How PayPal received 30k fans in a few days

What’s worth a “Like” on Facebook? Does it tell us something about engagement, about the true relationship between brands and fans? About conversations, listening culture? A Like tells a thousand stories, probably. And numbers…. wel they don’t always tell a lot. But hey, there’s a difference between 10 fans and 30.000. Paypal, the online payment method, managed to get 30.000 fans in just a few days by doing an iPad 2 marketing campaign on Facebook. Derk Wagelaar, the director Benelux of PayPal, was interviewed at Dutch marketingblog Frankwatching.

To win an iPad, you have to Like PayPal on Facebook. That’s, in short, how PayPal managed to get so many brandfans on their page. In the interview, Wagelaar is very hopeful about the future interactions with the fans, he talks about a longterm-effect and strategy of the campaign and he also talks about ‘loyal customers’. Not about people who just want an iPad and don’t even know what PayPal is all about as a company.

I just received a comment on my Facebook wall by a friend. It stated: “In hunt of an iPad, or do you really like this?” I’m wondering how many of the 30k fans received a comment like this by their friend ;).

In the comments at Frankwatching, Martin Kloos poses an important question: Is an iPad fan the same as a PayPal fan? You choose!