Tag Archive for: facebook marketing

6 Types of Content to Post on Facebook

July 2, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There is no shortage of content to post on Facebook, but what type of content is going to help build your business?

Recently, Wishpond published an infographic detailing Wal-Mart’s journey to 30 million Likes on Facebook. With 28 million of those coming from their targeted market in the US, they are the biggest Facebook brand in the United States. That’s quite an achievement.

So how did Wal-Mart get there? A lot of elements factored into their success, but when it comes to the types of content to post on Facebook, every brand can learn a thing or two from Wal-Mart.

Below are the six types of content observed by Wishpond that Wal-Mart shared on Facebook to bring their brand to the top.

Product-Specific

Roughly 45% of the content shared on the Wal-Mart Facebook page is product-specific. There is often talk of avoiding promotional content, but if you are not trying to showcase what you have to offer, then you are not really making an effort to drive business, are you?

Wal-Mart found a nice balance in sharing content about their products a little less than half of the time.

Fun and Entertaining

About a tenth of the content shared by Wal-Mart are fun internet memes with little or no correlation to their products or services. Simply sharing content people will enjoy seeing.

Engagement-Oriented

Roughly 13% of the content on Wal-Mart’s Facebook page encourages fan participation. Asking questions, opinions and other engaging types of content are important to keep your fans coming back and get your fan base growing.

This type of content is also a great way to get user feedback and find out what’s going well and where you should make some changes.

Informative and Useful

If you can provide helpful information that your users can actually put into practice, then you are providing a service that makes your page all the more valuable to your audience. For Wal-Mart, this type of content makes up roughly 15% of their posts.

Culturally Significant

Again, a tenth of the content shared by Wal-Mart relates to events and culture in their target market. By sharing content that is socially and culturally relevant to their target audience, they give their target audience all the more reason to become fans on Facebook.

Social Awareness

Lastly, another 10% of the content shared by Wal-Mart sheds light on events, organizations and causes that are culturally and socially significant to both the brand and the audience. People like to know that there is more to a brand than business. Show a lighter, more thoughtful side of your brand. Goodwill is just as important as anything else your company does.

Wal-Mart has found an excellent balance of content on their page. Take a look at it and you will understand why.

What type of content do you think is most important to be sharing on Facebook? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Instagram Video or Vine? Which Social Video Tool is Better for Business?

June 26, 2013/by Corey Padveen

To Instagram or to Vine? That is the question. Which social video tool is better for business?

The newest video feature on Instagram is one of the hottest topics in the world of social media, and rightfully so. This newly integrated social video tool means that Facebook (which owns Instagram) has taken yet another step further in controlling the social world.

A few months ago, Twitter introduced their social video tool, Vine. This was a big deal then and now everyone wants to know: which of these two platforms has more advantages for business?

Though they both possess some strong characteristics, when it comes to business, Instagram video has the edge. Below is a comparative justification for the advantages of Instagram for business.

Quality

One word: Cinema. This is the feature on Instagram’s video service that allows users to stabilize videos. This may not seem like much, but for businesses, it means the ability to create videos that appear somewhat more professional. Users can also edit videos on Instagram instead of scrapping them entirely and having to start over (which is a downside to Vine).

Second, as with it’s pictures, Instagram Video allows users to apply over a dozen filters to videos whereas Vine is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get platform (for now).

Length

You can do a lot of creative stuff on Vine in only six seconds, but imagine what you could do with twice that much (and a little bit more).

Videos made with Instagram can be up to 15 seconds long, lending businesses the opportunity to convey their message with a little more clarity. It also allows for a call-to-action to appear for an extra second or two. And in the online world, a second or two is a lifetime.

Embedding

Vine certainly has the edge here, and it is a big one.

Videos on Vine can be easily embedded while Instagram still has yet to include this feature. That’s a big plus for Vine, because it allows businesses to share their videos on different platforms, including their WordPress blog with the plugin, Embedly.

This is not unexpected. Facebook has been notoriously streamlining all of their efforts in order to, as we mentioned earlier, take over the Internet. Although it should not be long before we see some version of embedding capable with Instagram videos.

The same cannot be said for sharing, however.

Sharing

Videos on Instagram can be shared to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Flickr and via email. With Vine, your videos can only go as far as Facebook and Twitter.

