The Official Fluid Blog

Damn. Should I be concerned?

Bacon currently has 379,844 fans on Facebook. Kevin Bacon has 5,985. With six degree of separation that likely equals an amount that exceeds the number of Facebook fans for your brand.

Unless you’re Coca-Cola (4,007,785 fans), who let two fans keep running their page or Starbucks (5,116,222 fans) who frankly, is Starbucks.

Free shipping for becoming a fan wasn’t enough for JCrew (164,848 fans) to unseat bacon. Although kudos to them for their simple implementation of a proven ecommerce winner.

A brand’s number of fans has become the stuff of bragging rights and for some, night sweats. Rivaled only by the quest for viral video views on YouTube.

My opinion: Kick the leader board to the curb and don’t let bacon get your brand down.

In 2010 I think we’ll see a shift to quality and qualified Facebook fans. Who wants fly-by-night fans when you can have a smaller circle who are vocally and adamantly in your corner?

In 2010, repeat visits to Facebook brand pages will rise as a KPI. Brands will being to confirm or ignore their fans – just like we all do on our personal pages. This move will make brands nervous and make potential fans more interested. The offers on the other side of the red rope need to be worth the wait for approval.

The true test? As more and more retailers have the confidence to implement ecommerce within Facebook (Go retailers!) the numbers will provide proof. Then we’ll know if high numbers drive loyalty, conversion and cart size. Or if the fan popularity contest lasts no longer than the reign of a Prom King and Queen.

I know how I’m voting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 3:04 pm and is filed under E-Commerce, Facebook, Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.