Last week, Method home and personal care products announced a special offer for their Facebook fans: 50 percent off all online orders for 24 hours. The promotion celebrated the page reaching the 10,000 fan milestone. I logged on immediately and bought way more cleaning products than my two-bedroom apartment needs. And I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t resist.
Method’s fans started thanking the company immediately through their comments. However, the tone of the conversation turned quickly when people started running into issues related to hefty shipping charges. Others were complaining that the offer wasn’t valid in their home countries. Apparently, some people tried to call customer service and the folks answering the phones weren’t aware of the promotion. In all, there were 80 “likes” and 80 comments to the original post.
To their credit, Method responded quickly to people’s complaints and resolved most of the issues by asking them to email customer service directly for help. Thirty people commented once Method posted that information. Several people crafted original wall posts – largely expressing their gratitude. When I noticed that Method posted the offer, they were at 10,021 fans. Today, they’re up to 10,278. It seems the offer motivated fans to tell their friends.
Despite the hiccups, Method’s offer seems to have paid off in the form of social media cred. Perhaps others can learn from their challenges. Rose Communications issued a similar challenge to fans of the GearWrench fan page. We launched the page in November and asked for help getting to 2009 fans by the end of the year. When we fell just short of the goal, we decided it was important to offer something to express our appreciation to the early fans. We considered a number of different options, including a discount on GearWrench-branded merchandise. After anticipating some of the challenges Method faced last week, we decided to give away free ratcheting wrench key chains (they may not sound exciting, but they are mini-wrenches that are actually quite coveted!) to our fans. We had a nearly 100 percent response rate and GearWrench’s fan base increased as a result.
If you’re considering a Facebook fan challenge, we’d suggest the following tips:
- Consider audiences outside the United States because they’re also your fans online
- Don’t forget to alert customer service so they are prepared for calls
- Post the rules online like you would for any other promotion
- Prepare for fans to ask if the contest can be extended; some will miss it
- Monitor fan feedback and respond; most fans will forgive almost any mistake if the response is thoughtful and timely
- Review Facebook’s promotion rules to make sure you’re in compliance
Rosemary, thanks for a great case, though it seems like it’s less a lesson in Facebook fan challenges/social media experimentation, and more a simple reminder to think through the operational details of ANY sales promotion activity. The social component here was that the company (and its customers) knew about the hiccups sooner, which was a good thing. If anything, the cautionary note I’d make is that offering a deal to Facebook “friends” is not the same as giving it to customers you actually know and/or have sold to. Fans are synonymous with customers, and their value is some version of $0 until they actually buy something.
Anyway, great post.
JSB
Good point, Jonathan. Their value to the company may be $0, yet their ability to do damage (or generate positive awareness) is immeasurable. Thanks for the comment.