Audience

Finally, the biggest difference of them all: the audience.

Vine currently has about 13 million users. Instagram’s user-base is ten times that! With such a vast audience on Instagram, you have to wonder if Vine is still a relevant and viable option for businesses on social media.

Vine is an intriguing tool, and can be a lot of fun. (Just look at comedian Will Sasso’s Lemon Compilation on Vine.) But when it comes to the benefits of a social video tool for business, Instagram certainly has the edge.

Have you used Instagram Video or Vine for business? Which one do you think is more beneficial? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

5 Ways to Improve Your EdgeRank Score

June 18, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is crucial when it comes to your exposure on the social network, and these tips will help you greatly improve your EdgeRank score.

The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is one of the few ranking algorithms out there that is well understood. We recently posted an article that outlined the Facebook Edgerank algorithm, and embracing some of these tips will help you improve your EdgeRank score.

The common theme in these tips? Engagement. The common motif in the algorithm is user engagement levels, and each of these five tips is designed to improve your EdgeRank score by increasing engagement on your page.

Ask a Question

Comments are one of the most vital forms of engagement when it comes to EdgeRank. Asking a question at the end of a post or in relation to an article you shared is a great way to incite fan participation. If you start the discussion, you are much more likely to see others join in.

Run a Poll

A poll is simple, effective and a great way to encourage engagement on your page. Asking a fun question with simple answers to choose from takes the first tip above to a whole new level.

Furthermore, the added benefit of a poll is that it not only helps improve your EdgeRank score, but it also provides you with some detailed information about your fans. With that in mind, try and make the question something that is not only fun for your fans to answer, but provides you with useful information.

Fill-in-the-______

People love sharing their creativity, and fillin-in-the-blank posts are a great way to do that. Keep them light, because affinity weighs heavily in the EdgeRank algorithm (i.e. the sentiment of comments left on your content) so avoid hot button issues (unless, of course, that’s your page’s theme).

Share Photos

According to HubSpot, photos shared on Facebook generate 53% more ‘Likes’ than the average post. One of your goals should always be to share content that drives higher levels of engagement. On Facebook, that happens to be visual media (i.e. photos and short videos) and sharing this content above other types will surely help boost your EdgeRank score.

Keep the Conversation Going

The first tip above suggests that you ask questions to incite engagement with your content. Organic engagement, however, will only last so long. To really increase your page’s exposure with EdgeRank, you will need to actively take part in as many conversations as you can.

Actions as small as a ‘Like’ on someone’s post shows that you, as a company, care. Developing that personality for your brand is crucial to increase engagement levels in the future.

As noted, the central theme with these tips is engagement. Essentially, that is one of the focal points of the EdgeRank algorithm, and sharing content that increases those levels of engagement is a great way to improve your EdgeRank score.

What types of content have you used to generate higher engagement levels? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Cadbury

May 30, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How did Cadbury make their social media presence as sweet as their candy?

It was early in 2012 that Cadbury realized they were approaching the 1 million fan mark on Facebook. It was around that same time that they realized that only about 16% of fans ever saw any of the content they were posting to their social networks.

Cadbury wanted to get the most out of their social media marketing, and they knew that for an internationally-recognized brand, 16% simply wasn’t good enough. So they decided to do something so big that it would grab the attention of a lot more than a mere 16%: they built a Facebook ‘Like’ thumb out of chocolate to say thanks!

The results of this gesture were 40,000 new Facebook fans and engagement of well over 30% for this campaign. Clearly, there are a few takeaways marketers can pull from this campaign by Cadbury.

Always Engage Your Audience

Engagement is going to be at the forefront of any successful social media campaign. Your audience needs to have a purpose for viewing your content, and providing engaging content is always going to be on top of that list of reasons.

Simply sharing promotional information, or a piece of text, isn’t going to entice anyone to share, comment, or necessarily like your content. The results? It hurts your EdgeRank and can be somewhat damaging to your brand’s growth on social media in the long run, due to the lack of exposure.

Let Your Fans Know You Care

Whether you are a Cadbury with 1 million fans or a Mom n’ Pop with 100, you should always let those that have become fans know that you care.

