Mike Butcher on tbites has revealed that King Of Shaves, the, errr, shaving firm, is going to release a Facebook widget.
My first question was, why? OK, I know that it’s a marketing thing but will anyone want to add this particular app to their Facebook profile?
Wow, now I can contact their Customer Services dept directly and tell them how great their shaving gel is. Or, perhaps if one particular batch isn’t up to scratch, then I can complain. But what happened to calling Customer Services and talking to someone?
I know that companies are looking for innovative ways to advertise their brand, and I guess KoS should be applauded for at least trying, but I’m afraid this one leaves me cold.
Well, I guess it’s like this: It’s early days for Facebook applications and it’s even earlier days for applications which are marketing oriented. In reality, advertising on Facebook is expensive, but the the actual ROI is in many cases unproven. People tend not to click on ads inside social networks. So an application – which is free to put onto the Facebook system – could act like quasi advertising which also provides an actual service. This is the brave new realm of “branded applications”. It’s relatively uncharted territory as far as I’m aware.
True, true, I hear what you’re saying. I can understand people like Virgin Radio putting a widget onto Facebook, because you get something tangible back (in other words, you can listen to the music), but I don’t really see what proper benefit you get from King Of Shaves – and I use their products, so I’m a fan.
You’re right, it is uncharted territory and fair play to them for trying something new, but I’m sure it’s more a case of their marketing/PR agency telling them: “You have to be on Facebook” and them making a kneejerk reaction. I guess we’ll see how popular it is in due course – these are interesting times!