Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2013. All its figures come from a 2013 Syncapse study, including $174 average per fan and BMW at $1,613, and its forecast for 2014 refers to Facebook changes at that time.
I imagine many people wonder how much a Facebook fan is worth to a brand. The answer, according to a study by Syncapse, is $174 on average for each fan a brand has. They reached this conclusion through a study of a representative sample of fans of different brands. It took into account spending, loyalty and the propensity to recommend brands’ content, which together create brand value and affinity.
In theory, the study showed that Facebook fans spend 43% more money than users who are not fans. Simply being a fan of a brand makes someone a bigger potential customer; fans were also more satisfied with the company they followed on social media and more likely to keep buying from that brand. But… which brands have the most valuable fans?
According to a chart produced by Syncapse itself, BMW has the most profitable fans, worth $1,613 per fan, followed by Walmart, at $834.
We can see that among the brands with the most profitable fans, the top places are mostly taken by clothing brands such as Zara, Levi’s and H&M.
Each Coca-Cola fan is estimated to be worth $70.
Clearly, exclusivity counts on Facebook too: very few users of the social network can afford a BMW, while almost everyone can buy a Coca-Cola.
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Likewise, with the changes Facebook has recently made, the value per user will fall in 2014, while the cost of Facebook marketing strategies for brands will rise. Even so, today, in this “cyber-city” of more than a billion users where brands and people keep living side by side, companies still need to build strategies to position themselves on Facebook.
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Featured image: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