Success on social media stems from the ability to reach a wider audience than on any other medium, and each fan is another new network of possibilities. So when reaching milestones, show your fans you care – you’d be surprised at how appreciated those gestures are.

Never Ignore Your Analytics

It took Cadbury until the million fan mark to realize that only 16% of those fans were engaging with the brand. Moreover, Cadbury is an international brand; imagine how few fans are engaged with your small business on Facebook if only a small fraction are engaging with a brand like Cadbury!

The reality is that roughly 98% of people who ‘Like’ a brand never return to that brand’s page. You need to find a way to optimize your content and your strategy in order to get those numbers as high as possible. Don’t ignore your analytics. They are providing valuable information that is going to help your brand blow up on social media!

The social media case study on Cadbury’s Facebook campaign provides a great set of Do’s and Do Not’s for marketers.

Which of these lessons do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

8 Tips for Optimizing Posts on Social Media

May 21, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Optimizing posts on social media can significantly boost your engagement, reach and influence across a number of networks.

When it comes to optimizing posts on social media, there are certain elements that are universal, and should be applied to posts on every one of your networks. Below we have showcased some of the most important tips when it comes to optimizing posts on social media.

Engage Your Audience

No matter where you are posting, you should be sharing content that engages your audience. Sure, sharing fun facts and information is important, but are you following that up with a related question? Where is the incentive to get your audience commenting, liking, sharing and talking? It is always going to be important that you keep engagement in mind no matter where you are posting.

Optimize Your Content for SEO

Each network contains different elements for SEO. (To find out more about those in detail, read some of these articles.) It is important that SEO is on your checklist when it comes to social media. Each network possesses different benefits when it comes to SEO, and in order to increase your findability, you need to incorporate those into your posting strategy.

Maintain Your Voice

The voice you create for your brand on social media needs to be clear in everything you write. Consistency is going to be crucial to getting your message across. After all, on social media, people are engaging with your brand’s personality, not simply your company. By maintaining that personality across all of your posts, people will be all the more willing to engage with you.

Consistency is Important

A posting spree followed by weeks of silence is going to hurt your brand. Consistently sharing relevant content with your network will keep your brand on the forefront of their mind, and it will do wonders when it comes to converting those fans into customers. Furthermore, sharing content on a regular basis will encourage visitors to return to your page frequently.

Make Sure You Are Linking Back

Social signals are of ever-growing importance in the world of SE (see the point above) and using social media as a back-linking strategy is going to be a big asset. When creating content on any of your chosen networks, be sure that you are linking back to your site whenever possible. As your build your network, this will serve as one of the most important linking strategies you have in place.

Engage in Conversations

Social networks are great for broadcasting your brand and showcasing your expertise, but the best way to see your referral traffic skyrocket is by engaging in the conversation with your network on your own posts. When someone responds to a tweet, post or update on any of your channels, you should engage with them. Whether it is a retweet, a share, or a simple ‘Like’, people will appreciate a reciprocal effort to engage.

Explain Your Links

Simply sharing a link with no explanation as to where it is going will mean a low click-through rate. Create a short but enticing description to go along with your link. Perhaps as a question that encourages the reader to find out more. When linking on social networks, provide readers with a reason to click on it.

Be Visual

There is a reason why Pinterest is so popular – human beings are visual by nature. Google+ is a great place to share images, and on Facebook, photos generate 104% more comments than the average post, and 53% more Likes. Use the visual nature of most social networks to your advantage, and get your content seen.

These are just a few tips you can use when looking to optimize the content you share on social media. Can you offer any other tips? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Big Value in Company Pages

May 10, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social Equity receives a major boost with the added value from company pages on different networks.

From LinkedIn to Facebook, there is a way to feature your company, its services, history and expertise on almost every network. the result? Major Social Equity.

In this week’s Social Equity segment, we look at how company pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube add value to your business.

Facebook and Google+

We all know about Pages on Facebook and Google+. But with so much taking place on the networks, it is easy for your content to get lost in the noise. The most frustrating part? You might have some great content and a product that attracts a lot of potential customers. Having Facebook and Google+ Pages allows those leads to find everything you are offering in one central place.

Facebook takes a lot of criticism for their EdgeRank algorithm. But the truth is, EdgeRank provides a means of filtering out the noise so that those who “Like” your page, product and content have all of the information you share to the pages featured on their news feed.

