I’d like to follow-up yesterday’s report with a little more perspective on the massive Einstein Bros free bagel campaign. The campaign offers Facebook users a free bagel in return for following the Einstein Bros fan page on Facebook. The resulting increase in Einstein’s fan base has been incredible (source: allfacebook.com):

That’s the kind of growth chart that sends ops people hiding under their desks. And while Einstein Bros is making a big investment by giving away so many free bagels, they see Facebook as a prime channel for acquiring new customers. Chief Concept Officer James O’Reilly says “I’m confident that when consumers come into our restaurant they will become key customers for life.”

Kudos to Einstein Bros for this bold experiment. With today’s news that 175 million people log on to Facebook every day, businesses around the world should be thinking about their strategy for the social network. In particular, I see several ways in which Facebook can transform marketing for businesses:

First, as Einstein Bros has demonstrated, Facebook and other social networks present an online marketing opportunity for companies who sell discretionary consumer products. As effective as search engine marketing has been for many businesses, it doesn’t work very well for the kind of product Einstein Bros sells. People rarely search for bagels, but they do often eat them. And the same can be said for much of what we buy.

Second, the Facebook fan list could replace the email mailing list to a large extent. As a consumer, I like the control I have over promotions I view in Facebook. I can easily scan updates on my Facebook page, and I don’t have to delete anything: messages  just go away if I ignore them. With email, my only choice is to keep subscribing or unsubscribe. And as a business I can have two-way conversations with Facebook fans, as demonstrated by the Einstein Bros fan page. Just as Facebook has replaced a lot of person-to-person email communication, it is likely to replace email communication between businesses and consumers.

Third, Facebook allows locally-targeted broadcast promotions. A local bagel shop can execute a promotion just like Einstein’s, but only pay to reach local consumers. And Facebook also allows targeting by age, gender and other profile characteristics. Here are some helpful tips on Facebook advertising from AllFacebook.com: 9 Rules of Facebook Promotion Every Small Business Should Know. And here is Facebook’s guide to setting up a page.

So go and get your fan page set up, if you haven’t done so already. And if you already have a fan page, do a promotion and tell me about it. I’m excited to see where this all goes.

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