Could Facebook become the internet? Is that a possibility? Could Facebook’s continuing growth and evolution, establish it as the mandatory universal channel for companies and individuals to communicate, share and shop? 
Facebook is the canary in the coal mine that is displaying a seminal shift in how we are using the internet and marketing on the Web. In the past I have looked at The 10 Best Facebook Campaigns, The World’s 20 Most Popular Facebook Pages and The World’s 10 Most Popular Company Facebook Pages to provide some perspective on the pace of innovation of brands within the Facebook ecosystem.
Observing how the various companies approach Facebook marketing can provide inspiration and thought provocation that nudges us to all take a good hard look at our current social media marketing practices. It raises questions such as.. are we integrating and optimizing our social media channels effectively?… and are we engaging with our readers and customers in the right manner and in the places where they are hanging out? .. and could we do better?
Three Facts to Ponder
- One in every eight minutes spent on the internet is on Facebook
- One in every 13 people on the planet is on Facebook
- 71.2% of all USA internet users are on Facebook
These statistics should stir you to thought and action as to how you can start to take advantage of the power of Facebook’s 700 million users.
How Do You Measure “Facebook IQ”?
“Facebook IQ” is the brainchild of Scott Galloway who recently published a study that utilizes a unique methodology that assesses luxury brand’s ‘Facebook IQ’. This approach was created by Scott (a Clinical Professor at NYU Stern School of Business, specializing in brand strategy and luxury marketing) and his team as part of an innovative digital marketing think tank labelled L2.
The study’s results were achieved by ranking luxury brands based upon 4 key metric categories to assess critical strength and weaknessess.
- Size and Velocity – Size of community and use of platform functionality. This includes the number of ‘likes’ and the growth rate.
- Programming – Brand content, responsiveness and creativity. This includes content variety and customised Tabs and interactive applications
- Engagement – Fan reaction and interaction. This measures elements such as the percentage of community likes and the number of fan posts
- Integration – Integration of Facebook across brand digital platforms. This looks at utilization of of the ‘like’ and ‘share’ buttons on external platforms and incorporation of additional social media properties
The study attempts to quantify the ‘Facebook IQ’ of 100 iconic “Prestige 100″ brands based upon the mathematical weighting provided by the study. It also ranked them from Genius (score 140+) to Feeble (less then 70).
The Top 10 Prestige Brands on Facebook
So who are the top prestige brands on Facebook..ranked by’ Facebook IQ’ and what is the Facebook IQ of ”The Top 10 Luxury Brands on Facebook” ?
Rank One: BMW
(Facebook IQ of 175)
“The ultimate social machine boasts the highest engagement in Index”
Rank Two: Clinique
(Facebook IQ of 165)
“Clinique’s 3-Steps to a great Facebook page? Content, interaction, and shareability”
Rank Three: Audi
(Facebook IQ of 156)
“Boldly designed apps keep fans driving to its page”
Rank Four: Lexus
(Facebook IQ of 154)
“Thank you, Michael L., Lexus Customer Satisfaction”: A personal touch in the Pursuit of Perfection”
Rank Five: Bare Escentuals
(Facebook IQ of 149)
“BE’s mantra of “Love. Understanding. Community” shines through in fan-focused page”
Rank Six: Benefit
(Facebook IQ of 149)
“Benefit makes its fans Feelgood by rewarding top contributors”
Rank Seven: Bobbi Brown
(Facebook IQ of 148)
“Customer service integration and radiating content make this page Pretty Powerful”
Rank Eight: Johnnie Walker
(Facebook IQ of 147)
“A smooth blend of tabs and a well balanced global community will make anyone want to walk with JW”
Rank Nine: Belvedere
(Facebook IQ of 142)
“Intense and Unfiltered: a strong cocktail of interactive tabs that keep fans thirsting for more”
Rank Ten: Tory Burch
(Facebook IQ of 141)
“A well-stitched and responsive page keeps its founder front and center”
Key Findings
1. Engagement vs Size and Quality vs Quantity
Burberry, Gucci and Chanel, three brands that have received massive attention for their three million+ Facebook communities, are all in the bottom quartile across the “Engagement” dimension, (ranked 94th, 88th and 87th, respectively). All three approach Facebook as
another broadcast channel and have failed to open their pages up to conversation, shareability, and the diversity of content that makes the Facebook medium so powerful.
2.Seen but Not Heard
Twenty percent of prestige Facebook pages, including those of many of the iconic luxury leaders, do not allow fans to post on the brand wall, suggesting the industry still largely sees the platform as a one-way communication vehicle. Brands allowing fan posts did better across the board, registering an average Facebook IQ of 107, versus 82 for those that did not allow posts.
3. Product vs Promotion
Facebook may be likened to the Walmart of the Internet, however analysis of more than 800 brand posts suggests prestige brand communities are looking for a lot more than price rollbacks. Brand posts detailing product highlights garner the highest interaction rates across prestige Facebook pages, with an average of 0.21 percent of the community liking or commenting. Contests and promotions posts trailed other content types in interaction rate, suggesting that though these tactics may be good at generating page growth, they do not drive engagement from the existing fan base.
4. Glocal
One of the challenges faced by prestige brands is managing a global brand with different products, distribution, and, often, relevance by region. With 70 percent of its users outside of the United States, Facebook magnifies this challenge. Across the Prestige 100, 40 percent of brands maintain regional pages to target local markets and/or locally targeted posts, while 60 percent anchor efforts around one global Facebook page.
5. Facebook is Not an Island
The strongest Facebook campaigns are integrated across platforms and offline media. However, many prestige brands’ Facebook efforts sit in isolation. Only 48 of the brands provide a permanent link to Facebook from their site, while a little more than half allow users to share content by embedding the share API and less than a third incorporate the Facebook “like” technology
6. F-Commerce: The New, New Thing
While half of brands provide a link to their e-commerce sites, and 20 percent regularly link to e-commerce in their wall posts, at time of data collection none of the Prestige 100® offered a fully integrated e-commerce Facebook platform. With the advent of Facebook iFrames, the growing experimentation of mass retailers, and search for ROI, F-com is likely to see a great deal of investment on the platform over the next 12 months.
What are some ideas can you take and apply to your brands Facebook page?
Image by Fahmishah