The value in Facebook and Google+ Pages is simple: these are hubs that allow reciprocal engagement between your brand and fans in a central place while offering you a chance to share content towards which they have expressed an interest. On the plus side (that’s a pun, considering the point that follows) +1 and shares from your pages add a considerable benefit to your SEO, which further derives value to your business.

The Company Page on LinkedIn is the strongest in terms of adding value to your business.

First, there is the Services tab. The ability to showcase your products and services to an engaged audience disrupts the conventional model of print advertising. Furthermore, the ability to link these sections to appropriate landing pages means both the ability to create backlinks and the ability to drive sales and traffic through LinkedIn.

Second, there is the ability to build a following on your page (as with other networks) and share content to those followers in an effort to drive new business. Unlike Facebook and Google+, LinkedIn offers the ability to broadcast and showcase your business to the engaged audience following your page. Users are following you knowing that LinkedIn is a medium in which companies aim to derive new business, and an active, engaging and popular page translates into Social Equity.

YouTube

A YouTube channel is an important feature, and one that can be very beneficial both in terms of its value to your business’s image and your overall Social Equity.

The ability to centralize all of your videos means two things: first, viewers can easily find your videos and, on the channel, discover more about your business and research your company further, outside of YouTube. Second, the optimization of a channel and your videos can be a tremendous SEO tool. Lone videos in the YouTube universe can easily disappear. With a discoverable, optimized channel, your business is easily showcased to your audience in video form.

Effectively, the true value of all of these pages lies in the disruption they cause to conventional marketing. No longer are you required to focus on print marketing. These pages are your corporate portfolio, and they are live, evolving elements that continually showcase your business.

In which social media company pages do you find the most value? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Understanding the Facebook EdgeRank Algorithm

May 8, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is something we have all heard about, but what exactly is it and how should it be considered when developing content for the channel?

First and foremost, for those who are unfamiliar with the feature, what is the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm? It is a system used by Facebook to determine what posts appear on each user’s timeline based on certain criteria. The purpose? In theory, it is in place to ensure that each user only sees the most relevant and engaging content based on their history and activity.

What does the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm mean for brands? It can be either a good thing or a bad thing. There is an endless stream of content being shared on Facebook, and if you are not properly implementing a content strategy, yours may never be seen.

There are three main variables that make up the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm: affinity, weight and time decay. These terms sound impressive and technical, but like anything on social media, it all really comes down to engagement.

Recently, Will Cathcart, Facebook’s News Feed Product Manager, broke down the EdgeRank system and clarified exactly how it works and what you should be focused on when it comes to getting your content seen on your fans’ timelines.

The Individual

On an individual level, there are two key points of focus. First, history is a major factor. The more your audience engages with your page over time, the more likely it is that they will see your content appear on their timeline. That’s a given. The second factor, however, is a little more specific.

Individual engagement matters. But as a brand, you need to take note of the types of content your audience is engaging with. If, for example, images receive plenty of interaction but your videos are ignored, your audience may only see images as they are posted and your videos will disappear into the annals of Facebook.

What is important? Study what individual fans are engaging with and encourage engagement both on popular and unpopular types of posts in order to ensure that all of your content is showcased for your audience.

The Network

The second level is the network. There is a secondary effect on Facebook that can help you reach a broader audience. Have you ever noticed that when a post is receiving a lot of attention, your reach sometimes exceeds your fan count? As reactions and interactions from direct users increase on a given piece of content, more people are exposed to that post. Therefore, high engagement on a post might mean bringing back fans that were once lost for lack of engagement.

Second, sentiment plays a major role with network reach. If people are engaging negatively, then you stand to lose a good deal of your reach, and your content might be hidden from users that were once engaged in the future.

What is important? Monitor the popularity of your posts and modify your strategy in order to share only content that is receiving high levels of engagement and reaching broad secondary audiences as a result.

The Facebook EdgeRank algorithm is not a horribly complex phenomenon to understand. Sure, we may not be tech-savvy enough to know how it is coded, or how it does exactly what it does, but we can certainly understand how it produces the end result. Knowing that gives us leverage when putting together a Facebook content strategy, and can certainly give us a competitive advantage when it comes to Facebook.

