Incentivizing Facebook Fans: Papa John's Doubles Fans with Free Pizza

As brands and marketers continue to grow their presence on Facebook through Facebook Pages, 'fan acquisition' becomes as important as ongoing engagement / marketing. Like traditional traffic acquisition, there are various methods - some organic and viral; other through paid programs. A powerful trend on Facebook is, obviously, the movement of Facebook Advertisements from destination sites to Facebook Pages. Facebook clearly has recognized this with the addition of the "Become a Fan" button.

And brands recognize that acquiring fans is both difficult - but valuable considering the ability to engage with consumers on an ongoing basis.... leading to incentivized Facebook Fan Ads. Below is a great example from Papa Johns who offers a free medium cheese pizza in exchange for becoming a fan.

In reality, this is a unique coupon code for Facebook Fans... which, assuming that the economics work out for Papa Johns, is very smart because it allows them to directly track the 'redemption rates' of the Facebook offer - effectively understanding the direct commercial value of their advertising campaign. Meanwhile, there is downstream value in the growth of Facebook fans, the ability to interact with them, future coupons / promotions, and so forth.

The campaign worked. Papa Johns is the third biggest gainer in Facebook Pages - nearly doubling their fan base and driving 250,000 new fans in a 48 hour period.

Wendy's Real Time: An Interactive, Social Ad Campaign About Bacon

Wendy's has been advertising their new Bacon Deluxe burger which features four strips of Applewood bacon:

So unless you love bacon, why is this interesting? Because Wendy's has been promoting the burger heavily in an interactive campaign that runs on prominent websites like ESPN and Gizmodo - and concurrent to a large television campaign... and that the campaign is billed as "Wendy's Real Time" - a play on the real time web and their focus on "real burger" taste.

The takeaway (which I moved up from the bottom of the post) is that this is a unique and interesting swing at real time advertising / branding... but it is too dynamic and too big. The interactions and user experience would be greatly simplified if they integrated with Twitter's OAuth and also with Facebook Connect. Why ask people to leave Wendys.com to post, interact, etc. Make it simple up front and then push the data both directions: on Wendys.com and on Twitter / Facebook (both of which have clear benefits).

Below is a screenshot of an expansion leaderboard ad that features the burger and invites you to "view Wendy's real time":

The leaderboard retracts into a traditional size, but it is also matched by a skyscraper with similar messaging:

The ad takes you to the "real time" experience - which is a mix of Twitter updates, user photos and videos, Wendy's messaging, etc. It is cooler than it is effective (or even decipherable) - content is dynamic and constantly moving, but much of it is neither about Wendy's nor bacon.

When you click on a post, it expands the Twitter message and displays the user's Twitter information (allowing you to follow him / her).

The video experience is easier to digest and the incentives for posting are more clear: hamburgers for a year. By posting videos of your Wendy's experience, you are eligible for the contest. The UI is slick and this content clearly be reusable for other campaigns (such as on Facebook).

Finally, Wendy's encourages you to Talk Bacon with their Twitter account (@urBaconMeCrazy).

Following the Bay Bridge Opening On Brizzly, Twitter

Minutes ago, the Bay Bridge re-opened and I was able to follow in real-time through Brizzly (and their in-stream multimedia) and @hnshah's Twitter / Twitpic stream (who for some reason wanted to be the first across!):

The Facebook Halloween Costume

This clip from the office is great. And if you don't find this funny, then you clearly aren't as geeky as I am:

Live Streaming Heidi Klum's Halloween Party with Modelinia & Facebook

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Modelinia's Facebook contest that gave creative fans the opportunity to spend Halloween with Heidi Klum at her famous Halloween Costume Party.

Tonight, everyone has the opportunity to spend Halloween with Heidi Klum thanks to Modelinia's live stream of the party on their Facebook fan page.

TechCrunch covered the live stream and provided a great overview of the event and how to join:

You can find the live stream on Modelinia’s Facebook page starting at 9 PM PT tonight. The streaming itself is being handled by Livestream, who will run it through 11:30 PM, we’re told. Klum’s Facebook fan page along with Modelinia’s page have nearly 700,000 fans, so if you do watch this, you definitely won’t be alone. And there’s a chat widget running next to the stream to talk with others watching it.

