To honor brands that took the lead in creating presence on Facebook, The Big Money (TBM) came up with its list of the top 50 best Facebook pages.
There is no definitive or quantifiable way to measure each page’s performance, except for the following, which is used as a guideline to gauge success:
A company did not qualify for this list unless its Facebook page(s) had a minimum of 200,000 fans. Within that universe, we rated the companies using a variety of criteria: how often they update their Facebook offerings; the level of engagement demonstrated by their fans; how fast a company’s site has grown; and how creatively the companies are using their Facebook presence, as evaluated by a distinguished panel of outside judges.
We are only featuring the top 25 here. You can browse the entire list via the slides we embedded at the end of this post.
#25 Gap
What’s on the page: The fans run the show. You can hardly see any updates from Gap itself. Despite that, it has gained more than 100,000 new fans since the launch of its “born to fit” fall ad campaign.
What’s cool: Its “send a customized holiday cheer” app. Over 20k cheers have been sent out so far. Pretty viral.
No. of fans: 486,391
#24 H&M
What’s on the page: Fans are basically running the page with many wanting H&M to be available in their cities.
What’s cool: 1580 photos uploaded by fans. It just shows how much they love H&M.
No. of fans: 1,367,179
#23 McDonald’s
What’s on the page: McDonald’s pushing information out to its fans. The amount of feedback is crazy.
What’s cool: McDonald’s Facebook fans count experienced a sudden jump after it took down all the unofficial pages.
No. of fans: 1,456,095
#22 National Geographic
What’s on the page: National Geographic loves to share with you its images, knowledge and experience. Pretty awesome!
What’s cool: Get 12 issues of National Geographic for $12. Only for Facebook fans!
No. of fans: 589,496
#21 Pixar
What’s on the page: Gorgeous animation and regular updates to keep fans engaged. Pixar released a Toy Story remix video on YouTube with a link to its Facebook page. It helped Pixar gain more than 9,000 new fans.
What’s cool: You got to check out its fan board. Looks awesome.
No. of fans: 719,924
#20 Papa John’s
What’s on the page: According to TBM, Papa John’s gained 200,000 Facebook fans by offering a free medium sized pizza to anyone who signed up to its page. The promotion was so successful that Papa John’s is repeating it again this month.
What’s cool: There are a total of 71 Papa John’s Facebook pages! (For different locations)
No. of fans: 740,542
#19 JCPenney
What’s on the page: Customers are complaining about its Black Friday and Cyber Monday failure. Hmm not a very good way to be on top 25. No reply from the company so far.
What’s cool: Nothing is cool for a company that doesn’t reply promptly to complaints.
No. of fans: 588,404
#18 Mountain Dew
What’s on the page: A page that is free for fans to post their thoughts. Mountain Dew personally congratulated its 500,000th fan in September.
What’s cool: Dew-mocracy allows fans to help Mountain Dew build its next ad campaign.
No. of fans: 616,613
#17 Krispy Kreme
What’s on the page: Krispy Kreme is highly engaging. It thank fans and humanize its brand. Less spam more warm is its key to success.
What’s cool: Asking questions as a way to engage fans simply works.
No. of fans: 1,160,881
#16 Kellogg’s
What’s on the page: Which flavor pastry do you like more? Questions, comments and contests flood the page.
What’s cool: Its flavor tournament app helped it to gain 15,000 fans a day.
No. of fans: 1,022,037
#15 Adidas
What’s on the page: Shoes, clothes and events. Adidas uses images to its advantage.
What’s cool: The page looks cool with all the images but its logo could be sharper.
No. of fans: 2,164,437
#14 NBA
What’s on the page: Videos and apparels updates. Basketball leagues rule Facebook. It has more fans than any other sport.
What’s cool: NBA sells its apparels using credits. Find the apparels under the gift section.
No. of fans: 1,722,545
#13 Best Buy
What’s on the page: Isn’t the best place to buy your stuff definitely. There are more negative comments than positive ones. There seems to be a problem with its customer service.
What’s cool: This fan page is dedicated for people to complain.
No. of fans: 1,022,037
#12 Dunkin’ Donuts
What’s on the page: The page is flooded with fans’ declaration of their favorite donuts.
What’s cool: While most fan pages use corporate logos as their profile pictures, the doughnut and coffee retailer uses the space to honor its “Fan of the Week” contest winner.
No. of fans: 958,388
#11 Skittles
What’s on the page: Fans flood the page with positive comments.
What’s cool: Skittles is Tweep’s favorite candy too.
No. of fans: 3,522,390
#10 T.G.I Friday
What’s on the page: Fans making “noises”. Its website uses the familiar dining crowd noise to remind customers the warmth of dining at its restaurant. Splendid.
What’s cool: T.G.I. Friday’s ran a television ad this fall with an enticing premise: Become a fan of this guy and you get a free burger, but only if the page reaches half a million fans before October. The restaurant chain reached its goal by Sept. 13.
No. of fans: 1,022,037
#9 Redbull
What’s on the page: Redbull connects with fans using sponsored athletes. The integration of its Facebook and Twitter profiles is seamless.
What’s cool: Red Bull’s latest app, called Red Bull Stash, maps out a real-life scavenger hunt for fans.
No. of fans: 1,632,168
#8 Chick-fil-A
What’s on the page: It is the first page I have seen so far that has its menu on Facebook. It is the simplest way to attract people to dine at your restaurant, isn’t it?
What’s cool: Chick-fil-A was the first restaurant page to hit 1 million fans on Facebook. It reached this milestone in August.
