
Jenny Chen:
Maplestory, widely known as a role-playing online game, is
the must-play game of 2013. In this popular video game, players are allowed to
customize their character to their liking – whether it be through hairstyles,
clothes, equipped items, and much more.
Accumulating almost 1 million “likes” on their Facebook
page, Maplestory’s Facebook page provides an abundant amount of resources for
its players. Such opportunities range from delineating information about
variously themed events, such as gaining 2X the amount of EXP (experience), to announcing
on-sale items in its Cash Shop.
Because of Halloween, Maplestory has held various events related
to the Halloween-theme that involves give away free items to its players. Because
of this, players would want to play more, since a reward has been given to them
– hence the feature “premium” being fulfilled. Their Facebook page also
provides various surveys (and consequently free items for completing the
survey) to ask its players about what they could do to improve the video game.
This “participation” role allows the player to feel important and vital to the
betterment of the game. Not only this, they update their Facebook page several
times each day to remind its players of their events and giveaways. Reaching
the Maplestory staff is accessible through their “support” pay by e-mail or
phone, allowing the players to contact authorities if a mishap occurs.
Throughout all this, Maplestory’s commercial page has
completed an effective job of social media marketing, as it customs its events
to the likings of the players.
Eric Hsieh:
https://www.facebook.com/ASUS
ASUS has facebook pages set up for different countries around the world. I will be analyzing the ASUS global facebook page. ASUS is a world leading computer and motherboard brand. On its global facebook page, new contents/posts are made everyday, sometimes, multiple posts in hours. ASUS posts user-submitted pictures and stories regarding computer hardware overclocking and arising new breakthrough in related technological fields. Besides the information ASUS posts on its facebook page, ASUS always host free-giveaway events, such as free game code or free products. With the observation from above, I would say ASUS did a good job at content flows and keep its fans/members interested.
However, as for the customer service portal, ASUS allows users to post freely onto its public facebook wall. Most of the posts are technical support related, and are mostly local. i.e. ASUS global directs the users to its local ASUS pages or stores. Personally I think it is fairly fine for ASUS to ignore some users seeking for technical help on its facebook page, since ASUS does have a complete support ticket system on its website. A thing that is worth noting is that even though they do not provide technical support directly on its facebook page, ASUS does not clearly state that they do not wish users to ask for help on its facebook page. Instead, ASUS let its members help the others (by saying that the user should go seek help at asus.com)
Kenneth Do:
https://www.facebook.com/Amazon
Amazon has a large presence on Facebook that complements it's position as one of the, if not the, largest and most dominant online retailer. Amazon sells a plethora of products thatinclude but are not limited to games, apparel, and office supplies. In addition to it's main Facebook page, Amazon has sub-pages on Facebook that cover some of it's more substancial departments such as Amazon Music and Amazon Books. Using these sites, Amazon is able to connect with their users on a more personal level. With over 21,000,000 "likes"/followers, Amazon takes advantage of social media to be able to reach out to it's customers through these mediums. Based out of Seattle, Washington, Amazon is able to provide and distribute products to it's costumers all across the world, from the UK to Japan.
If subscribed to Amazon's Facebook page, one would immediately realize that Amazon has an incredibly large flow of content. Amazon is able to put up on average about 3 posts per day. In addition to just the abundance of content, Amazon is able to provide diversity among its content. Because of the variety, Amazon is able to accomplish two objectives. First, Amazon is able to cater to a greater audience. On October 29th, Amazon posted up content about a possible car video game, music, and New Balances. These three posts cater to three very different and specific types of customers. More importantly, the structure of each of these posts vary. Unlike most posts by other companies, Amazon rarely ever allows posts that showcase a product. For example with the same three posts mentioned above, Amazon presented them in the forms of a quiz, a deal, and a poll. Using these different approaches, Amazon is able to engage and communicate with their customers. While almost all of the posts are generated by Amazon, Amazon is still able to bring their customers in and allow customers to voice their opinions. In addition, Amazon continues this conversation by actually responding to comments here and there. Because of this, each post on Amazon's Facebook page receives on average over 1000 likes and hundreds of comments. With this effective customer service portal, Amazon is able to keep many of it's customers satisfied and left feeling Amazon cares.
Tony Lin:
https://www.facebook.com/EA
Electronic Arts (EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. They deliver games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets. EA has more than 285 million registered players and operates in 75 countries. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality blockbuster brands such as The Sims, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Need for Speed, Battlefield and Mass Effect.
