“URGENT: Would you rather have a ketchup-dispensing navel or a pencil-sharpening nostril? Go,” reads the Facebook post by Moosejaw Mountaineering. After an initial chuckle, I keep scrolling down my news feed. Then I scroll back up. I mean, which of these options would be more useful? My pencils do always seem to be dull, especially since my co-workers keep stealing the mechanical ones, but then again never having to use the sticky communal ketchup dispenser in the food court again would be nice…but one mishap and, oh! the laundry. So it´s decided: pencil-sharpening nostril.
With 200 comments in the first hour since the post, apparently I´m not the only one who stopped in her news feed to ponder this important query. But does Moosejaw´s question have anything to do with the company´s products? Considering it doesn´t sell pencils or ketchup, the answer would be no. But its quirky, out-of-left-field posts routinelz draw an impressive dialogue from fans.
So to get to the pencil-sharpened point: Facebook fans don´t need to be constantly bludgeoned by brand messaging. Lest we forget, they are ALREADY fans. It´s much more productive to actively engage fans in thinking about an idea that the brand has introduced, no matter how irrelevant it seems. It´s also a great way to learn more about preferences and inner workings – consider each comment a free psychological profile of a brand fan.
To see more, go to www.facebook.com-moosejaw
– Trish Salge, Sr. Art Director and Pencil Sharpener, The S3 Agency
