Budweiser Stocks Up on Facebook Pages for Regions and Products

Budweiser is one of the most ubiquitous brands in the U.S. -- and the company seems to be doing its best to make this true on Facebook too. It has over a dozen Facebook Pages for its products, including Pages for specific products, and smaller areas like Denver and Quebec. While we’ve previously reported that creating niche Pages can boost the feeling of community on Facebook, it seems like Budweiser has taken this to such an extreme that it could be diluting its presence. Or, maybe it's tapping in to a deeper sense of identity that fans have for particular regions and products. We asked Budweiser to talk to us about their Facebook strategy but didn’t hear back this week. Here's a quick look at what we see. Budweiser’s main Page has fewer than 283,000 fans and consistently generates hundreds or thousands of likes/comments. That's still not a huge number of fans, considering that it’s one of the most popular beers in the U.S. and part of an international beverage group with properties all over the world. But when you take into account that this Page is joined on Facebook by a Budweiser Select Page with 3,500 fans, Budweiser’s Better World with 915 fans, Select 55 with 82,500 fans, Bud American Ale with 16,000 fans, Bud Denver with 2,000 fans, Bud Light with almost 421,000, Bud Light Golden Wheat with 18,700 fans, Bud Light Latino with 12,800, Bud Light Lime with 117,700 fans, and Pages for Bud Canada, Quebec, UK or the Czech Republic -- to name a few -- you quickly get a better sense for how big Bud's presence actually is on Facebook. Take one example, Budweiser’s Pages for Bud Lime Quebec with 35,600 fans, Bud Light Lime Canada with 82,400 versus Bud Light Lime with 117,700. All these Pages are created to promote the same basic product to different geographic audiences, but for a total of about 235,700 fans — a large portion of whom all speak English. The Pages for Budweiser with 283,000 fans, Budweiser Canada with 102,000 fans and Budweiser UK with 33,800 fans likewise divides the brand. Why? One reason is that the company could be trying to track how Pages do as defined by these criteria. Given the fact that Bud Light Lime is so big in Canada, for example, it might make sense for Budweiser to spend extra resources engaging with these users. Another reason might be that it already has marketing campaigns tied to particular products and regions, that it is tying these pages to. Each Page provides tailored content, including unique profiles, and original photos and videos related to the product and brand. The fact that fans can upload their own photos and videos to the Page further promotes the particular focus. They each have region-specific promotions — an especially good reason to create separate Pages. As different countries have different rules, Budweiser is avoiding having fans get disappointed by not being able to enter in to contests intended for others. FIFA Cup soccer tickets in the United Kingdom are not available to US users, for example. Bud also appears to be catering to groups within countries. The Pages for Canada and Quebec’s Bud Lime products are essentially the same, except one is in English and one is in French. Given the strong sense of pride that many Canadians have in speaking French, the specialization makes sense. However, the Bud Light Lime Page hasn’t even been updated since December, so it's not clear how the company is taking advantage of that particular page. Although we don't have a clear view into the results Budweiser is getting as a result of all this diversity, the engagement suggests the results are worth the extra work of creating and managing so many Pages. Each organization needs to think hard about this sort of strategy -- given the overall marketing goals, when does it make sense to have a single page for all fans versus separate pages for fan sub-groups. For tips on how to succeed here, be sure to check out our Facebook Marketing Bible.

Social Pro Daily

Budweiser Stocks Up on Facebook Pages for Regions and Products

Sara Inés Calderón

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Sara Inés Calderón