Did you know about EdgeRank? Did you understand it? Have you done or will you do anything differently with knowledge of how the algorithm works? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Tips to Creating a Great Facebook Ad Campaign

May 6, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Facebook can be a successful, cost-effective channel on which to promote your business, and these tips will help you create a great Facebook Ad campaign.

We see Facebook Ads every time we log into the social network. They may not always be captivating, and you may not always notice them, but they are always there and always trying to grab your attention. But more often than not, they are not achieving the goal of converting eyes into clicks.

Facebook Ads may be easy to use, straightforward and simple to monitor, but there are a few key factors that distinguish your average-performing Facebook Ads and great Facebook Ad campaigns. Below are four tips that should help take your Facebook advertising to the next level.

Do Some Research

The first time you put together an ad campaign on Facebook, you are going to be eager to get your content out there and watch the “Like” counter shoot up. Unfortunately, without at least a little bit of research, you are not going to see the results you are hoping for.

Look through your insights, study engagement levels and develop a campaign that both fits the brand you’ve created on Facebook and appeals to a specific audience. If you are trying to target everyone, you might end up reaching no one. (Don’t worry – that makes more sense after you see the next tip.)

Target a Very Specific Audience

When you first start building your ad and you see your options for targeting, you might be excited by the prospect of potentially reaching upwards of 150 million people (and that’s in the United States alone!). But the reality of the situation is, if you are not creating an ad directed at a targeted audience – namely, one based on the research you did before you got started – there is no telling who will see it, and you will likely miss out on opportunities to reach engaged audiences as opposed to a broad audience of uninterested persons.

To put it in perspective, if you are trying to attract people to your page about food and dining for female college students, a broad, unspecific audience might only show your content to middle aged professional men. The result? A lower-than-hoped-for conversion.

Create an Appealing Ad

Sure – it sounds like a no brainer. Why would you do anything else, right? Well, it is not as easy as it sounds. The key to a great Facebook Ad campaign is appeal. People should be intrigued by the content in your ad – and you don’t have much of it considering it might be as small as a little image and text on the right-hand column of someone’s news feed or timeline.

This is where you need to let your creative juices flow. The content and images in these ads should not simply be your logo and a brief description of your company. Leave that on your page. Share a fun fact, an interesting quote, an curious question or any other engaging bit of content. People should feel compelled to see what else you are offering when they see your ad.

Though it has been done by plenty of businesses, let’s look at the “abs of steel concept” we often see floating on the right of our Facebook screen. It might be for a personal trainer, a mail-order program or a diet, but they are showing a picture of a killer six pack and asking something along the lines of, “Do you want abs that look like this in 60 days? Then click here and get started today!” Even the skeptic is compelled to click, just to see what the offer is. Go for something irresistible and your click-through rates will be much higher than average.

Try, Try and Try Again!

There are a billion accounts on Facebook and your first campaign is not going to reach them all. In fact, you might be disappointed in the results of your first campaign. What went wrong? Were you targeting the wrong audience? Was your content not as great as you thought it was? That’s all part of the learning process.

You might find after a few tests that your most engaged market is nothing close to what you thought it was. That’s a great lesson and can translate into a lot more business, and it is not particularly expensive to figure out; your ads can be budgeted very modestly. Testing is the best way to turn your trials into great Facebook Ad campaigns.

Apply these tips and you’ll see your Facebook marketing take off in no time. Once again, one in every seven people on Earth is checking Facebook multiple times every day. Why not try and talk to them with a carefully laid out strategy in place?

What other tips can you think that help build great Facebook ad campaigns? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Heineken

April 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media helps brands understand what their clients want, and few examples of that are better than Heineken’s limited edition bottle redesign.

Social media is an excellent avenue when it comes to engaging with your fans, and if you can find a way to get their input, all the better. Late in 2012, Heineken decided to redesign their trademark bottle for a limited edition set to celebrate their 140th anniversary. Now, if we have learned anything from the numerous redesigns of the Facebook page, it is that, for the most part, people do not like change, particularly when that change involves something as timeless as the Heineken bottle. So how do you ensure that the backlash will not be severe, particularly when it is in celebration of your brand’s 140th year in business? Turn to social media.

