How Coca-Cola Doubled its Facebook Fans in 6 Months

A recent eMarketer analysis of Facebook Fan Pages found significant growth in the number of Facebook fans for some major brands between August and November of 2010.  We checked the most recent numbers for the top 10 brands, and found that this growth has continued.

Since November, YouTube has added another 3 million fans reach 26.5 million total;  Coca-Cola is now over 22 million–more than double the 10.4 million fans they had in August 2010; and Starbucks has risen to 19.4 million.

What are some of the techniques these brands are using to keep their Facebook communities growing at such a fast pace?  We decided to take a quick look at their Facebook pages…

Coca-Cola held a year-long social media campaign, called Expedition 206, constantly updating their Facebook page with content posted by brand ambassadors as they traveled to all 206 countries where Coca-Cola is sold, to ‘seek out “what makes people happy” around the world.’  Their Facebook page now directs fans to ‘Coke Cheers‘ a charity promotion to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Oreo launched an interactive game on its Facebook page in September, resulting in a jump from 8.5 million fans in August to 15.2 million in November 2010, and now reaching over 16.5 million fans as of February 2011. Having nearly doubled the number of fans on Oreo’s Facebook page, the campaign is still running and has expanded offline with in-person events, as reported by eMarketer.

Oreo also regularly engages fans on their Facebook wall, for example asking on January 25, “You eat Oreo cookies because…”  Within a week, the post had 9,560 ‘likes’ and elicited 8,748 comments.

Starbucks allows their fans to run the show, opening their wall to fan posts.  Others, including Red Bull and Skittles, post only their own content on their Facebook wall (videos, events, etc) which fans can ‘like’ and comment on, but they also have offers/promotions and interactive options available for fans in other tabs.

What strategy has your business used to expand your presence on Facebook and draw more fans to your site?  Write a comment below!