This past weekend I was at the Texas/OU football game in Dallas. While I was cheering on the Longhorns to victory, I realized that the game and stadium was heavily sponsored by AT&T, specifically with a focus on their Blackberry offerings. AT&T was really pushing that they offer a student discount on Blackberry phones.
Even more interesting is that AT&T’s advertising CTA pushed customers to http://www.facebook.com/getalittlesmarter. Why didn’t AT&T push customers to their website, why did they chose Facebook?
I came up with some reasons why AT&T did and why maybe you should send your customers straight to Facebook:
1. It’s cheaper to develop a Facebook page than a webpage. This may not be true at all companies, but for most it is much easier to develop a Facebook page than a webpage. In this case, AT&T doesn’t really have a place on their site for school discounts, which is why they probably decided to add it to a Facebook page.
2. Your customers are on Facebook. If the demographic you are trying to reach is on Facebook than it makes sense for you to be there as well. Obviously college students are a huge demographic for Facebook, and by advertising at a college football game and pushing to Facebook, AT&T hit their audience perfectly.
3. You can be more creative on Facebook. You can pretty much do anything with a Facebook page. If your corporate website has a certain design style it may be hard to convince people to think outside of the box. But with Facebook, you have the freedom and flexibility to step out of the corporate box and create something unique.
4. Your product has a connection to the platform. Facebook is one of the most popular applications for Blackberry users. In fact I know some Blackberry users who only use Facebook on their phones. If your product has a connection to the platform than it makes sense to send your customers there. If your customers love LinkedIn, send them there. None of your customers probably LOVE your corporate website, so why would you send them there?
I thought AT&T hit the nail on the head with their advertising and connection to Facebook at the Cotton Bowl. Do you send your customers straight to Facebook?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Cool post Blake!
It really does seem more appropriate to send someone to a particular forum rather than an orphan corporate web site. Taking advantage of an existing population on Facebook or LinkedIn just seems smart. What is nice about going to Facebook, for example, is the layout and such is familiar and easy to navigate, whereas each corporate web site is unknown territory.
While I am familiar with Facebook Fan Pages, I’m no guru! I hope to learn how the gained their custom URL, since FB says they’re not available for Fan Pages yet, and where the “What’s New” tab came from! Pretty cool though!
Being associated with FB in this case is awesome too because of the viral result of “becoming a fan”, establishing free marketing and awareness.
Hey Kahnrad,
Thanks for your comment. I agree that taking advantage of all the people on Facebook “seems smart,” but a lot of companies are still afraid to try it.
I believe now if you have over a certain number of fans your fan page can have a custom URL, and the “What’s New” tab is just a customized “boxes” tab. One you start a new boxes tab you can edit it using custom html. Pretty cool!
Great perspective and article! I am always excited to see social media in action and know how businesses are using it to experiment with new ideas. Low cost and effective, I hope FB was prepared for the extra hits to the page!
AT&T as a sponsor should offer good service in the stadium for AT&T users, as well.