The Campaign

Mark van Iterson, Heineken’s Global Head of Design and his team decided that they would create a limited edition Heineken bottle that incorporated past designs and contemporary twists to mark the company’s 140th anniversary. However, instead of using a small team of in-house designers, van Iterson decided to reach out to Heineken’s massive social network (measured as the top beer on social media by L2 Think Tank) and offer fans a chance to redesign their favorite beer’s bottle.

Tens of thousands of submissions came pouring in from all over the world, and five finalists were chosen for a vote. However, to further promote the efforts of those who contributed, Heineken plans to showcase 30 designs at the Milan Design Week (April 2013) and produce, promote and sell the limited edition winning bottle at the end of this year.

The Lessons

Social media is such a powerful tool when it comes to crowdsourcing. Heineken recognized that and used social media, Facebook in particular, to put together this campaign. A lot of intuition went into effectively executing this campaign, and marketers should be aware of the goals and lessons this case study showcases.

Know Your Goals

Campaigns are fun, and some can be extremely successful. But in order to know whether or not your campaign was a success, you need to know what your goals are. For Heineken, the obvious goal was using their fan base to source a new design for a limited edition bottle. In an interview with ChiefMarketer.com, van Iterson states: “The goal is twofold. For us at Heineken it is fantastic to get ideas and designs that we didn’t think of ourselves. This unlocks huge creativity, and certainly will bring surprises, excitement and very fresh concepts. For a progressive brand like Heineken, always striving to innovate, improve and find fresh ideas, this is a great source.”

But what about the less apparent goals? Heineken gained a lot more than just a few bottle design suggestions. They gave their fans an opportunity to feel like they were important to the creative process. As we have noted in the past, engagement on social media builds your brand’s image. For Heineken, the goal here was to boost engagement with their fan base by offering them the opportunity to, in a way, join the Heineken team – and they succeeded.

Ask Your Audience

When it comes to social media, one of the reasons why people follow, like, or become fans of a brand is because they are already customers. In the beer world, there is plenty of competition, so when you have set of customers, your goal is to keep them coming back. How? Engage with them on social media.

Heineken had the opportunity to reach out to their audience for input when redesigning their bottle and the response was staggering. People are on social media to talk, so instead of sitting in silence, talk with them!

The New Survey, Poll and Focus Group

Why do programs succeed? Why do they fail? What would improve a program? Traditionally, these were questions answered by focus groups or surveys. But that’s marketing in the past. Social media is the new survey, poll and focus group, all in one place. Heineken capitalized on that fact and saved tremendously on both the cost of designing the bottle in-house and the potential cost of the bottle flopping in an unappreciative market.

Social media is a place where people lie to their friends and tell the truth to strangers. Do what Heineken did and take advantage of that.

Have you launched any campaigns asking your audience to participate? Tell us about it in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: KLM Airlines

March 21, 2013/by Corey Padveen

This week’s social media case study focuses on one of the most socially innovative airlines around: KLM.

When it comes to social media case studies, airlines often prove to have some of the most impressive, influential and trendsetting results. Yet, despite all of the data that supports the adoption of innovative social media marketing initiatives for airlines, few seem to be as willing to go the distance as KLM.

KLM’s social media program is brilliant…and they know it. When it comes to converting social media fans into paying customers, KLM is among the most successful brands around. In fact, on the KLM Facebook page, there is a section that breaks down their social media campaigns, explains how they went about executing them and posts the results. Effectively, they are their own social media case study as to why social is important to business. But our focus is a little deeper than that when it comes to our weekly case study. We aim to pull out the lessons marketers can learn from the KLM social media program as a whole.

The Campaigns

Featured on the KLM Facebook page are seven of their most successful social media campaigns. These campaigns include everything from “KLM Surprise” whereby special gifts would be presented to passengers who checked into flights using Foursquare or Twitter, to the “KLM Tile & Inspire” campaign whereby Facebook fans were asked to convert their Facebook profile picture into a Delft Blue tile and complete that tile with an inspiring message to be used as part of a mosaic design on a KLM aircraft that would travel across the globe. Below are two videos breaking down these campaigns.

