Regardless of the size of your business, getting engaging fans are near the top of the priority list for Facebook marketers.
Engaging fans can not only turn into actual customers, but they also help other people become exposed to your Fan Page.
I have analyzed the top 8 Fan Pages on Facebook to find out what each brand is doing correctly, and will point out the tactics that your business can adopt into your own Facebook marketing strategy.
Yes these are big, popular brands, but I want you to get rid of the “my business is insignificant” mindset.
These strategies can be adopted by any size business! Now let’s begin.
#1 Facebook
Fans – 80,275,459
Talking About – 1,855,962
Engagement – 1.9%
Of Course Facebook Is Number 1
Honestly, I would be surprised if it wasn’t. They aren’t the leader of the pack by default though.
The social media giant has to work hard on keeping its image up with clever posting among other strategies, and managing a page with over 80 million fans must prove difficult.
Highlighting Helps
Facebook takes advantage of a feature most Fan Pages overlook- highlighting posts.
Admins can highlight a post by clicking the star in the top-right of the post itself. Highlighting increases the visibility of the post by making it take up the entire width of the Fan Page.
Be sure to use the highlighting feature only when appropriate, as it can stretch pictures that aren’t large enough. That makes the picture look pretty ugly and pixelated!
Facebook tends to highlight every 3rd post to give some diversity to the Timeline.
Strong Mission Statement In About Section
Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
Some Fan Pages use this space to tell a visitor everything about their business. Keep it short and sweet. The visitor will click on it to find out more if it piques their interest.
Quite surprisingly, the About section is where some of these brand pages fell short. Check out Monster Energy’s Fan Page (#10 on this list). The About section goes out of the box!
#2 Walmart
Fans – 24,570,364
Talking About – 1,377,873
Engagement – 9.3%
Walmart gets the most engagement out of any brand on this list, while 6 other brands beat them out in total number of fans.
Remember, it’s not about how many fans you have. It’s about how you implement your marketing strategy. Being in the right niche and a little luck doesn’t hurt either.
Engaging Cover Photo Use
The first thing that stood out to me upon visiting Walmart’s Fan Page was the cover photo.
The cover photo is one of the more important parts of the Fan Page. A good cover photo gives a snapshot of the business to a visitor, and encourages them to take a closer look at the Fan Page and custom tabs.
Walmart has used images of autumn from their fans and created a collage out of it. Neat idea!
Showcase What You’re Selling
Guess what? Nearly all of Walmart’s posts are photos of something that you can buy in their stores.
If you run a retail company, show off your products! Granted, if we posted photos of our product 5 Minute Fan Page all of the time, people would grow pretty tired of it.
Since Walmart isn’t limited to a small product line, they can make every post about a different product and keep everything fresh.
Timeline Overload
As I said above, Walmart can post about nearly any product in its store.
They do. Several times a day. I saw many days on their Timeline that had 5 or more posts!
You can experiment with how many times your business posts a day. We try to keep it to at least 3 times a day, but your market may react better to a different number.
Run Those Caption Contests
Caption contests are an easy way to get engagement on a Fan Page.
All you have to do is submit a photo, type “Caption this.” in the post, and let your fans do the rest.
Some funny results can come out of a good caption contest!
#3 Disney
Fans – 38,835,716
Talking About – 896,137
Engagement – 2.2%
Disney is featured twice on this list at #3 and #15, so they know how to get engagement on their Fan Page.
One thing that is surprising is Disney’s lack of effort in the About section and custom tabs. Instead, they focus their effort on creating viral photos, and it’s something they excel at.
Use Opportunistic Photos
One thing Disney has going for them is highly recognizable characters, and they use this to their advantage.
On “National Talk Like A Pirate Day”, a holiday that is close to my heart, Disney created a specific picture for it. You can use the same tactic.
If you see an odd holiday such as Pie Day (May 14th), create a photo for it! Let us know about any other odd holidays you have discovered in the comments.
Motivational Memes Can Go Viral
Unlike photos devoted to a specific holiday, motivational photos can be made and posted at any time.
These tend to get a lot of shares and comments and have a very high potential to go viral. When we started using these types of photos on our Fan Page, we saw a large jump in shares and comments.
If you are unable to create captions easily, you can write the motivational text in the post box above the picture. Photos with the text captioned in them tend to have more success though.
#4 Subway
Fans – 18,005,030
Talking About – 376,132
Engagement – 7.4%
Athletes Give Subway “Testimonials”
Subway’s Fan Page is covered in photos of famous athletes that are endorsed by Subway.
Now, while you may not have a team of athletes willing to take pictures at your stores or with your food, you can take the opportunity to showcase some testimonials.
If one of your fans or customers has given you some really positive feedback with great results, put them on a pedestal. Create a post centered around them. A blog post with an interview would be even better!
Promote Your Coupons And Sales
When Subway is not featuring their favorite endorsed athlete of the day, they focus on promoting their newest monthly deal with a coupon.
One coupon that the repeatedly feature in the month of October is their “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” deal. It only lasts for the month of October, so Subway is promoting it quite frequently.
