The more people ‘Like’ the FJ Cruiser, the cheaper it will be

Toyota has taken put a rather welcome twist on crowd sourcing by reducing the price of its new FJ Cruiser by $5 for everyone who Likes its Facebook site as part of a competition.

As the car maker says on its Like My Ride website it is “offering you the chance to buy a Toyota FJ Cruiser at a reduced social price. For every “Like” the price will drop by $5. You’ve got until Monday, 28th March to reduce the price as much as possible. Toyota will even throw extras as the price drops… adding to the bargain. Get sharing!”

As I write this the site has 1156 fans meaning the price of the retro looking four-wheel-drive has already dropped from its retail drive away price of $50,334 to $44,559. Anyone better at maths than me might have already worked out 10,067 Likes would mean a free car. However the small print (and there’s a lot of small print) says that the most the car can be discounted by is $20,000 to rather reasonable $30,334 – meaning 4000 Likes.

Once you Like the page you can fill in a form for a chance to buy the car at the reduced price.

This is an interesting promotion that will probably receive more attention than if Toyota were giving away a car. It also gives them a massive boost in its social media exposure and a database of potential customers.

Monster or mouse?!

I’ve heard a lot of buzz about Sony’s new-ish Facebook app – Media Monster Wars (first hit attention August last year). And with Justin Timberlake headlining the experience, naturally I was intrigued.

It’s a really neat example of an integrated social media game that generates a monster from analysing your own Facebook content. Which means the more active you are (the more likes, photos, comments, shares and interaction you have) the more powerful your monster will be. Then off you go to share the app and battle your friends. And if you’re powerful enough, then why not challenge JT himself.

Or so the promo video shows.

Here’s where I insert a #fail. I’ve tried a couple of times now to make a monster. One both occasions the “generating and optimising media monster” part of the process took well over 8-10 minutes, only to stop and start the process again. From the start….

Which leads me to my belief: there’s one key element to developing a great Facebook apps: keep it simple.

Sure there is room to dazzle people with a fabulous user experience, but don’t risk a botched attempt at brand interaction by doing too much; crashing apps only result in one thing – irritation. Not good for any brand.

Especially not in this case for Sony, who no doubt is paying significantly for JT’s appearance. If users can’t get the opportunity to challenge him with our monsters, then where’s the ROI?!

 

Fluevog a step ahead of social media trends

John Fluevog's quirky style is evident in his online marketing.

John Fluevog Boots & Shoes Ltd is one of a growing number of companies which are known by their social media campaigns as much as they for their product.

The relatively small Canadian footwear company claims its sales rose 40 per cent in 2009, the first full year of its social media campaign that includes a popular Facebook page and interactive website.

Encouraging customer feedback is a big part of the Fluevog’s social media strategy as is holding online votes about new shoe designs to see which ones get produced.

More importantly John Fluevog Boots & Shoes has identified its young and hip target market and pitches to in a way so they not only want to buy the shoes, they’d want to work for the company.

The Facebook page is active and not just a fan-site that people “Like” and forget. Staff contribute with information, competitions and light-hearted banter while receiving feedback in way of product reviews and the sort of fan mail and pics you’d see on band Facebook pages.

The company website is much the same and takes the user beyond product information to make it a fun online destination in its own right. You can design an ad to win $1000 or vote for other entries; download iPhone wallpaper and take part in its Opensource Footwear scheme, where user ideas lead to shoes designs. In other words it’s encouraging people to send in their creative ideas for no reward other than possibly seeing them incorporated in a finished product – this is the most popular page on the website.

Most importantly customers can purchase boots and shoes online, which at the end of the day is what the whole campaign is about.

Interestingly, Stephen Bailey, who oversees marketing and social-media at John Fluevog Boots & Shoes says the company doesn’t invest in paid advertising in social media. However, his own work has shown, an effective social media campaign does need a certain amount of investment in time and creativity, which can pay off with a loyal client base.