I first created my Facebook account when I was a sophomore
in high school. I signed up because so many of my friends had already created
accounts that I felt out of the loop. I had always been an avid user of
MySpace, but when that began to die down I turned to Facebook to fill the void.
Initially I was not that into Facebook; I would check my account once a week if
that. Now I check Facebook almost everyday and often several times a day. In
fact, the majority of my peers have a Facebook account that they are constantly
checking. This is one of the things that makes Facebook such a strong medium,
the frequency that many users access the site.
I primarily use Facebook for casual social interactions. I am Facebook friends with most of my friends from both college and home. During my sophomore year of high school, I participated in an exchange program where I had an Italian student stay with me for two weeks. Over that period of time I became very close with my exchange student, as well as all of the other ones that were staying with my friends. When it came time to leave, we all decided to keep in touch using Facebook. Many of the Italian students already had accounts, which came as a surprise to me. Even more surprising was when I decided to search for my old pen pal from Nepal and actually found her. We had been pen pals when I was in fourth grade, as we had been studying Nepal in my history class and each of us were assigned a different pen pal. I did not expect to find her at all, because for some reason I assumed people in Nepal would not use Facebook. I was very wrong.
According to Facebook’s statistics, the company “had 845
million monthly active users at the end of December 2011, 80% of which reside
outside the U.S. and Canada. At this time, the company also had more than 425
million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile products. The company had
483 million daily active users on average in December 2011. The website can be
used in over 70 languages,” which makes it globally accessible. Check out the link to these statistics below.
The fact that Facebook is able to reach hundreds of millions of people each day from all over the world is one reason that Facebook is an excellent marketing tool. Another reason is that Facebook is inexpensive compared to other marketing platforms. If a large business wants to create a Facebook customizable/business page, which almost all of them do, they do have to pay. However if a small or recently opened business is looking to increase awareness via Facebook, there is no reason they cannot create a free fan page for the business. This allows small businesses to get their names out there online for no cost at all. Facebook also provides the opportunity for advertisers to buy space on the side of the website. Personally, I try to ignore these ads as much as possible and I would assume that most of my peers do the same. However since Facebook is so widely used, the ads do get a lot of exposure.
Although there are many reasons that Facebook is a great marketing tool, it could also be argued that it has some drawbacks. For example, there has been a huge problem in the past where random people have been creating fan pages for businesses, when they are not associated with the business in any way. This causes issues because then businesses are being represented by someone outside of the company, there is no way for them to monitor the content being posted, and the public will most likely think that the fan page was created by the business. Another drawback to Facebook marketing is clutter. There are so many fan pages on Facebook that many users do not know what they should or should not "like." Due to the cluttered environment, many fans do not think to search for some of their favorite brands since they are being bombarded by so many other brand pages.
Overall I really think Facebook is a crucial part of a company's marketing strategy. This is because so many people use Facebook and expect most companies to have their own pages. In a study conducted at Rice University, it was found that "companies that use the popular social-media site Facebook and its fan
page module to market themselves to customers can increase sales,
word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty significantly among a
subset of their customers." This conclusion was drawn after a study was done on Dessert Gallery (DG), which is a Houston-based cafe chain. The company had no Facebook presence prior to this study being conducted. The results are as follow:
The study, based on surveys of more than 1,700 respondents over a three-month period, found that compared with typical Dessert Gallery customers, the company's Facebook fans:
- Made 36 percent more visits to DG's stores each month.
- Spent 45 percent more of their eating-out dollars at DG.
- Spent 33 percent more at DG's stores.
- Had 14 percent higher emotional attachment to the DG brand.
- Had 41 percent greater psychological loyalty toward DG.
Clearly, Facebook is an effective marketing tool. However, the article also points out that Facebook can best be used as a niche marketing tool, since only Facebook users are really going to be affected by companies' Facebook marketing campaigns. Check out the link to this article below.
One company that really does a great job at using Facebook as a marketing platform is Domino's Pizza. Below is a screen shot I took upon first arriving at the Domino's page. The link to the page is below the image.
I was immediately struck by the red and blue layout design, as it strongly reflects the company and its signature colors. This helps maintain the strong Domino's brand image, which is the red, white and blue and the Domino's logo. Next, I noticed the Think Oven box in the center of the page. This is an interactive interface that features two tabs: current project and idea box. The current project tab is a place where Domino's describes something they are working on changing. Then Facebook users can suggest solutions to the project. The current project is to help the company design its new uniforms. An award of $500 each is being offered to the two best written ideas as well as the two best visual ideas. A deadline is also listed, which creates a sense of urgency for the interested Facebook user. The idea box is a place where users can submit any ideas they have that they would like to share with the company. I think the whole concept of the Think Oven is a very good idea because it creates an opportunity for user interaction. The cash award for the current project creates an incentive for people to submit answers. This will definitely increase the page's "likes" because people will be visiting it more often to use the Think Oven. I also think people will be more likely to tell their friends about the page because of the contest and cash awards. Check out the video below to learn more about the Think Oven.
