Facebook has more than 3 million active pages, with 1.5 million maintained by local businesses. In total, these pages have more than 5.3 billion fans. These are impressive numbers, and show the extent to which Facebook has become a new major communications channel between brands and customers. However, despite the general view of fan behaviour being a ‘lightweight’ action from the customer, a recent study has found that Facebook fans actually become more loyal customers.

The study, by Rice University, examined the dollar value of Facebook fans on the sales of the cafe chain Dessert Gallery (DG), by setting up a Facebook fan page and measuring the effect on customer behaviour between fans and non-fans. The page was updated regularly with pictures, news and promotions.

Over the three months of the study, the research found that customers who became a fan of Dessert Gallery on Facebook became more loyal throughout the period. Although they spent the same average amount of money in each visit as non-fans, they visited the cafe 20% more often and were more likely to recommend the cafe to friends, and showed a stronger emotional attachment to the company.

It’s possible that simply the act of publicly declaring themselves a fan created a positive feedback loop with how they felt about the company, and this had a real affect on sales and recommendations. This shows the potential for all brands in increasing their fan page activity, even on a most basic and simple level.

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