To participate, become a fan of Modelinia on Facebook and watch the live stream there - or below:

What You Missed in Yesterday's Tech News (Lots of Activity)

I wrote this on Twitter and Facebook last night - but yesterday was a very full day of news across a variety of tech space: mobile, social media, advertising, gadgets, etc. Here are a few of the important and interesting headlines from a very active day (articles are on the clickthrough):

Facebook's Platform Changes - D-Day For Facebook App Developers (TechCrunch) - First Screenshots of Facebook Platform Changes (InsideFacebook) - Our Complete Rundown of Facebook’s Massive Platform Changes (InsideFacebook)

Google's Musical Announcement - Making search more musical (The Official Google Blog)

Droid is a Week Away - Hello Humans: Droid By Motorola Arrives Next Week (Verizon) - Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video) (Engadget)

iPhone Moving Beyond AT&T? - Apple predicted to sacrifice ‘sweetheart’ AT&T deal for Verizon (AppleInsider)

Google Announces Turn by Turn Navigation - Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 (The Official Google Blog) - Google’s New Mobile App Cuts GPS Nav Companies At The Knees (TechCrunch)

Brizzly Adds Facebook Integration - Brizzly Gets A New Coat: Facebook (TechCrunch)

Pandora Also Adds Facebook Integration - Share Pandora with Your Friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Beyond (Pandora)

Virtual Tour of Dogpatch Labs San Francisco

Unfortunately, tomorrow's Dogpatch Labs San Francisco office hours are canceled for traveling reasons - but they will be back on November 4th! As a consolation prize, I have included a tour of Dogpatch Labs put together with Sprout Builder and some pictures snapped yesterday morning:

Unbranded Research Poll Ads on Facebook

This is the first time I have seen an unbranded "research" ad on Facebook that uses their new interactive platform (polling, events, etc). Below is a screenshot of an unbranded "research poll" about car insurance and consumer purchase habits. The ad unit clearly uses the same infrastructure and format as the branded poll units (see samples here) but, unlike the others, this is aimed at collecting data rather than promoting a brand or fan page. This too is interesting because, as part of branded campaigns, the polls are usually aimed at capturing attention rather than consumer behavior data - for instance, Saw VI polls were somewhat outlandish and bizarre... such that you were driven to participate and see how others vote. Facebook has a note below the poll that this data can be shared anonymously - but because there is no brand associated with the unit and because the header says "Sponsored", it is still a strange interaction (I took the poll specifically to see what brand would pop up upon completion). Once the poll is answered, it collapses and thanks you for "participating in [the] research poll". In contrast, after voting in a branded poll unit, it displays the popular vote and which friends participated.

The Research Poll - which appears in the same 'premium' location as other units

Upon completion of the poll, you are thanked for participating... a different experience than with branded units

What You & Your Brand Can Learn From The Jay Leno Show

Advertising Age has recently spent quite a bit of time dissecting the Jay Leno effect on NBC and viewership, ratings and advertising. For instance, "A 30-second spot in "Jay Leno" costs between an average of $48,803 (Friday nights) and $65,678 (Tuesday nights)... In contrast, NBC was able to secure ad prices of between $78,000 (for "Lipstick Jungle") and $146,679 for programs that aired in its 10 p.m. slot Monday through Friday in the 2008-2009 programming season."

Those stats alone do not tell an entire story, but it is bad enough that Ad Age put together a top ten list titled: "Top 10 Lessons to Learn From NBC's Failing Leno Strategy: How a Network Shot Itself in the Foot by Cynically Cost-Cutting -- and Betraying Its Viewers and Affiliates".

While Ad Age's list is aimed at media companies and personalities - it is, for the most part, applicable to all brands, companies and entrepreneurs. So whether or not you find Jay Leno funny - and whether or not NBC finds success with The Jay Leno Show - these lessons are relevant:

10. In a morphing media marketplace, track record means nothing. 9. Longevity is not the same as brand loyalty. 8. Cutting back on quality, even in a recession, can be brand suicide. 7. It's dangerous to pretend your brand is something it's not. 6. Timing affects perception. 5. Time-shifting aside, the basic rhythms of broadcasting may have an almost biological basis. 4. If you're in media, you're in a way different business than you were even just five years ago. 3. If you're going to suddenly and radically change a large proportion of your product line-up (like, say, 33.3% of your weekday prime-time schedule), there's -- surprise! -- going to be a ripple effect on your overall brand. 2. Allowing one outsize personality to hijack your brand identity is generally not a good idea. 1. Jay Leno is a helluva lot more annoying when you're still wide awake.

Read Ad Age for the entire list with commentary about each bullet.