4 Creative Ways to Reward Your Facebook Fans


Source: “4 Creative Ways to Reward Your Facebook Fans”

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

A key part of your Facebook marketing strategy is figuring out how to build and engage your fan base — and one of the best ways to do this is by rewarding your Facebook audience for becoming and staying fans.

“Fans have signaled a level of passion or connection with a brand, so rewarding that acknowledgement only further endears the brand to those fans,” says Blake Cahill, principal and president of social media agency Banyan Branch. “Giving fans what they want can vary from discounts, to empowering them to support causes, to providing them with exclusive content and information. In many cases, success is a mix of all of these.”

Here are four great ways to reward your Facebook fans for their continued engagement and support.

1. Offer Exclusive Discounts, Coupons and Content

Discounts and specials are definitely among the most popular ways of rewarding Facebook fans, says Ron Schott, senior strategist at the Spring Creek Group.

“One of my favorite hotel chains, Provenance Hotels, offers specials to their Facebook (and Twitter) fans: If you book rooms through those channels, you can receive a percentage off your stay as well as free Wi-Fi access,” says Schott.

Schott also notes that there are a number of restaurants offering a special reservation opportunity to Facebook fans. “This can be accomplished as easily as displaying a tab on your Facebook Page with a special number or code to use when booking,” adds Schott.

Some companies tie discounts and coupons to engagement activities. Capriotti’s, a popular chain of Italian restaurants, gives out free sandwich coupons to fans who correctly answer questions about Capriotti’s history or participate in online contests. For example, the restaurant recently posted a clip from a local TV appearance on its Facebook Page and asked fans if they could spot the two wrong facts in the piece. The first person to do so was sent a voucher for a free sub.

There are also low-cost applications you can use to create custom fan-only tabs for your Facebook Page. For example, actor and author Rob Lowe used Fan Tabz to create a custom “Fan Wall” on his Page, where he shares exclusive content and excerpts from his new book Stories I Only Tell My Friends with people who “like” his Page.


View the full article on Mashable!

“4 Creative Ways to Reward Your Facebook Fans”

Tags: , ,

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 29th, 2011 at 3:19 am and is filed under Social Media, Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.