I recently was preparing for a speech at Pace University around participatory marketing and came across an interesting posting on Nick Burcher’s blog highlighting the top 50 facebook fan pages.  Not surprisingly it looked something like this:

1. Barack Obama
2. Michael Phelps
3. Batman: The Dark Knight
4. facebook
5. Coldplay
6. Windows Live Messenger
7. Adam Sandler
8. YouTube
9. Apple Students
10. Linkin Park

25. Victoria’s Secret Pink

30. Addidas Originals

32. OREO Cookies

45. Red Flavour Pringles

46. Ferrero Rocher

Interesting collection, no?  During my presentation at Pace University in a room filled with hundreds of local undergraduate students, I asked a few questions to kick off the discussion.

How many of you subscribe to emails from the brands you have relationships with? 33% of the hands went up.

How many receive text messages from the brands you have relationships with?

10% of the hands go up.

How many of you became a fan of Barack Obama’s on facebook?

40% raise their hands.

How many of you became a fan or visit the facebook page of a brand you have a relationship with?

0% raise their hands.

So what’s going on here? A reasonable person might assume facebook is basically a bunch of young guys who love sports and junk food and who go online using their Apple computers to look at hot girls – and that is just about it.  Quite a social commentary, no?  But what if you are one of the thousands of brands trying to figure out social media and advertising? What does this mean for you?  Can you be successful on facebook?  Well if you’re not selling music, sports, the latest cool gadget or “entertainment”, then you just might be SOL? Or maybe not – facebook's Connect is interesting? 

My Take? Traditional advertising on existing peer-to-peer social networks will be like TV – ignored.  As my partner says - it is like going to a bar with your friends and someone comes up and tries to sell you a new car.  Not going to happen.  I believe it won’t take too much longer before we see a host of new networks appearing dedicated to helping consumers better manage their brand interactions.  Media including the staples (email, TV, print, etc.) will also be more participatory, encouraging users to engage with brands in ways that create value and benefit both the customer and brand.  Commercial networks will not only bring a sense of organization to the crazy amount of relationships we all must manage, but they will finally align the purchase process with the consumer mindset to create a commercial environment that is controlled by the consumer.  My biggest hope is that my partner and I can be part of that explosion -- and we are working on it.  Let me know what you think.

As we’ve defined in the past, Participatory Marketing is all about getting people involved in promoting your brand.  One of the most common and effective marketing tactics used to engage prospects and customers are contests.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that marketers faced with declining budgets and sales are turning to this participatory marketing staple in the hopes of engaging users.  But what’s so different about contests today is that most have a social media twist in an effort to further extend one’s message and stretch one’s budget.  What’s not so different is that they continue to use traditional media (i.e. TV, print, email, online banners, PR, etc.) to promote them.  Take The Limited, who begun promoting a new e-commerce store with a viral marketing contest and campaign.  The program invites users to create “The Ultimate Outfit” using The Limited’s products and share those outfits by posting them on social networking sites (i.e. facebook and MySpace).  Users can also communicate directly on The Limited’s website by sharing their thoughts about the outfits they created and where users could wear them.  In addition, visitors are encouraged to vote on posted entries.  As of today, the contest, which began on November 5^th, has 7,900 entries and 520,000 page views.  According to DMNews, The Limited’s outfits have been posted to MySpace a total of 25,000 times. 

The Limited will choose a winning outfit at the conclusion of the campaign which will end in approximately 25 days.  The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip with a friend to Chicago, Dallas or Miami to meet a personal stylist along with a $2,000 shopping spree. 

Nicely done.  Also note one of the first pieces of information The Limited requests is email - which they will use as the primary tool to keep the conversation going.  

If you’ve seen a cool participatory marketing program in action, let us know by posting a comment or sending us an email at info@thepmn.org.