Many people probably have no immediate interest in becoming a fan of their favorite mop. However, given the overall user volume and degree by which users are encouraged to participate in such information sharing activities without any obvious downside, even mid-sized brands seem to have a fair number of fans. It also probably helps that nearly every FB contest requires that users fan the brand these days. ;)
Anyway, I think there's something about having people you trust and/or admire (friends, celebrities) publicly depicting their interest in a brand. It almost seems like a means to lower the barrier for a kind of "automated word-of-mouth" advertising. Besides, clicking to a brand fan page without leaving the comfortable and relatively familiar neighborhood of facebook's interface is awfully easy.
Now, how that actually plays out when applied to marketing & sales? I don't know. Can't say I recall Facebook influencing my purchasing habits in some manner, but who knows. Perhaps I might subconsciously choose brand A over B due to how frequently A showed up in my feed when dealing with a product when I would otherwise not have any strong feelings in either direction. Or more importantly, perhaps by becoming a fan of a brand/product/whatever, suddenly I've become a qualified lead for future marketing purposes in the eyes of that brand.
In general it seems like the Facebook allure has at least some to do with being a part of the next big thing. There's a certain degree of cool and relevance by association that comes with being on Facebook, much like brands were once pushing their MySpace pages in a similar manner---although perhaps with less fervor back then.
The barrier to entry is just so bloody minimal in trying out new sites like Facebook that I'd imagine for many it's worth the implementation costs to at least see how things play out. That being said, it's interesting that brands have been using valuable marketing dollars to promote their facebook pages instead of properties which they actually own and have complete control over. Whether we're talking print ads or television commercials, I recall having seen a fair number of references to facebook.com/brand while completely leaving out www.brand.com. It's rather interesting... and like you indicated, these brands are basically promoting facebook in the process.
Anyway, I think there's something about having people you trust and/or admire (friends, celebrities) publicly depicting their interest in a brand. It almost seems like a means to lower the barrier for a kind of "automated word-of-mouth" advertising. Besides, clicking to a brand fan page without leaving the comfortable and relatively familiar neighborhood of facebook's interface is awfully easy.
Now, how that actually plays out when applied to marketing & sales? I don't know. Can't say I recall Facebook influencing my purchasing habits in some manner, but who knows. Perhaps I might subconsciously choose brand A over B due to how frequently A showed up in my feed when dealing with a product when I would otherwise not have any strong feelings in either direction. Or more importantly, perhaps by becoming a fan of a brand/product/whatever, suddenly I've become a qualified lead for future marketing purposes in the eyes of that brand.
In general it seems like the Facebook allure has at least some to do with being a part of the next big thing. There's a certain degree of cool and relevance by association that comes with being on Facebook, much like brands were once pushing their MySpace pages in a similar manner---although perhaps with less fervor back then.
The barrier to entry is just so bloody minimal in trying out new sites like Facebook that I'd imagine for many it's worth the implementation costs to at least see how things play out. That being said, it's interesting that brands have been using valuable marketing dollars to promote their facebook pages instead of properties which they actually own and have complete control over. Whether we're talking print ads or television commercials, I recall having seen a fair number of references to facebook.com/brand while completely leaving out www.brand.com. It's rather interesting... and like you indicated, these brands are basically promoting facebook in the process.