KLM Surprise

KLM Tile & Inspire

Each campaign was equally inspired and generated similar results. For the two campaigns above, KLM reaped some considerable social benefits. The breakdown of the two featured campaigns by the numbers is below:

KLM Surprise Analytics

Foursquare	17.528 followers
Youtube	154,722 views
Twitter	1.597 followers
Tweet reach	2,6 mln

KLM Tile & Inspire Analytics

Created tiles	120.000
Number of countries where tiles were created	154
Views of the 2 videos	1.3 million
Number of destinations the 777 flew to	23

While the analytics are impressive enough as it is, the fact that KLM went on to further convert many of these fans is all the more notable. But what we wish to focus on is what KLM did that was as innovative and bold as it was simple and calculated.

The Lessons

Be Bold (But the Right Way)

KLM has had far from a conventional approach to their social media program. From presenting new meal options using Facebook videos that introduce the “chefs” (the “KLM A La Carte” campaign) to the controversial “KLM Meet and Seat” campaign that gave passengers the ability to preview their seat mates based on social profiles, KLM has dared to be innovative with each of their social media campaigns. But it is important to keep something in mind: the marketing execs at KLM knew exactly what they were doing, and these risks were as calculated as any.

By understanding the lead to conversion process, the KLM executives were able to put these campaigns together using careful market research, amalgamated and improved data from their own failed exploits (discussed below), and a clear understanding of the sales process for both the customer and the brand. You don’t garner new customers from social media by doing the same thing as everyone else (hence, the “Be Bold” part of the lesson) but you certainly won’t find them if you scare them away (and that covers the “Right Way” aspect). So keep in mind that for a social media campaign to work, you need to impress your audience and have the data to support your seemingly daring decisions.

Never Be Afraid to Try Something New

Social media is still in its infancy, and social media marketing even more so. There is no shortage of innovation out there, and with the ever-changing landscape of social media, you should never be afraid to be first to market. Your first-mover advantage will be huge when people see you doing something that no one has done before. KLM understands that and they have capitalized on it at every turn.

The airline only jumped into social media in 2009, but in these short few years they have managed to try their hand at virtually every campaign available on social media. Whether it is a Facebook campaign, a Foursquare promotion, a YouTube contest or a Twitter “Live Reply” campaign wherein the airline responded to user tweets using up to 140 REAL people to spell out the message, you should never be afraid to try something that has never been done before. When it comes to social media, people want something they have not yet seen.

Try, Fail, Fix, Repeat

No one knows failed experiments better than KLM. Sure, they might have the budgetary luxury of making these mistakes, but over time they have learned exactly what they should not be doing in order to perfect their social campaigns. And on a smaller scale, you should never be afraid of the mistakes you make when it comes to social media. As we noted above, this is an incipient form of marketing; people are bound to make mistakes. But when you do, note your errors, redraft your campaign taking that into account, and start again.

For KLM, one of their big blunders came in 2011 when they offered a promotional gift to the first 50 male and first 50 female “Likers” of a post. Within minutes they had 1,500 “Likes” and no way of knowing which came when. Oops! But what is important is that KLM recognized their mistakes, fixed them and, more importantly, accepted their failures. And that brings us to our final lesson.

Humility is an Underrated Trait

People appreciate humility. It is a humanizing trait, particularly when it comes from a company as large and reputable as KLM. That is why the last important lesson to pull from KLM is that, while you might be a big brand, social media is a place for you to simply be a voice in the conversation. While an image needs to be maintained, you can be a little less corporate and little more fun when it comes to social (respecting professional boundaries, of course). As we never tire of pointing out, social media is about exactly that: being social. Not only does KLM have a post on their blog detailing some of their yearly bloopers, but they also make an important point in their step-by-step guide on running their social media program:

“Not that campaigns always need to be global and spectacular. Many of our establishments have successfully launched their local pages, and we’ve learned that the power often lies in simplicity — like showing the interior of a cockpit, or thanking someone for notifying us about broken lighting on our KLM sign. Our creative editorial board delivers a daily dose of captivating, engaging posts through our various channels.

Social campaigns have won us several awards, but it hasn’t been one success after the next. We’ve certainly had our share of bloopers. But rather than hushing them up, we decided to make them public and take them as a learning experience. And as it turned out, people liked us even more for it.”

Well said.

What lesson do you think is most important in the case study of KLM? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!