1. 01 March 2013Modern Marketing
social reform
thevalueofengagement
Social
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FINAL AD DRUM 02/13:Layout 1 20/02/2013 14:28 Page 1
4. www.thedrum.com 01.MARCH.13 THE DRUM04Social
It’s been a big year so far for Twitter: not
only has it launched Vine, but it has acquired
social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs and
been announced as the fastest growing social
media network.
Research has found that 59 per cent of Twitter
account holders are now active on a monthly basis,
up from 50 per cent in the first half of 2012.
And according to specialist financial researchers
Greencrest Capital, Twitter could be worth $11bn
(£6.8m). The company also predicted Twitter could
be preparing for public flotation in 2014. Some in
the digital industry have suggested next year is
too soon for an IPO, however.
Stewart Easterbrook, CEO of Starcom MediaVest
Group, commented: “Twitter is interesting for
advertisers because it can see people’s interests
and who and what they follow. An IPO may be a
way off though because there is more it can do to
help advertisers interface with the platform and scale
up their use of it which is currently a challenge.”
Twitter
The Drum rounds up developments with the
social networks,looking at the impact they are
likely to have on advertisers’social strategies.
FULLY
NETWORKED
J
ust three months into the year, and so much
has happened in the world of social media.
Mass firings from HMV being announced
via Twitter, brands creating instant ads to
promote their products during the Super Bowl
blackout, and Google set to make YouTube into a
TV channel, all show the growth of social networks.
Here, The Drum takes a look at what has been
going on at the big four social networks, and
what these developments mean for social media
marketers. We also take a quick look at new
network Nestivity, launching later this month,
which is already creating buzz.
From Facebook’s announcement of the launch
of Graph Search, to Twitter’s potential IPO in 2014,
the sheer influence of social media means it’s clear
advertisers need to be aware of the plethora of
changes in the social media landscape.
5. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social05
It has been reported that Facebook will
reveal a location-tracking app this month
which will track the location of users, to
help find friends nearby.
The app aims to capitalise on the growth of social
media usage on phones, and will run even when the
programme or phone is not in use – which could help
sell targeted ads based on a consumer’s daily habits.
Facebook has also announced the launch of its
search engine, Graph Search. Currently in its early
stages, Graph Search will allow the public to explore
photos, reviews and profiles for things like nearby
restaurants that friends have been to, or films that
others like.
Tina Judic, managing director, Found, commented:
“The data that Facebook has on check-ins and ‘likes’
means that Graph Search becomes more powerful
as a recommendation engine than Google+.”
FACEBOOK
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has
conclusively confirmed in his new book, The
New Digital Age, that search rankings from
Google+ are ranked higher than those from
other social media networks.
The book, which is to be released in April by
Schmidt and Google Ideas chief Jared Cohen,
states: “Within search results, information tied to
verified online profiles will be ranked higher than
content without such verification, which will result
in most users naturally clicking on the top (verified)
results. The true cost of remaining anonymous,
then, might be irrelevance.”
Another quote reads: “Twitter can no more
produce analysis than a monkey can type out
a work of Shakespeare.”
GOOGLE+
Instagram underwent changes to its terms
of service and privacy policy which were
revealed at the end of last year, causing
privacy concerns for users.
AppStats figures showed that daily users at
12 January sat at 7.81 million, a figure reduced
by more than half from stats in December, before
the announced. However, Instagram described
these figures as ‘inaccurate’, and said that 40m
pictures are uploaded a day. The site also said
that it has 90 million monthly users
Founder Kevin Systrom insisted “Instagram
continues to see very strong growth around
the world.”
INSTAGRAM
The social community platform built around
Twitter was announced at the New Media
Expo and Blog World Convention in Las Vegas
in January this year, and is set to be launched
at SXSW later this month.
Nestivity aims to ‘turn your Twitter following into
a community’, and suggests it helps to keep users
engaged with their audience.
Henry Min, chief product officer and founder
of Nestivity, said: “We heard comments like ‘this
would bring me back to Twitter’ and ‘Nestivity
makes it so much easier for both the brand and
the followers to actually converse’. This is exactly
our goal. We are ecstatic by the response to our
sneak preview.”
NESTIVITY
6. www.thedrum.com 01.MARCH.13 THE DRUM06Social
Is there a certain platform you prefer working on?
