New Hampshire Goes Viral: A Testament to True Fandom
Update: I just discovered that this story made news at the Concord Monitor, completely unbeknownst to us at Brand Networks.
About a week ago, a couple of industrious colleagues of mine at Brand Networks decided to perform an experiment in the organic viral growth of a Facebook Page. Of all the things in the world to become a fan of, what did they pick? The state of New Hampshire. (They’re UNH grads, and as a former Vermonter I can understand the love for northern New England states).
They seeded the page with some content: a few photos, NH news via RSS, a link to NH tourism, etc. All very general stuff — no slick interactive Flash, not even a scenic primary picture. Then they sat back and did nothing.
What happened? The Page blew up. Once it gathered some momentum, it grew at a rate of over 50 fans per hour, to over 5,000 in less than a week. You could sit there and refresh the page and watch the fan count climb. And it’s still growing.
Not only that, but the fans are engaged. A community is being born right before our eyes. 249 fan photos have been uploaded as I write this. 161 posts have been made across six discussion threads. Seven people have posted items such as events and links. 64 people have written on the wall.
There was no media support behind this page, just pure, raw viral growth. Sears is paying users $5 just to become a fan of their page, never mind actually engage with the content. Why does Sears have to spend $50,000 to get 10,000 fans, when New Hampshire is already 60% of the way there after one week? Here are some reasons I would argue as to why “New Hampshire” went viral:
The obvious: the built-in viral tools within Facebook provide social proof. This one’s true for all applications, pages, and groups in Facebook. If you’re from New Hampshire, and you see on your News Feed that five of your friends have become fans of New Hampshire, you’re more likely to consider doing so as well.
The not-so-obvious: the complement to the first point is that if you’re from New Hampshire, odds are pretty good that many of the your friends (i.e. the people that see your feed updates) are from New Hampshire as well. They are notified when you become a fan, and the message inherently gets to the right people.
And finally: the main graphic for the page is a simple green outline of the state — boring to some, but effective. Why? Because New Hampshire means different things to different people. There’s a nostalgic element to “becoming a Fan of New Hampshire” that is different for everyone. It’s the same reason that true community is more likely to “happen” in venues that are less than inspiring.
What’s the big take-away here (or as Chris Brogan would say, what’s in it for me?)? There are plenty of ways to go wrong, but here’s a pretty good idea of how to go right: take a step back from pushing your marketing messaging, and then get involved the broader conversations that are going on around your brand. As someone said to me succinctly yesterday, if you’re selling tennis shoes, talk to your consumers about tennis. This New Hampshire page is a tiny example, but could easily be a community for Smuttynose Brewery, or Waterville Valley Resort – this is a deeply engaged audience with a demonstrated interest in the broader category. Find me a brand wouldn’t want to be able to interact with their consumers on this level.
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Thanks for the link, Jamie. Great blog!
So Jamie Tedford (who commented on the Monitor piece — which I came across via a Google Alert) works with you? Nicely nicely.