Okay, we’ve seen the missing willingness of few marketers to get into dialog with their target group in social networks. Now, it’s a fair turn to give these execs some rules on how Facebook can also work for them. Through my research, I’ve come across a really meaningful “manual book” for Facebook on mashable. Based on this manual: The five pillars for a successful Facebook Fan Page.

Networking
Connect your online appearances. Utilize you existing network presence to additionally fill out your Facebook Fan Page with life. With this strategy, you can be absolutely certain that your target group – which already actively involves in other web appearances, has an easy access to the Fan Page.

Cooperation
Use existing Fan Pages for own purposes. Why make something new, when existing pages are functioning quite well. Cooperate with existing brand evangelists. The best example is the actual cooperation between Coca Cola and its brand fans.

Information
Don’t be an advisor or exclusive information giver only to your supporters. Give also other users advises, which they can get out of your Fan Page. With this strategy, you can increase the brand image outside your own fan group. Hence, Dell plants itself as advisor for Facebook users in the application of social media for small business.

Added Value
Increase the attractiveness of your Fan Page through special offers or winning contest. Winning contest can encourage user’s engagement, which can boost engagement in the corresponding Fan Page. Good examples are Adobe , Ben & Jerry´s and Old Navy.

Relevance
Look for your target group. A proper targeting is a must for a successful fan page. Not all brands would get strong fan community like Apple&Co. Hence, a relevance check should always be in foreground of a Facebook initiative.

The following strategies should come out of the five pillars: At the beginning, an extensive targeting must make sure that the corresponding brands i.e. the products do fit into the Facebook target group. Once this process comes out with positive result, it’s helpful to check if there are big fan pages, which are worth to cooperate with. After a possible cooperation or own initiative, it’s quite important to link the fan page with the rest of the brand’s web appearances as to forward the traffic of the existing internet appearances into the fan page. In the end, the success of each branded community – be it on myspace or Facebook- depends on the quality of the contents. The content of such community must show a real added value. This could be winning contest or special offers and even promotions, which increase the user’s engagement in brand communication.

Users as brand evangelists – as multipliers of brand messaging in social media? Yet, marketers and communications execs perceive this reality as threat. Although, at the same time marketers don’t actually have any control over their brands in social media.

The success of brands in social media starts out solely through users and their engagement. Coca Cola does seem to understand this concept. The Coca Cola’s page in facebook.com has by now more than 3.3 million fans and it becomes the second largest fansite in this network. However, the success story was not initiated by any Coca Cola execs, but instead the idea originated from three normal users, just plain simple coke fans.

the Coke page, which totals 3.3 million “fans,” wasn’t even created by Coca-Cola, but by a pair of Los Angelenos who just love Coke. In late August 2008, aspiring actor Dusty Sorg was hunting for a Coca-Cola fan page he could join on Facebook. He didn’t find one that seemed legitimate so he hunted down a high-resolution digital image of a Coke can, uploaded it to Facebook and made a page.

However, a change in facebook Terms of Use last November made the creators of this fanpage quite worried. The Zuckenberg network specified that a fanpage, which devotes itself to a concrete brand, may do so only if it’s operated by someone authorized by the respected brand. Therefore, facebook offered Coke the choice whether to take over the fanpage or it will be closed. If one considers the analogy of losing control and social media, then one would likely assumed that Coke would have decided to shut the group down. Even one of the fan page creators commented quite negatively.

“Everyone has this vision that if something like this happens, the big company will send you off to Guantanamo,…”

Yet, Coke surprised the audience in this case. Coke resolved the task not by closing the group or by attempting hostile takeover, but instead Coke sought the dialog with group’s creators and even agreed to help and support the maintenance of this huge fanpage. Hence, the fanpage is given the aid of Coke’s interactive team Dusty Sorg and Michael Jedrzejewski. With this approach, Coke as a brand has shown how important it is to support fans in social media. Had Coke decided for hostile takeover or closing off the fan site with more than 3.3 million fans, it would have resulted in massive reputation risk coming from the huge brand supporters.

After the first bumpy ride in the area of user generated media, Coca Cola seems to learn its lesson. Coke has understood to utilize on users as brand evangelists, rather than to intimidate loyal fan communities in user generated media. The American beverage producer pursues with its decision the long lasting of dialog with the target group. Therefore, marketers of other brands should take this great example to heart and support their fan communities in social media. Such approach would deepen the relationships between users and brands, boost trust and loyalty as well as the sustainability of brand image.

