What Are Followers Worth, Anyway?
There are some huge online communities out there. For example, Starbucks has over 6 million Facebook fans. Jet Blue has more than 1.6 million followers on Twitter. Even the AFLAC Duck has more than 5,000 followers who eagerly follow his every move on Twitter.
And then, there’s the infamous pickle we blogged about a few weeks back. The one that garnered more than 1.6 million fans on Facebook in just 16 days on the page “Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickelback?”.
Which begs the question: how much, really, are these fans and followers worth? Is fan volume the key metric in determining the success of a Social Media program? Is what it takes to attract fans enough to make them customers? What value can an organization place on such a community?
A look at how organizations have been able to attract such large numbers gives us some clues about how easy it is to “buy” followers. Victoria Secret attracted 2 million fans by giving away panties. TGI Friday’s similarly gave out free hamburgers. Jet Blue recently gave away 1,000 one-way tickets. The “decision engine” Bing grew its fan base from 100,000 to 500,000 overnight by giving away Farmville cash.
So what are these fans really worth? Not much until you can classify them. They represent a database to communicate with to determine their level of interest in you. Most folks will just be there for the swag. I would wager that an overwhelming majority of Starbuck’s 6 million-plus fans didn’t join because they “loved” Starbucks, but rather than they’re hoping to get a coupon for a free frappacino.
What you have, then, is a community of “hand raisers.” You did something that interested them enough to “join,” but by itself that act is no indication that they are true “fans” or even that they give half a hoot about you. Think of them as the folks who walk by your tradeshow booth and stop to fill out a sweepstakes entry.
There are times when a big community can be an asset. If you’re looking for a way to drive traffic and have a special enticement to offer, you have a built-in audience. You can solicit input from them on different issues, and occasionally even invite them to co-create with you. But don’t fall under the spell of thinking that everyone who clicks the “Become a Fan” button on Facebook is a “brand evangelist” dying to hear your every word. These days joining a fan page is no big deal for most folks (recent stats show the average Facebook users joins three fan pages a month), and as the examples of Victoria’s Secret and Bing go to show, it doesn’t take all that much to get them to join.
Over time, you’ll be able to track the followers who interact with you on a regular basis, who respond when you throw something out there. These are your most valuable followers. And while they may only represent a small portion of your overall community, it’s not about their numbers. It’s about their level of engagement. One could argue it is much more profitable to have deep engagement from 1,000 fans than to be “friended” by 500,000.
But for arguments sake, let’s say you’re not interesting in shear numbers, only in having loyal, highly engaged followers. How do you organically go about attracting them? It helps to build in a barrier to entry that not everyone can get past. Reward your followers, but make your page exclusive to the point where not everyone can join. Don’t let just anybody in. Could be invitation only, or require a referral from an insider (like G-mail was when it was first introduced).
Your community will grow a lot more slowly, but will be more likely to be populated with true “believers” who are truly interested in you and won’t hit the “Hide” button after they received their first free coupon.
So before you decide to run a promotion in Mafia Wars for 100 Godfather points in an attempt to grow your fan numbers, ask how you can make the best use of the folks who’ll opt-in, and how you’ll go about separating the wheat from the chaff.
Posted by Mickey
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