Facebook Engagement: Politics, Promotions and Pictures, please!
The social media firestorm ignited by the decision by more than 100 sponsors to pull their ads for Rush Limbaugh’s radio talk show has finally begun to burn out. After an action-packed few weeks that brands like the usually-quiet ProFlowers and Sleep Number Beds shot to the top of Media Logic’s Retail Social Juice Index, scores have started to normalize.
In other news, this week saw a “battle of the ‘B’ brands” as Bulgari, Breitling and Bealls all won honors as biggest movers and highest-rankers on the RSJI. Bulgari earned superstar engagement – amassing more than 10,000 likes and nearly 500 shares – by posting photos of celebrities showing off the brand’s gems on the red carpet. Breitling used a Facebook photo album to reveal the brand’s new launches for 2012, unveiling one or two new watches a day to keep likers commenting.
Bealls, on the other hand, earned its high scores the old fashioned way – by violating Facebook’s guidelines (see Media Logic’s post on the topic). Bealls ran a promotion that promised extra contest entries for post comments. A clear no-no. Shoplet scored using the same illegal technique.
Will there be consequences? Though Facebook reserves the right, so far as we know, no major retailer has been booted off the service. Will Facebook police the rules it has put in place to govern Timeline for brands any better?
