Each day, I start my day with a "medium in a large cup from the most recently brewed" vat of their daily brew from Peet's Coffee. I love Peet's Coffee. I am a member of the Peet's Facebook Fan page along with 15K other people. How can Peet's sort out the most die-hard fans and empower them to spread the word? Wouldn't it be cool as a Peet's brand manager to have an aggregated profile of the 15K fans? Knowing more about the enthusiasts would allow the brand manager to unlock the power of social media marketing. If they sent me information about their company and made it personal, I would be thrilled. If they shot me a coupon for a new blend, I would not stop talking about how they "get it." Since I love the brand so much, when I get a poorly brewed cup, I wouldn't be as hard on them.
Here's a great article talking about the "gold mine facebook refuses to explore." As social nets grow up in their monetization efforts I think exposing their data in a way that allows the brands insight into sentiment, trends, competitive efforts, etc. would be a great complement to their current advertising offerings. Being able to identify, empower and champion brand advocates with "the inside scoop" is a great way for brands to leverage social media & most importantly recognize how the media landscape is changing.
Right now, Peet's can join the conversation with their fans on their wall, directly through email or through posting stories, pictures, videos or even coupons. In order to scale this capability, Facebook needs to arm marketers with tools that allow for consumer insight on the demo/psychographics of their fan base, trends on who they are attracting and reports that show the cause and effect of any actions that Peet's might take on Facebook that can ultimately generate an ROI.
What do you think?