No. of fans: 1,224,680
#7 YouTube
What’s on the page: Hot videos and blog posts are regularly updated on the page.
What’s cool: They had a public challenge to surpass stars like Lady Gaga, Vin Diesel and Megan Fox in terms of number of fans. They failed but managed to get more than 600,000 new fans.
No. of fans: 3,757,302
#6 Vitaminwater
What’s on the page: 50 sound lab and flavorcreator apps look fun.
What’s cool: Vitaminwater + New Moon advertisement. Interesting but not very inspiring.
No. of fans: 1,087,402
#5 iTunes
What’s on the page: It introduces interesting apps (like gaining access to Victoria’s Secret backstage) and of course, music.
What’s cool: Within a week of launching this page in May, Apple’s digital downloading service iTunes already hit more than 1 million fans.
No. of fans: 1,087,402
#4 Victoria’s Secret
What’s on the page: Hot models and videos of happenings behind the scene and on the runway.
What’s cool: Looking at this page gives a different perspective on modeling, especially when you’re an ‘America’s Next Top Model’ fan.
No. of fans: 2,179,837
#3 Disney
What’s on the page: A mixture of old school cartoons and new movie trailers. Fans shared over 3,000 photos of their Disney experience. It just makes you feel happy when you’re on this page.
What’s cool: If you can’t afford to go to DisneyLand, its Facebook Page is the next best alternative.
No. of fans: 2,432,350
#2 Starbucks
What’s on the page: Most people are declaring their favorite drinks and wishing they could have them now. Oh and Starbucks has this ‘Around The World’ tab that brings you to the Facebook page of your location.
What’s cool: According to Charlene Li, Starbucks is top in terms of web engagement. It is the brand with the most number of Facebook fans so far.
No. of fans: 5,116,222
#1 Coca Cola
What’s on the page: “Coke took my teeth. No regrets!”, a fan wrote on the company’s wall.
What’s cool: This page was created by a fan and his buddy. The page grew exponentially and caught Coca Cola’s attention. The soft drink giant made this page official while keeping the creators in control of the page. Like what TBM said, the result is an organic fan-centric page without a corporate feel.
No. of fans: 4,007,785
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very informative article. Thanks a lot for sharing.
This is great! I think reading this, I loved every word. Seriously, keep posting the good information, bloggers like myself need it.
Very well written article indeed, thank you so much for sharing such information with us.
thanks for these 25 pages lists.
Great listing!! Those are very popular and well known brand. But I am surprised to see Coca-Cola in the first position.
Wow, great education for me! Thank you…
I read your other article and really am incorporating those into my SM strategy. The purpose of my Fan Page is to provide information to other small business owners. I give product reviews, tips and tools to help them grow their business.
I guess my dilemma boils down to whether Fan Page a place where I feed people, constantly giving out information without response or a social area providing give and take. I really enjoy the “social” aspect of social media. I envisioned the page being more interactive. Not that I mind the giving, I enjoy teaching, sharing, caring but I get tired of the one way conversation. I ask questions that go unanswered. (Boo hoo I know!)
This is not a pity party but a quest to find what will work with my audience. Obviously I am not meeting a need or I would have more interaction, but what element is missing. I know that you do not have the answer but I am putting my thoughts into words and trying to find the answer to my quest. I feel a blog post coming on. LOL
typos *have you tried..*
Lisa, have tried to have a conversation with your fans?
I would try to get them respond to you. To hear what they think about your business. Maybe they have questions you could answer though your FB page? If you have problems with activating your fan base, you can try competitions with a prize to get people involved.
Again, if you have a clear goal, you can measure whether you are making a difference or not. Your goal could be for example “to sell ten XYZ service packages through Facebook”.
Awareness is nice, but to be known is not enough. You need to sell.
Here is an article I wrote about online marketing which I think applies to your situation as well http://www.timojappinen.com/2009/11/5-keys-to-o…
I have a Fan Page with a modest following of 92. As a service oriented business my reason for my Fan Page was brand awareness. Raising awareness of what I do. I find the process of the page a bit like a one-sided conversation. Or going to a party and only talking about me. I saw the page as a more interactive exchange. I do get some interaction but not really seeing “sales” so to speak. That is why I am reevaluating. How many are seeing but not interacting? Am I making a difference? I am not seeing any increase in fans (hate that term) so has become static. I am looking for ways to increase interaction and fans. What are their needs and expectations?
Lisa, my first question to you is: what are your goals?
After you are clear with them, my second question is: why do you think that Facebook Page is the way to accomplish them?
Often 50 passionate fans spend more money to your business than 1000 “hangarounds”. Those 50 persons bring in real cash, when 1000 hangarounds raises only your brand awareness.
When you look at Facebook Pages from a small business owner's point of view, I would focus on sales rather than brand awareness. Sales is something you can measure easily to see whether you social media marketing efforts are paying off or not.
A simple way to use social networks like Facebook to tailor your offers. Coupons with a code like “Facebo123″ tells you exactly the customer came through Facebook. Nothing fancy there, but it works.
Did this help you at all?
Best,
Timo
As a small business owner I am researching what makes a Facebook Fan Page popular. Is it only usefully for brands that already have a large following? All of these pages are corporate or nationally known business. What about small businesses? How can they raise brand awareness through Facebook?
As a small business owner I am researching what makes a Facebook Fan Page popular. Is it only usefully for brands that already have a large following? All of these pages are corporate or nationally known business. What about small businesses? How can they raise brand awareness through Facebook?
Great list. Thanks. It goes straight to my bookmarks.
I just discovered your blog and I like it. Keep it up!
Best,
Timo Jäppinen