It’s not available in Canada yet, but one of the neat things about the coming Facebook video chat is that you’ll be able to leave video messages for you friends. I wonder how long it’ll take for brands to start sending personal video commercial messages to their followers.
Of course, no one will react positively to random sales pitches showing up on their Facebook page. So the successful and savvy companies out there will have to figure out a way to take advantage of this idea without annoying anyone.
For instance, a brand could invite fans to sign up to receive personal messages from a sponsored celebrity: a weekly humor bit from Jack Black brought to you by Starbucks, or personal encouragement from Bob Harper, courtesy of Quaker. I mention Bob Harper because he’s already affiliated with Quaker and highly regarded by the company’s fans. So this new communication channel is really a natural extension of a relationship that already exists.
One could even invite the fans themselves to become brand ambassadors on Facebook, spreading the word of the brand to their circle of friends in return for free products. Bringing new meaning to the term “a word from our sponsor.”
