Context Optional: Social network application development and social media strategy: Facebook Applications, Facebook Pages, Facebook Connect, and the iPhone

Distribute information about MTV’s new television show, “The Phone” to the Facebook audience. Engage current viewers and gain new ones. Provide fans with a way to interact directly with the program and distribute their interest to friends.

Solution

Create a contest application that lives on The Phone’s Facebook page. Allow fans to:

• Enter their number for a chance to be called
• Send out news feed items announcing their participation
• Encourage friends to learn more about The Phone and enter the contest
• Support contest activity with regular status updates to fans suggesting contest submission and requesting comments

Result

On the day of the show’s premier, more than 60,000 people interacted with the application and more than 20,000 became fans of The Phone, actions which distributed news feed items to hundreds of thousands of friends. Frequent status updates by administrators of The Phone’s page kept users coming back, resulting in more than 100,000 application visits and 35,000 fans in 3 only days.