Five Best Brands on Facebook

In case you have been living under a rock for the past 3 years social media (including Facebook) is becoming a very important aspect of  branding campaigns.   Today, I am going to count down my top five brands on Facebook.  Now lets remember before the list starts, the internet is constantly changing.  There could be Facebook pages that pop up tomorrow that are amazing.  These are just my top five as of right now.

First, lets think about what is important about Facebook for businesses and branding.  Facebook is a tool to engage in two way communication with your customers.  It is a way to engage in an everyday conversation with your customers.  It is also a way to get input (good and bad) and react accordingly.  Also it is important to make sure that all social media is an extension of the brand.  So taking some of these things into consideration here are the top 5 brands on Facebook.

5.) Apple Students Apple does not have the most beautiful fan page, but it sure gets the job done.  They do a great job using it for all sorts of news distribution.  On the left hand side they do a good job of promoting their contests and even have links to all their products with prices.  I like when Facebook pages give you a chance to buy the product.  Apple does a good job with that.  Their discussion boards are extremely popular with over 1500 topics.  This is a great example of giving users a medium to express themselves.  The only downside to the page is that it isn’t the most beautiful Facebook Page out there; but it gets the job done.

4.) Vitamin Water – Vitamin Water did an especially good job during the NBA playoffs.  Their “Great Debate” Kobe vs Lebron was a big hit.  They had lots of marketing collateral (including lots of TV) which all pushed people to their Facebook Page.  When Lebron was knocked out of the playoffs Dwight Howard took  over and was the focus of commercials.  This made the Facebook page very popular.  Vitamin Water still needs to update some of their media, but they do a good job posting new information and keeping people engaged.  Another interesting thing they do is have a box to their favorite pages (aka Vitamin Water spokespeople).  Vitamin water needs to do some updating, but they are the perfect example of integrating traditional and non traditional media to be extra effective.

3.) The NBA The National Basketball Association with all their resources should have a great Facebook Page and they do.  They have the best media on a Facebook page I have seen.  They have tons of videos and photos both uploaded by the NBA and submitted by users.  Currently we are in the offseason with basketball not starting for months, and they have tons of news and media being posted daily.  This is crucial to a successful page.  I can only imagine what kind of things they do during the season.  They also have great message boards and do a good job of posting questions and trivia to their users to encourage interaction.  They also do a good job advertising their products (The NBA Store) and leveraging other social media (Twitter).

2.) Whole Foods – When I created SDNN’s Fan Page everyone told me to look at Whole Foods page for an example of an exemplary page.  Boy were they right.  I love this Facebook Page.  They are a market so you wouldn’t think they have the most exciting page.  Their Facebook Page is an extension of everything they sell.  They post GREAT media about their products and ingredients.  They have recipes, information on local foods, and even outreach programs (like fighting starvation and making school lunches healthy).  They also do a good job of linking to their blog which has great articles updated daily (Not to mention RSS).  It’s clean, looks great and has amazing amounts of information.  A great page.

And finally, last but not least:

1.) Papa Johns – The first great thing about Papa Johns Facebook Page; you can order a pizza!  What a brilliant idea.  Buy a pizza from their Facebook Page, pure brilliance.  They use their wall more for user comments and not as much news distribution.  They do distribute specials on their wall which is a good touch.  The cool part of this page is when you get to the tabs.  The “In The House Tab” has all the information on all their campaigns and specials.  The tab is another medium for their marketing campaigns (which is rare on Facebook).  They have both company and user submitted photos which is good and even a poll on the discussions tab.  A great use of Facebook Papa Johns.

These are five of the best Branded Facebook Pages.  Yes this is obviously up for massive debate and yes I am aware their are many other good ones but these stand out to me right now.  I will be writing this article periodically so it will change.

What are your favorite Facebook Pages?  Leave your comments.