Inside Facebook

If a company has ever wondered what makes a good Facebook Public Profile, they might have a new measure: The Facebook Blue Ribbon Award. Judged by Facebook’s marketing solutions group, the award is given to companies whose Facebook Pages have not only attracted a large amount of “Fans,” but have facilitated deep engagement with the profile’s main features.

The inaugural blue ribbons were awarded to the Pages of H&M, Starbucks and Vitamin Water. According to a note posted by Facebook, the marketing solutions group “looked at the most popular pages by fan count and then looked at interactions of the fans with the Page ratio (defined as comments, likes).” The awards will be issued monthly.

The three winners had some common characteristics. While many company profiles tend to serve as a way to redirect users to their home websites, the Blue Ribbon winners seemed comfortable having users spend time on Facebook. Each company uploaded original video and photos that live on Facebook. H&M showed photos for its summer line of clothing, while Starbucks uploaded videos that detailed some of its charity efforts in Africa.

Vitamin Water has always had pretty witty marketing efforts (just read the side of one of their bottles). Their Facebook page was no exception. One video focused on their actual product very little. Instead, it featured many of the athletes they sponsor, including Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and David Ortiz, who told the camera what music they like to listen to before or after a game. The video doesn’t have the polished look of a TV ad (and it’s also quite a bit longer). But that’s what makes it effective; it fits a more informal, social medium.

All the sites received lots of comments from fans. Rather than merely link to its corporate website, Starbucks posted content from the Serious Eats blog, which has been running a series on roasting coffee and Starbucks’ Coffee College. The posts received hundreds of comments.

Conclusion

We were impressed by the three award winners’ Pages. Moreover, the existence of this award will enable companies to learn from each other as they try to improve their Facebook marketing efforts and innovate on top of their Pages. Many Facebook users are eager to become fans of their favorite products, but finding the proper content to serve up to them isn’t always easy. This should help companies in their efforts.

For more comprehensive details and best practices on marketing with Facebook Pages, check out our industry leading Facebook Marketing Bible.