In addition to using Think Oven, Domino's also provides other avenues for user interaction. For example, the company often posts status updates showing pictures of various pizzas with interesting captions. Statuses also often include questions or conversation starters that get a lot of users involved by commenting or liking the status. Often times the status updates will actually ask for likes, saying something like, "click like if you're celebrating Mardi Gras today!" Domino's also posts polls and links to draw users in. The company posted the image below on Valentine's Day. This photo was shared by 132 people, meaning that the image was probably seen by thousands of people simply from fans sharing it. We can assume that a large number of people also saw this photo from Domino's post.
Posting interactive status updates makes it fun for users to be Domino's fans on Facebook because there are many opportunities for them to interact. Of course, users are also allowed to post to Domino's wall.
Overall I definitely have to say that Domino's Pizza's Facebook marketing strategy is a very good example of the effective use of social media. The page currently has 5,192,249 fans. Domino's even created this video upon reaching five million fans:
The video was a way for the company to let its fans know that they are appreciated. Clearly Domino's is doing something right if they have over five million Facebook fans. Another thing that makes this marketing strategy successful is that Domino's seems to understand that Facebook is best used to reach a niche market of only Facebook users. I know that the company understands this concept because its Facebook marketing efforts comprise only a small part of its entire marketing strategy. Not only is there much more to the marketing strategy, but there is also a similarity between executions across all its different media. There are many Domino's TV commercials. Feel free to check out some of the ones below:
As you can see, the first two commercials are very humorous. All three of the commercials are light-hearted, which fits into the company's brand identity. The first commercial emphasizes timeliness, stating that Domino's can deliver any order in thirty minutes or less. The second commercial advertises Domino's newer Artisan pizzas, showing that they are authentic, which contradicts the way Domino's Pizza was regarded several years ago. The third commercial shows the interactive capabilities offered by Domino's, which positions the company as a fun, interactive company with excellent customer service and a lot of respect for each of its customers.
This commercial is a part of Domino's Pizza's current marketing campaign. As you can see, the company is really stressing interactive media, which is heavily targeting a younger audience. I think the company's customer base is fairly broad, in that both high school students and working mothers frequently consume its products. However, this new campaign seems to be targeting a younger audience, perhaps college students or young adults. The company offers an interactive website where the user can go through a step-by-step process to place and order. The site also features a tracker to show the process of your order. The image below is a screen shot of this tracker. Check out the link to the blog where I got this picture from below it.
Fuzz Martin
I also know that Domino's Pizza puts out direct mail promotions. I know that my family frequently receives coupons for promotional offers in the mail. I think that these coupons definitely increase purchases, because they get customers to make larger purchases than they usually would because they realize they can save money on their favorite products.
Therefore I think that Domino's Pizza is marketing itself extremely well using Facebook. Its entire marketing campaign is based around user interaction and really caring about what the customer has to say, and that is why its Facebook page with the interactive Think Oven is such a good idea. As described above, Facebook can be an extremely affective marketing tool if used correctly. I think that Domino's understands the correct use of Facebook as a marketing platform and that is why its Facebook marketing campaign is so successful.
Thank you for reading my blog! Feel free to check out my other case studies.
This commercial is a part of Domino's Pizza's current marketing campaign. As you can see, the company is really stressing interactive media, which is heavily targeting a younger audience. I think the company's customer base is fairly broad, in that both high school students and working mothers frequently consume its products. However, this new campaign seems to be targeting a younger audience, perhaps college students or young adults. The company offers an interactive website where the user can go through a step-by-step process to place and order. The site also features a tracker to show the process of your order. The image below is a screen shot of this tracker. Check out the link to the blog where I got this picture from below it.
Fuzz Martin
I also know that Domino's Pizza puts out direct mail promotions. I know that my family frequently receives coupons for promotional offers in the mail. I think that these coupons definitely increase purchases, because they get customers to make larger purchases than they usually would because they realize they can save money on their favorite products.
Therefore I think that Domino's Pizza is marketing itself extremely well using Facebook. Its entire marketing campaign is based around user interaction and really caring about what the customer has to say, and that is why its Facebook page with the interactive Think Oven is such a good idea. As described above, Facebook can be an extremely affective marketing tool if used correctly. I think that Domino's understands the correct use of Facebook as a marketing platform and that is why its Facebook marketing campaign is so successful.
Thank you for reading my blog! Feel free to check out my other case studies.