You should consider creating some monthly deals for your business. Deals that are a limited time offer tend to convert better than a sale with no clearly defined end date.
Get your visitors and customers to expect a new offer every month. That way they are at least going to check out your webpage or Fan Page once a month. Weekly promotions make them interested every week, and so on. Use this curiosity to your advantage.
Custom Tabs Are Worth Customizing
The custom tab is a magnificent tool in the right hands. You can display 3 tabs of literally anything you want.
Contests, free gifts, and trials. All of these apps can help convert fans into customers, help you build an email list, or raise money for a non-profit organization.
The reason I am emphasizing this is that the custom tabs were often misused by brands. Subway puts them to good use though!
People love free stuff, and one of their tabs is dedicated to their event “Get a free sub by 9am” on October 1st. Yes, it’s over a month outdated, but it shows one of the proper uses of the custom tab.
#5 Starbucks
Fans – 32,714,326
Talking About – 475,316
Engagement – 1.7%
Once you’ve had Starbucks, you’re pretty much a fan for life. That coffee…
Let’s take a look at how they get engagement on their Fan Page.
Use Facebook Questions
Facebook Questions is a special kind of Facebook post. It allows you to post a question on your Fan Page and provide the answers the visitor can select.
Questions are a great way to get feedback or easy engagement from visitors – all they have to do is click one of the options!
Starbucks was the only brand on this list that actually used Facebook Questions, so good for them. It’s a powerful tool when used properly.
Use Their Friends Against Them
This is a very interesting feature that I haven’t quite figured out yet, but here’s what happened when I went to Starbucks’ Fan Page:
My friend’s status updates that had the word “Starbucks” in it showed up on the Starbucks Timeline. Wow!
If any of you know how they are doing this, please let me know in the comments!
Basically, if you have brand recognition with customers or visitors typing your brand name, it has the capability of showing up in your Fan Page’s Timeline. Talk about a personal connection without even having to do anything!
That’s scary powerful.
Temptation Through Photographs
Yes, I am a Starbucks fan. I generally get a tall sweetened ice coffee.
How does Starbucks respond to that? They post tantalizing images of coffee.
Guess where I went while on my break? Yep. Starbucks.
Try to get that kind of response with your photos. Leave the visitor wanting your product. Try to create a visual connection with the visitor and cause them to get curious about your product.
#6 Coca-Cola
Fans – 54,247,629
Talking About – 718,280
Engagement – 1.3%
The About Section Gets Personal
The Coca-Cola Facebook Page is a collection of your stories showing how people from around the world have helped make Coke into what it is today.
This is a great About section. It tells visitors what the page is about, and also gives credit to the visitor for helping the brand become so popular.
Be sure to thank your fans and customers. After all, they’re the reason you’re still in business!
Back To The Cover Photo
While I went though these Fan Pages, I tried to pick out the cover photos that grabbed my attention.
Coke’s cover photo has a nice simplistic feel to it, but also shows that there is more behind the brand.
Just be sure to make your cover photo look nice. I recommend leaving this task to the professionals instead of trying to whip up a fancy cover photo in MS Paint. Leave it to the graphic designers.
The Coke Check In
When I saw a post dedicated to “The Coke Check In”, I was puzzled at first. After reading the post, Coke has implemented a brilliant idea into their marketing strategy.
While I’m sure they’re not the first to use this tactic, I really like this idea – have people post a photo where they are holding your product.
This creates engagement, and shows visitors that other visitors like them like your product. Maybe your business should try a check in!
#7 YouTube
Fans – 64,828,366
Talking About – 494,909
Engagement – 0.8%
Viral Moving Pictures
YouTube is pretty much the undisputed king of video.
That being said, much of their Fan Page is devoted to sharing the viral videos on the YouTube network. If there is a viral video that goes with a product launch or your brand, share it on your Fan Page!
People generally like videos that are under 60 seconds, so try to shoot for the short and sweet ones.
Diversify Your Content
I bet those of you who are informed about Facebook’s EdgeRank wonder how YouTube can post videos all the time and remain visible to the majority of their fans.
The fact is, they don’t. After every couple video posts, a post with a photo follows. In the photo post is a link of the video.
As explained in the link above, there are three types of content: photos, links, and videos.
Be sure to use all of these types to maximize your visibility on Facebook.
#8 Samsung Mobile USA
Fans – 19,494,497
Talking About – 1,098,407
Engagement – 6.6%
Brand Saturation
Samsung is pushing their products hard. Every picture they post on their Fan Page has some type of Samsung device in it.
Over the past month there have been at least one photo every day of the Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note II. Seeing as they’re a direct competitor with Apple’s iPhone, I can’t blame them for saturating their page.
Sometimes, the best way to get fans interested is to be aggressive with advertisements.
If you are able to, have your photos focus on your brand as well, and post multiple photos a day.
The Next 8
Hopefully this post gave you some ideas to implement in your Facebook marketing strategy.
For more game-changing tips, check out our Timeline Blueprint or the next 8 Facebook Fan Pages on the list.