When one access EA’s Facebook page, one can tell that EA is doing an okay job of marketing on social media because it features premiums, content flow, and provides a customer service portal, which most users care about. EA does giveaways if you purchase a product from other companies that collaborated with EA, in recent case, Slim Jim. This way, users can unlock in-game contents that others who did not purchase it can not. The page does have an effective content flow especially with the release of their new game, Battlefield 4. Other than the new game’s information and trailer, it also features other famous EA games such as The Sims, Plants vs Zombies, and much more. The page would have been more attractive if there were user-generated content that could help promote EA more on social media. In addition, EA could do a better job at customer service portal in that rather than directing users to other pages, they could answer everyone’s concerns or questions on the same page to increase participation, which they lack.
League of Legends (LoL) is an online multiplayer game that has created an immense and intense fan following. Online streaming of the LoL championships has reached over 1 million viewers and LoL has had to launch multiple servers throughout the world to keep up with the amount of users. It's popularity can be partly attributed to the size of this game's social media marketing presence, which can be seen by how popular and how much content is on the LoL Facebook page.
One look at the LoL Facebook page and one can immediately see a mix of user-generated content and self-published content. The latest material such as patch notes, new characters, new character skins (special costumes for characters which can be purchased with real money) are always posted on its wall minutes after they have been released. Some of its posts feature fan art such as cosplays, drawings, sculptures, and recently Jack-O-Lanterns. LoL even has a dedicated page towards fan-art submission and publishes videos highlighting some of the best recently submitted work. Additionally, there is a special give-away for users who like the Facebook page in the form of a premium character skin that cannot be purchased. However, these seems to be the main source of content on its wall. In the past 2 months, there has only been one "poll" asking for users' favorite position to play. User comments are mainly left unaddressed, although the game does have a specific forum meant for issues. Although there is not much participation or customer service portals on its Facebook page, it still has done a good job in engaging customers. The sheer amount of content by itself and users shows how effective LoL is in social media marketing.
The first thing one thinks about when someone mentions ESPN is sports. The second thing would probably be the TV channel, and then their website, where all the latest hype and hubub of the sports world is shown to the world. But, ESPN also has a strong presence on social media websites such as Facebook. Today, we are going to do an analaysis on the efficacy of ESPN's social media presence on Facebook.
The first thing that pops out is the sheer amount of content flow. There are usually multiple posts everyday with regards to topics in sports. User interaction is highly encouraged, and Facebook comments on a story are reflected in the comments section on the actual website. In other words, there is a strong customer service "portal", as when a story comes out, the number of comments by users on social media can be from the hundreds to the thousands. Thus, although there is no traditional gallery of pictures or what not of user generated content, the comments for each story more than demonstrate the power of social media to allow users to participate and voice their opinions. While most of ESPN is free to use and access, and on their Facebook page, there is some unique content such as pictures, there are no real premiums. ESPN has special Insider articles that one must pay a subscription fee to access. Unfortunately, their Facebook page has no special promotions to access those articles. But, since the focal point of their page is to provide an outlet for communication between users and its content, as opposed to selling a product, this is not a debilitating con. Overall, ESPN has utilized social media to great effect to spread their stories and generate more buzz.
Matthew Shong:
I have chosen to do an analysis on the Coca-Cola Facebook page. I believe this company has done substantial in social marketing on certain aspects of their Facebook page, but the characteristically long intermittence between posts and clear lack of incentive for users to post on the social media page itself are areas where great improvements can be made.
Coca-Cola’s social marketing campaign on Facebook is a mere shadow compared to the entirety of its marketing campaigns around the entire globe. This widespread advertisement and popularity is clearly evident in its 74+ million likes on its Facebook page. The Coca-Cola company thus clearly has a solid foundation of fan/client base for its marketing to be successful, I’d say, on any social media front. However, with over 74+ million likes on Facebook, each of its posts rarely garnishes more than a couple thousand likes (6,000 max in the last couple of months). In addition, the frequency at which these posts come out are seldom within 3-4 weeks’ time and are quite often spanned by a period of more than a month between posts. I believe that this lack of posting by the Coca-Cola Facebook page causes a lack of participation from the Facebook community and can explain the blatant disparity between the number of likes on the Facebook page versus the number of likes per post.
