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The price of 10 million Facebook 'likes'
Companies spend dearly to get consumers to "like" them on Facebook, hoping that the promotions and freebies will pay off with greater business.
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Tess Vigeland: Here's the latest in seemingly ridiculous Facebook bragging rights: We learned today that Lacoste -- they of the famous alligator logo -- just hit 10 million Facebook fans. According to the research firm Stylophane, the clothing maker is one of only six fashion brands to hit that mark. Converse leads the list, which also includes Adidas, Burberry, Levis and Nike.
So what's the big deal for companies who just want to be "liked" by you? Our senior business correspondent Bob Moon says it's a lot more than a popularity contest.
Bob Moon: Like, really -- we haven't counted this many "likes" since Valley Girls were all the rage.
"Valley Girl" song: Like, I dunno...it's gonna be cool...like so awesome...it's like tubular...it's just like, I dunno...like, totally!
Companies totally love it when you like them -- so much so that the research firm Webtrends estimates they spend, on average, a little more than a dollar in promotional costs to "motivate" that mouse click. Jared Roy heads global client services for Webtrends.
Jared Roy: It has more power than someone opting into an email list or a mailing list, because they've actively gone out there and said, you know what, I like this brand. I want to receive information from this brand.
Buddy Media consults with companies on their social media advertising. The firm's Joe Ciarallo says some companies spend more than others getting you to "like" them, but giving away freebies only goes so far.
Joe Ciarallo: It's fine to give people a reason to show up and to "like," but you want to make sure that they're actually the right people, folks that are generally a fan of our brand -- or are they just people who are clicking on this just to get the deal, and they're never coming back?
Ciarallo says creating your own Facebook community can be an especially effective way to target loyal customers.
Ciarallo: Those folks, if you're doing this right, are more likely to buy from you, they're more likely to recommend you to their friends.
There's concern, though, that you might not be so quick to "like" things in the future if you really knew what you're getting yourself into. Just a few weeks ago, Facebook settled a federal class-action lawsuit. It agreed to make it clear that when users click "like" on a company or product, their names and photos could end up being used to promote it.
I'm Bob Moon for Marketplace.
This article falsely reports the logo of Lacoste to be that of an alligator. It is in fact a crocodile.
Lacoste once bet a crocodile suitcase that he could win a match. After losing, a reporter from Boston dubbed him the "alligator of his sport." He later asked a fashion designer to embroider a crocodile onto a white blazer that he wore onto the court before matches.
The price of 10 million likes if ad-driven can be anywhere from 10 cents a fan to as high as $20, depending on the category that you're in. In this case, we're talking about fashion worldwide, so the average cost per fan for a company that knows what they're doing is about 25 cents worldwide and 40 cents in the United States.
If they're a credit card company, which is less exciting than fashion, the cost per fan will be close to $4 if they are running relevant messaging. The click through rates are lower and people are more wary of clicking "like".
The author mentioned using email lists and other marketing channels to boost Facebook fans. In that case, you get fans for "free". So the overall blended cost to get to 10 million fans is the average of blended and paid channels.
Here's an example of how Weekly World News added fans for under a penny each:
http://allfacebook.com/how-we-got-to-40310-facebook-fans-in-4-days_b15100
