SKODA / ILIKE
5 October 2010
Discount offered on the Skoda Fabia for every 'Like' it receives on Facebook... but there's a catch...
- Brand
- Skoda
- Media Type
- Social Media
- Product Category
- Automotive
- Country
- Belgium
- Source
- News
- Tags
- Crowdsourced
- Social Networking
- automotive
All users need do is visit the Skoda Belgium Facebook page, where the price of the car is displayed and updated in real-time; if someone Likes the page, the price drops by €2. They are then encouraged to share this with all of their friends (in the interest of reducing the cost as much as possible), however, they will also be given a 48 hour window in which to purchase the car.
There is currently only one car available at this discounted price and it looks to be under offer at just over €10,000, so users that were planning on sitting it out and waiting for the price to drop as low as possible may have missed out.
While previously, brands such as Burger King and iTunes have offered coupons and tickets in exchange for tweets, it's interesting that Skoda is one of the first major brands to step up and attribute an actual monetry value to a Facebook Like. For a deeper look into the currency of Facebook Likes read Lucy Aitken's Nouveaux Riches article from Contagious Issue 24.
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COMMENTS /
Mikko Rummukainen
Wow. This seems quite bold and a bit genious at the same time.
On one hand, it feels as if 2€ per like is a bit steep, yet on the other, it probably would not take more than a few extra cars sold to make up for it. And especially when they used a short window of opportunity, the risks are whittled down nicely.
Then again on the other hand, 2€ per new customer lead on Facebook who will begin receiving Skoda-related updates regularly and will probably remember the car brand a bit better after this campaign is probably worth it.
In any case, as far as social media campaigns go, this feels quite fresh!
Thanks for sharing this.
- Mikko R. / Whitevector Ltd.
Aris Tsontzos
I think it somewhat strange that a brand such as Skoda would value a Facebook 'Like' so highly. It's important to look at the intrinsic value of such an action. Obviously, Skoda values a 'Like' at over €2. However, you've also got to consider how a 'Like' is perceived by those doing the liking, and by those looking at the profile pages which are linked with Skoda's page.
Facebook's reshuffling (amalgamation) of its 'likes' and 'interests' gives users a limited number of slots on their profile pages in which to display both their likes and interests. Other pages are hidden behind a 'jump', which I'm guessing is not the instant exposure that Skoda is looking for. Also, any user (narcissistic as we are) would inevitably shuffle their likes and interests to put their own real interests first, leaving links to Skoda et al. behind this 'jump'. This would mean any normal user visiting such a profile would have to drill down pretty far to uncover a link to Skoda's page.
You've also got to consider what kind of a user would 'Like' such a thing. What market is Skoda trying to appeal to? This concession seems to be aimed at bargain hunters; not those you'd usually associate with buying a hatchback. In my opinion, those who would 'like' something such as this, are the kind of users who'd 'like' any kind of promotion. We all have friends on Facebook who are quite liberal with their 'likes'. The thing is, I don't really pay any attention to what these people 'like'. I'm sure others have experienced similar ire. Is everyone still with me, here?
Anyhow, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate. As the Right Honourable commenter ahead of me has already pointed out, Skoda could probably make up for the sale of this discounted car with the sale of probably one other car, due to the ridiculous margins on new cars. Also, kudos to Skoda for trying something new.
Now, if we all didn't rely so heavily on Facebook for our social media marketing needs...