Move Facebook Fans Beyond Likes

Facebook has proven itself to be a good place for brands to connect with consumers, but in many cases, these are tenuous and do little for companies after the initial connection.

That's why Napkin Labs launched its new Fan Center tool that helps brands go beyond simply garnering Likes from users. With this new tool, companies can drive greater insights, innovation and revenue on the social network, where many of their customers are spending their time on the Internet anyway.

Fan Center is presented at the top of a brand's Timeline profile, and in there, companies can create campaigns that capture user- or fan-generated content, allowing the business to see what its fans are saying about the company or its product(s). In addition, it helps businesses get a clearer picture of their most influential or loyal fans, as well as the most active fans on particular campaigns. This provides marketers with enriched data and analytics on the type of users that respond and contribute to their marketing, with all of the metrics collected in one place (sort of like using a focus group).

Of course, the real beauty of this solution is that it is embedded within a brand's Facebook page, so as to increase the likelihood that users will engage with the Fan Center and give a brand useful feedback. Users are going to be far more likely to participate when they are already thinking about the company and visiting their Facebook profile.

Integrating the solution is simple, as brands just have to add Fan Center to their profiles and are then able to customize it to fit their unique branding and theme. Napkin Labs even provides questions or prompts that they can use to foster engagement with users to get their own stories, ideas or general feedback. They type of responses they receive can vary greatly, allowing users to talk specifically about how they use a brand's product(s), or just answer more general questions not necessarily directly related to the company that are meant to start a conversation.

Best of all, the interactions can also reach an individual user's news feed, which extends the reach of the brand and can help bring in more people who want to add to the conversation.

Napkin Labs even added a game layer that gives fans an idea of how influential they are to a brand and awards them points for their contributions, which is always a great way to encourage more engagement among users. It also helps brands better reward users for their participation by offering them special promotions or deals for their contributions.

The Fan Center Professional package starts at $550 a month, with the Premium running $1400 and Enterprise $3100 per month, though each of the latter two requires at least three months of usage and offer both six- and 12-month plans.