Inside Facebook

While many big brands have been building custom applications on the Facebook Platform, many have also been engaging with large audiences through sponsored integrations with Facebook applications. The latest is from the most valuable brand in the world: Coke.

Coca-Cola and MediaVest have partnered with appssavvy to develop a marketing campaign inside the already-popular Living Social, giving the drink company exposure to the more than 17 million monthly users of the Facebook application which has become popular for its “pick 5″ lists that users often share with friends.

The sponsored area of the application features  a “Things that make me happy” list and gives users the opportunity to fill in what they feel are their favorite five “Coke secret ingredients.”  The format will be familiar to anyone that’s used a LivingSocial app on Facebook — just enter a word or a few letters into the search box and you’ll see a list of secret ingredient options.

By piggy-backing on the success of LivingSocial, Coke and appssavvy have tapped into a huge social community instead of building up a fan base from scratch. The Coke Facebook Fan page has about 3.5 million fans, but they’re able to reach a different segment of the Facebook audience by sponsoring LivingSocial.

Many brands, both small and large, are building their own specific apps for Facebook, which then take time to catch on, if they catch on at all. Sponsoring already-popular apps gives brands an immediate impact and skips the lag period associated with a new application. It’s also an important way established applications are monetizing successfully.