Facebook brand engagement

The term engagement has become commonplace in the marketing practice, with many believing that engagement is of key importance in evoking a response from consumers, assuming it ultimately leads to purchases and brand loyalty.

Brands are now engaging with Facebook more and more, it is not a surprise that a brand is on Facebook and with the timeline introduction I am surprised to see the brand without a timeline. Why? Well, simply because it is something relatively new, so if brands want to be up-to-date they need to get the timeline. However, in order to transfer to the timeline brands/companies/advertisers needs to spend time. But the question still is… is it worth it? I have already explored the topic of 'the power of Facebook like' and now after reading an article from ADMAP’s MAY 2012 edition about ‘Engagement planning with facebook fan’ or ‘a fan for life?’ I still did not get any proper answers but just got even more concerned of facebook brand value.

Are fans really engaged with the brands they choose at some point to ‘like’?

The results by the research show that:

• -          In any given week, less than 0.5% of Facebook fans engage with the brands they are fan of;

• -          Category type does not play a role in the degree of fan engagement;

• -          Passion brands don’t differ;

• -          Brand popularity doesn’t affect the degree of fan engagement.

Just few fans engage with a brand on Facebook on an on-going basis, regardless of category or brand status. Therefore, there are very limited levels of engagement. Moreover, there is a tenuous link between the effects of engagement and subsequent sales – having conversation with a brand seems not to be of the top priority for consumers.

 When focusing on achieving high levels of engagement brands should question whether they are still trying to persuade consumers or remind them of brand’s existence..?

I believe all those companies/brands/advertisers should also question whether it makes sense to focus on the ‘engagement’ as a measure of success in the first place, when they actually want to know whether social media presents a better opportunity for sales, generated by our marketing dollar, than other media.

How cost effective is it for a brand to attempt to drive engagement if the most they can reasonably expect is that 1% of fans will engage? And if they achieve higher engagement, will that translate into sales?

Well.. I am still interested in these things. Would like to see a study/infographic/etc. about this topic or just to see Facebook in action to understand it fully and fulfill all of my curiosity!