Companies Try to Expand Facebook Fans
Many companies now know that Facebook can be a great marketing tool to attract people to order visit their store. The only obstacle is gaining a solid fan base on Facebook to advertise to. You can have the best marketing ideas for Facebook, but they will not work if you do not have a base to market towards. In order to expand their fan base on Facebook, many restaurants have decided to give away free food for people who like them on Facebook.
Just last week, Pizza Hut gave away a free P’Zone to anyone who “liked” them on Facebook. They advertised this on TV and also on in-store ads. The goal was to spend on advertising now to be able to advertise to lots of people for free later. The outcome of this new breed of advertising will remain unknown until more restaurants such as Pizza Hut test the waters. Despite the uncertainty, other restaurants are beginning to follow this trend as well.
The second early adopting restaurant giving out free food in exchange for Facebook “likes” is Margaritas Mexican Restaurant. This chain, based in New Hampshire, has a Facebook fanpage for each location. As each location achieves its goal of fans, all the fans receive a free gift. For the first goal, fans get a free appetizer. For the second goal, fans receive a free entree, and for reaching the final goal all the fans receive two free entrees. The promotion runs until the end for August. So far the chain has gained about 1,400 fans as a whole since the beginning of August.
I think promoting people to “like” you on Facebook is a great way to build up your fan base for future advertising. With just one click on Facebook you can advertise to thousands of people and the best part of it is that it is FREE! If companies must give away free items for people to “like” them on Facebook, it might benefit them in the long run to do that. Incurring the cost now may seem harsh, but if it leads to free advertising later, it just might be worth it.
Tim from MenuDrive
