Showing the Love: How 4 Brands Said ‘Thank You’ to Fans

They are the people who share your content, who get excited about what you post, who talk among themselves about how much they love your brand. They are your fans – the customers who’ve taken that step to say “yes” to seeing updates from your brand interspersed with news from their closest friends.

Why not take the time to thank them?

Here’s how four brands offered thanks to their communities on Facebook:

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts facebook.com/fairmonthotels

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts offered its fans in the Middle East and Africa a special hotel discount for 1/2 price off certain hotels during the weekends. It used Shoutlet’s Social Canvas™ to create a dynamic page with the offer details, a link to book the hotel, and images of all the properties involved in the promotion. It also added sharing features to help fans spread the word.

Lands’ End facebook.com/landsend

Lands’ End celebrated reaching 1,000,000 fans on Facebook by launching a Million Fan Contest. The national retailer asked fans to answer this question: “Why are you a walking Lands’ End billboard?” The prize was a unique experience: a trip to the Lands’ End headquarters with a makeover, styling, free outfit, and photoshoot.

This type of contest rewards the super-fan and also gives Lands’ End the opportunity to showcase the winner’s experience post-contest.

The Elf on the Shelf facebook.com/elfontheshelf

To celebrate 200,000 fans on Facebook, The Elf on the Shelf posted a celebratory photo and highlighted the post on its Timeline to encourage more interaction. The post generated high engagement with more than 5,000 likes, 80 comments, and 150 shares.

Ulta facebook.com/ulta

ULTA celebrated its fans by creating a Fabulous Fan Giveaway with Shoutlet where fans could enter to win one of ten prize packages. ULTA also promoted New York Fashion Week by letting fans know where they could follow along in social media and included tweets from its participation at the event.

What other examples of “thank yous” have you seen from brands in social media? Share them in the comments.

Cristin Goss

These are all consumer-based retail brands. Any hints for a niche resource/magazine company? It seems most articles are about social media marketing for retail brands and it’s hard for us to apply that to our marketing strategies. Thank you!
- Kira Sparks
  
  Hi Cristin! Thanks for your comment. While these companies may be different in focus than your own, there may be some ideas to take from their work. For example, thanking your fans with a discount subscription to your magazine similar to Fairmont’s discount to guests. Another idea might be to highlight a particularly active fan or great Facebook comment with an interview or blurb in the magazine itself (which could have a nice effect of letting more readers know about your Facebook presence!). Thanks again for reading and sharing.
- shoutlet
  
  Hi Cristin! Thanks for your comment. While these companies may be different in focus than your own, there may be some ideas to take from their work. For example, thanking your fans with a discount subscription to your magazine similar to Fairmont’s discount to guests. Another idea might be to highlight a particularly active fan or great Facebook comment with an interview or blurb in the magazine itself (which could have a nice effect of letting more readers know about your Facebook presence!). Thanks again for reading and sharing.
  - Kira