Society & Culture - Posted by David Ruth-Rice on Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:47 - 8 Comments 
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(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5) Loading ...Turning Facebook fans into loyal customers
New research shows Facebook fan pages may work best as niche marketing programs targeted to customers who regularly use Facebook. “Social-media marketing must be employed judiciously with other types of marketing programs,” says Utpal Dholakia. Facebook marketing programs may be especially effective for iconic brands, he adds, which appear to attract a higher percentage of their customer base as Facebook fans. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice)
RICE (US)—Companies that use Facebook and its fan page module to market themselves can increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing, and customer loyalty significantly among a subset of their customers, new research shows.
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The study appears in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review.
Utpal Dholakia, associate professor of management at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, surveyed customers of Dessert Gallery (DG), a popular Houston-based café chain.
DG did not have a Facebook presence prior to the study, which was based on surveys of more than 1,700 respondents over a three-month period. The study 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.
While the results indicate that Facebook fan pages offer an effective and low-cost way of social-media marketing, Dholakia says, the results should be interpret the results cautiously.
“The fact that only about 5 percent of the firm’s 13,000 customers became Facebook fans within three months indicates that Facebook fan pages may work best as niche marketing programs targeted to customers who regularly use Facebook.
“Social-media marketing must be employed judiciously with other types of marketing programs,” he adds.
Dholakia says Facebook marketing programs may be especially effective for iconic brands, which appear to attract a higher percentage of their customer base as Facebook fans.
Rice University news: www.media.rice.edu/media/
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8 Comments
I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. While I understand the need for Pages (both as a composer for film & TV and an author), I really don’t like having to deal with my regular profile. I’d prefer to send people to the “fan” page rather than be my friend, unless we actually know each other, because it’s very easy to get bogged down with people who connect and then proceed to ignore you.
Sometimes I feel like I haven’t found the “trick” to making Facebook monetize itself and be worthy of the time I have to spend. I’ve had better luck with Twitter in that regard. But I’m not giving up yet;)
Study proves Facebook drives sales and customer loyalty | Marketing and New Media
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I agree each facebook fan you get means more money you can make.. currently we have over 22,000 fb fans and all are very active and we are getting some good business from them.
Yes, every fb fan is really important for your business. we are currently running an operation to get more fans!
Custom Facebook Fan Page Design
Fan base for any business has become an important parameter to be considered for their social media campaigns. In future, there is no doubt that a large social customer base on Facebook or Twitter will really help improve business.
“New research shows Facebook fan pages may work best as niche marketing programs targeted to customers who regularly use Facebook. ” wow. I didn’t know that. Cool!
I thinks Running, jogging, cycling, swimming, dancing, push ups, sit ups, squats, brisk walking and power walking all help for weight loss but dieting helps more.
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