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HOW TO: Engage and Mobilize Facebook Fans Beyond the "Like"

Here are four ways brands have mobilized fans and taken engagement to the next level.

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1. Inciting a Fan Mob: Skittles

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“Mob the Rainbow” is an ongoing social media program developed for Skittles by EVB that gives fans the opportunity to “mob” together to cause a fun or quirky outcome. For example, in the first campaign, called “Valentine the Rainbow,” Skittles asked its “Mob” to send a Valentine to an unsuspecting parking enforcement officer who was deserving of some love. Over 45,000 people joined the Mob and elected to attend the event. Cards were delivered to the stunned meter maid on Valentine’s Day by a Skittles Mob “representative” dressed in a cupid costume and driving a Skittles van. Video captured at the event was then re-broadcast back to the audience through a “Mob the Rainbow” tab on the brand’s Facebook Page.

In a subsequent campaign, Skittles mobilized the troops to send a student to bowling college. For “Scholarship the Rainbow,” Skittles told the mob that it would require 100,000 Likes to generate a $10,000 scholarship. Within a week, Skittles had received 150,000 Likes, and young James Fulp was on his way to bowling college.

The program has been a huge success: in the six months following the launch of Mob the Rainbow, the Skittles fan base has quadrupled to more than 14 million fans.

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2. Mobilizing Fans for a Cause: Kraft

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Kraft also tapped the power of its large fan base to achieve an outcome in the real world. The company recently worked with digital marketing agency 360i to launch a football-themed “Fight Hunger Facebook Game” to support its Huddle to Fight Hunger initiative, whose goal is to donate millions of meals to needy families. The idea was to enable consumers to get involved in the cause of helping to fight hunger, creating a social engagement that by its very nature encouraged individuals to spread the word.

Here’s how the game works: fans click on the app to start a “passing drive” down the field, throwing a “pass” to a friend (i.e. sharing the app with a friend). For every pass thrown, Kraft donates a meal to Feeding America. If that friend then also “passes” the app to a friend, Kraft will donate another meal. After the fourth pass, you and your friends will have scored a touchdown, and Kraft will donate 7 more meals to Feeding America, for a total of 10 meals per passing drive.

To date, the game has generated nearly 200,000 “passes” and almost 220,000 meal donations to Feeding America.

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3. Engaging Local Communities: Kohl’s

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Another great example of mobilizing a fan base for a cause (and amplifying the reach o

via mashable.com