How 5 brands became surprise Facebook hits

Before Facebook grew big (think back), predicting which brands would become successes on the global site would have seemed a safe bet. You might have put your money on Starbucks, with its international following of laptop-happy caffeine junkies. Or you may have forecast big things for giant global youth brands Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

However, cast your eye down the list of Facebook’s top brands and what you’ll find, rather than a predictable rundown of the world’s top brands, is a rather random selection which proves that certain smaller companies are getting Facebook marketing right, while some major players just aren’t.

Courtesy of Mashable’s Digital Marketing Series supported by Hubspot, here is a rundown of Facebook’s surprise hits, and what they have been doing right:

1. Oreo

The ‘a-ha’ moment for Mark Clouse, senior vice president for global biscuits at Kraft Foods, came with the realisation in 2009 that about half of its then-5 million fans lived outside the US. Based on this finding, Oreo revamped its Facebook site to be more international user-friendly, for instance with the “world’s fan of the week” feature. The page now attracts more than 22 million sweet-toothed fans.

2. Nutella

Another sweet success story on Facebook – and a surprising one given that Nutella did pretty much nothing to establish its presence on the site initially. As it turns out, Nutella is one of those brands that gets social media users talking. The proof: there are no less than 12,000 YouTube videos featuring Nutella and 40,000 images featuring the product on Flickr.

3. Converse

To tally up Converse’s total Facebook fanbase, you need to account for the Converse All Star fan page as well as the Converse page. The total is a whopping 40,000, making this relatively small brand in real life a runaway Facebook success (and more popular than Rihanna). The secret, according to chief marketing officer Geoff Cottrill, is alarmingly simple – the social media strategy is all about creating a platform for the people and being sure to “listen more than we talk”.

4. Audi

We considered recently on this blog (6.9.11) just how useful counting Facebook fans really is for measuring social media’s impact. Far more telling, in our view, is the level of engagement. By this account, Audi scores top marks, racking up more than 225 likes per 100,000 fans (a level of engagement that tops even Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, according to researcher Visibli), and much down to posting some truly fantastic photos on its page.

5. I Love Being Black

In a stroke of social marketing genius, clothing company ILBB has positioned itself as far more than just a brand online. Its Facebook page has become something of a social network within a social network for the African- American community – while topical, thought-provoking questions such as “Should Chris Brown be cast in Think Like a Man? Do we forgive too quickly or has his image been reborn?” get the community all fired up to talk.