Fan Base Drives Performance

Marketers love it when consumers click on their Facebook "Like" button. And rightly so! They don't "just" gain fans, but also networked consumers and brand ambassadors who can be used efficiently for advertising on Facebook. 

I would like to underline the benefits of the fan base with a practical example: Last year, we were commissioned to win fans for a Zurich boutique on Facebook and acquire them as new customers via an incentive (anyone who becomes a fan of the boutique's Facebook page receives a 15% discount voucher for their next purchase). With a budget in the three-digit range, we succeeded in gaining over 1000 Facebook fans and activating them to shop in the boutique. 

Fans provide favorable leads 

At the beginning of the year, another Facebook campaign was launched to gain new fans and customers, which achieved interesting results: Sponsored Facebook Ads achieve a significantly higher ROI than conventional Facebook Ads when gaining new fans (and customers). With a large Facebook fan base, new fans can be acquired with sponsored ads at an attractive cost per lead. 1000 fans were used for sponsored ads (referrals) and tested against conventional Facebook ads. The performance of the two campaigns, which were "on air" for six days, showed significant differences: 
 

• The click rate for sponsored ads was three times higher and the conversion rate six times higher than for conventional ads. 
• A fan was won for 14 centimes via the sponsored ads and for 1.18 francs via the conventional ads. 
• Over 2000 fans were gained within six days. 
• 10 percent of new fans have printed out a voucher. Of the 200 vouchers, 35 have already been redeemed. 

With the boutique's original 1000 fans, we had a social reach of 85,000 in the greater Zurich area (each fan has an average of 85 friends who have seen the ad). Each friend of an existing fan saw the boutique ad an average of fifteen times. They saw different ads, as we noticed that the click rate drops significantly after ten impressions. 

Our observations show that the quality of fans acquired via fans tends to be better. They are more likely to remain loyal to the brand than those acquired via conventional Facebook ads. 

Fans are accelerators 

On average, a Facebook member has over 150 friends who often share their opinions and tastes and are therefore interesting consumers for a brand. Companies that want to use Facebook advertising professionally can almost increase their reach with a solid fan base. This is why considerations and measures for building and maintaining the fan base are an important part of the Facebook strategy. 

Imre Sinka