Red Bull, Heineken, Coca-Cola were among the first brands to realise the power of the Facebook Like. However, these company giants are now turning away from Facebook. Despite the billion plus audience Facebook has, the interaction and use of the site is quickly dwindling.
Red Bull’s main Facebook page has 44m fans. Maybe a lot, but by generating just 330,000 interactions last month, the brand managed less than 1 monthly interaction for every 100 fans. So why pay Facebook to reach fans when a similar objective can be achieved for free?
With only a quarter of the amount of people using Twitter, you would assume this would be a less profitable marketing. However, results have shown that despite there being less people they are all far more active users and therefore more likely to be influenced by a brands presence.
The brands that are huge on the social site are the ones that were fastest to appreciate Facebook’s strengths, but are now also first to be wary of its limitations: why pay Facebook to reach and engage fans if we can achieve similar objectives, mostly for free, on other networks?
Many brands go for the free approach when it comes to social media: MAC and Red Bull are amongst the most flourishing companies on YouTube in their categories, but all without buying any views.
Whilst Coca-Cola is quickly becoming a Twitter leader, with only 2.65m followers-a fraction-of their Facebook page- they are receiving far more ‘mentions’ and more interaction than their Facebook page. Red Bull dominates in their category on YouTube and Facebook-owned Instagram; as for MAC, it has taken a true ‘portfolio approach’ to social, shining on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube (among others).
Due to these strengths on other platforms, our research shows that these digitally savvy brands are much less likely to sponsor posts on Facebook when they can receive the same advertising and acknowledgement for free.
The focus for Digital leaders is to develop great content and then deploy it across multiple platforms. For them, Facebook is just one of many platforms out there, one that can reach more people but at a cost much higher than free.
If you would like help in deciding the best social media platform for your business, or would like help in implementing a successful social media strategy contact The Ideal Marketing Company for a free 1 hour meeting on 01858 374 170.