We encourage creativity from developers and brands using Facebook Platform, but we also must ensure that applications follow users’ expectations of privacy. This application facilitated activity that ran counter to user privacy by notifying people when a user removes a friend. We have reached out to the developer with suggested solutions. In the meantime, we are taking the necessary steps to assure the trust users have established on Facebook is maintained.

Truthfully, I ask myself, what this application in a way does, to be even considered as colliding with data privacy protection. With Beacon, Facebook was definitely not so squeamish. Or perhaps Facebook has all together different intentions? Joe Bubble speculates that Zuckenberg might have discovered a way to make money out of it. Well, I’m certainly open for different opinions and would love to hear them. Actually, there exist quite enthralling discussions regarding this matter in our office.

I read on Valleywag.com that a high schooler named Nick Wagner founded the “hater” group and exhorts users to act, do something against the new design: “THE NEW FACEBOOK WILL PERMANENTLY BE THE ONLY FACEBOOK. THIS IS A PETITION TO STOP IT. PLZ JOIN AND INVITE. Will be changed in a COUPLE OF DAYS!!!”

A little silly, don’t you think? Especially, when you remember how Facebook users revolted against the News Feed when it came out. As far as I know that feature is rather popular now. Therefore, it is more than likely that Facebook will ignore this petition and push through with their plan. So, STOP whining, everybody – change can be a good thing! As soon as you’ll get used to it, you’ll love it.

When I read Regina Lynn’s blog announcing Love Bunnies – “the world’s first personalised Facebook sex toy!” yesterday, I have to admit I was intrigued – for work reasons of course. After all, it is a great example for innovative, sophisticated social media marketing.

LoveHoney.co.uk is a British online shop for “Sexy and Secure Adult Shopping” that made use of the social network Facebook to launch their latest product: The Love Bunny. But what exactly is a Love Bunny? To the point: it is a toy for adults made out of silicon – does that ring any bells? Facebook users can add the Love Bunnies application, adopt one of these cute little (rubber)rabbits, name it and start flirting with other Bunnies in a candy cotton world. Furthermore, if you have fallen deeply in love with your Bunny, you can order your very own silicon-Bunny (including a unique birth certificate) and get it delivered to your doorstep.

LoveHoney tells you how it’s done:

How to get a personalised Love Bunny Facebook sex toy
1 Log in to your Facebook account
2 Install the free Love Bunnies Facebook Application
3 Create and name your own Facebook Love Bunny – flirt with other Bunnies and have fun
4 Follow the link on Facebook to buy your unique personalised Love Bunny vibrator for real!

The Love Bunnies Facebook Application
Choose a colour for your Love Bunny, give your Bunny a name and you’re ready to play! You can move your Love Bunny around the Facebook Bunny World Warren, change your Bunny’s mood to show how you’re feeling, and send flirty messages to other Love Bunnies. At any time you can click to buy your Love Bunny vibrator for real.

Buy Your Personalised Love Bunny Vibrator
Your unique Love Bunny is delivered direct to your door in a presentation rabbit hutch box, complete with its unique Bunny birth certificate.

But, it doesn’t stop there. Marketers at LoveHoney seem to know how to work the web 2.0 world – the onlineshop has its own YouTube channel, where new products are presented and introduced in a rather “charming” way, among them, of course, the Love Bunnies:

After “playing” Love Bunnies with a few colleagues, I can tell you that it is worth it to add this application and have a little fun with your friends. We definitely do! Going from 1st to 2nd and 3rd bunny base with one of my colleagues, caused quite a stir at the office today with all the winking, rubbing, undressing and licking… And now, after pushing each others buttons, we are on our Bunnymoon! We’ll both be back soon, maybe with a surprise or two from our trip…

Concluding, LoveHoney has found a way to advertise a hard to solicit product through innovative social media marketing. Evidently, people talk about it! Let’s hope that other marketers get with the program and throw more of such campaigns at us in the future.

1. MySpace — 44.14% market share
2. eBay — 16.22% market share
3. Facebook — 13.03% market share
4. YouTube — 9.88% market share
5. Wikipedia — 4.76% market share
6. Craigslist — 3.14% market share
7. Yahoo Answers — 1.41% market share
8. myYearbook — 1.05% market share
9. Tagged — .95% market share
10. Flickr — .86% market share
11. Bebo — .71% market share
12. Meebo — .59% market share
13. BlackPlanet.com — .52% market share
14. GaiaOnline.com — .45% market share
15. Blogger — .40% market share
16. Adam4Adam — .35% market share
17. hi5 — .35% market share
18. WikiAnswers — .33% market share
19. IMEEM — .31% market share
20. LiveJournal — .30% market share

Not everything is new but certainly better! See for yourself:

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