Although the lack of posts decrease general user participation, the quality of each post in offering premiums, opportunities to submit user generated content, and forums for Coca-Cola enthusiasts to communicate are the saving grace of this social media page. Recent posts have offered an open participation from members of the page to offer opinions on what they think should go in Coca-Cola’s new commercial. A previous post asked for images and galleries of members drinking interacting with a bottle of Coca-Cola. Also, posts incorporating celebrities (Brazilian soccer team) have generated substantial traffic on the page in terms of likes and comments when there are posts.
After analysis, I believe that if the Coca-Cola Facebook page posted more often with a continuation of the successful posts that they have done, they can use their existing widespread popularity to make a huge impact on the social mediated world.
Tiffany Sam:
The HTC Taiwan Facebook page does not appear to be doing an effective job of social media marketing - it lacks premiums, a customer service portal, and user-generated content but has decent content flow and participation.
Perhaps because the phones are luxury, expensive items, HTC is not inclined to give away premiums, especially when it appears to be an established brand already. With 343,000 Facebook "likes," most of the traffic by fans takes the form of likes and comments. However, these comments do not quite measure up to be a customer service portal as the comments asking questions about the products all go unanswered. This point leads into the lack of user-generated content; the Facebook page is very one-sided with the page posting content and users only liking and commenting rather than posting their own new content.
For the most part, this Facebook page revolves around posting pictures and videos of famous celebrities using the HTC products, usually posing a question to the fans to discuss. The page has decent content flow, posting anywhere from 3-5 photos or videos in a day. Additionally, for some reason, although there are no premiums and an ineffective customer service portal, the posts still receive up to 5,000 likes.
The success of the page seems to be the cultural facets of having celebrity sponsors rather than relying on successful social media marketing tactics.
Justine Law:
https://www.facebook.com/skittles
The commercial social media page that I chose for evaluation is the Skittles Facebook page. This commercial page is doing an effective job of social marketing because of its incorporation of user-generated content, user participation and their content flow.
Skittles Facebook page offers photo contests for fans to participate in. Every photo that gets uploaded onto the Skittle's Facebook has a chance to be featured as Skittles' BFF (Best Fan Forever) for the week. This contest allows fans to post their own content; at the same time, it helps advertise Skittles. Each picture must include the user "tasting the rainbow," which is the company's slogan. Skittles also includes the area and country from which the user is from, maybe to create a sense of unity around the world, or a sense of locality for others that are from the same country. In this sense, Skittles uses this user-generated content to do the advertising for them, something that most commercial pages aim to do.
Users also comment and post onto the Skittles page -- recently, they have been negative comments because of the drastic change Skittles has made; they changed the lime flavor to green apple. In addition, Skittles recently released a controversial advertisement involving kids "Frenching the Rainbow," which is deemed inappropriate for kids and offensive to parents. However, these negative comments are never out of line or verbally violent. They all maintain decent grammar, and sometimes match the creative and hilarious personality of the Skittles page itself:
- "Here I am, eating the candy that we're supposed to give out to Trick or Treaters, and I get a mouthful of "What the heck flavor is this??" At first I thought that there had been a mixup in the factory and some Wild Berry or other kind of Skittle was put into my ORIGINAL FLAVOR bag. Then I read the small print, and alas, my heart was crushed. I had been betrayed. Even Benedict Arnold would have found this act despicable. Or was it Benedict Cumberbatch? Whichever. Green Apple is an atrocity. We the people of the National Association for Rainbow Colored Candy demand satisfaction."
- "Dear Skittles, as I prepared to enjoy a bag of ORIGINAL Skittles, I was shocked and horrified to discover the unfortunate replacement of lime with green apple. As my tastebuds spiraled into a pit of despair, I wondered in what universe it was acceptable to include green apple in the elusive rainbow?"
The constant content flow of the Skittles page keeps fans coming to see each status and photo update. Skittles' statuses are not only funny, but are also completely unthinkable:
- "Every time you eat Skittles this Halloween, a vampire high fives a werewolf."
- "Every once in a while, beards like to shave themselves off and go have adventures."
The comments on these statuses are mostly positive, and these humorous statuses are "shared" 100-200 times, yet again boosting the advertisement with the help of users. Because of the outrageous status posts, Skittles easily maintains the attention of its users. The Skittles' Facebook page is also linked to their Twitter page, which gives more regular updates.
At this moment, the page does not hold premiums, although it did before: they held contests for free candy and free beanbag chair giveaways. There is no specific customer service portal, but users feel free to post their reviews and thoughts onto the page itself. Overall, I think it is successful because of its content flow, participation and its entertainment value.
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