Rebecca Heptinstall: Twitter is very much the
Financial Times’s favoured social network in sheer
community size (2.75m) and traffic to FT.com. That’s
not to say that other social networks aren’t important,
they certainly are – for example, we were the first
newspaper to reach 1m followers on Google+ in
July 2012. We’re also figuring out what platforms fit
with the brand as and when they pop up – for us it’s
less about being everywhere and more about being
represented well in a few places.
Sarah Laitner: All the social networks we use
have their own merits. Twitter is particularly important
for allowing readers to connect with our journalists
and to help our reporters follow their beats.
Which social media outlets does the Financial
Times use to distribute images and information?
SL We focus on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+
and YouTube.
Does FT.com’s paywall make it harder to encourage
click through? How do you counter this?
RH: Our readers know better than anyone which
content they wish to access. That is why registered/
unpaid users can read any eight FT.com articles
each month for free, completely of their choosing.
In addition, our award-winning blogs (such as FT
Alphaville and beyondbrics), FT.com videos, business
education and FT Weekend content are open to
all users and do not require a subscription.
We also offer daily ‘read for free’ articles on our
social media channels. These articles are not placed
behind any barrier whatsoever and are selected based
on how popular we believe they will be among our
social media followers.
The FT’s social media community remains
extremely engaged and continues to grow: social
media is growing faster than every other traffic source
to FT.com, and the volume of visits to FT.com driven
by social media is at the highest ever level.
Social media is almost the highest driver of new
FT.com registered users.
Does the Financial Times have a set social media
strategy and targets of how many articles to post
a day on each platform?
SL: We’ve got a really rich stream of content. We
keep a close eye on the rhythm of the news day
as we decide what to share, when and with whom.
We don’t have fixed targets on numbers of
posts though.
What are your goals for the platforms?
Do you aim to get people talking,sharing,clicking
through,or do you measure success another way?
SL: We aim to interact with our readers as well as
to build a relationship between them and the FT. We
have a goal of bringing readers and journalists closer
together because we can learn from our readers
– they have a lot to offer.
We try to personalise their experience of ft.com as we
share our stories and we take on board their responses,
some of which we go on to feature on ft.com/in the
newspaper. Our readers ask lots of questions of us and
they expect their views to be read and taken seriously.
RH: Our strategy involves three activities: cultivating
community, providing them with a brand experience
via our branded pages, RSS feeds and marketing
messages and moving the individuals within the
communities to deeper relationships with the FT,
and where appropriate encouraging those
communities to pay for subscriptions once they
have registered with the FT.
We use Twitter to seek readers’ views and
experiences, for example when Blackberry’s
service went down, and ask for readers’ input,
such as asking for questions for the tech column
on the FT’s management pages.
The FT uses Facebook to engage our followers,
asking them for their views on a range of stories,
and to solicit user generated content.
Do you think the Financial Times will use tools
such as Vine in the future?
SL: Vine is exciting. We’re always experimenting with
new tools; the test is what works for our audience.
Strikingtherightbalanceonsocialmediachannelscanbe
difficultenough,butwhatifyourbrandisbehindapaywall?
TheDrumchatstotheFinancialTimes’ssocialmediamanager
RebeccaHeptinstallandcommunitieseditorSarahLaitnerabout
whythebrandisstillwiththetimesasitcelebratesits125thyear.
LIVINGIN
SOCIALTIMES
7. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social07
Rebecca Heptinstall,
social media
manager,
The Financial Times
Rebecca Heptinstall
joined the FT in February
2012 from gyro,where
she held the position
of community manager.
Heptinstall works
across the commercial
and brand led aspects
of the FT’s social media
strategy;including
the analysis of
campaigns,presenting
results and making
recommendations,and
the moderation of user
generated content where
appropriate. One of the
main aims of her role is
to grow,manage and
engage audiences across
the multiple platforms.
Using 140 characters,
Heptinstall describes
her position as‘digital
comms-er protecting the
FT’s online reputation.
Often seen acting over
enthusiastically about
new things for us to
play with.’
Sarah Laitner,
communitieseditor,
The Financial Times
Sarah Laitner has held the
position of communities
editor since November
2011,having held the
role of blogs editor at the
newspaper from April
2009,and working as
a reporter in the FT’s
Brussels office for
several years prior.
Laitner is the first
person to hold the role of
communities editor at the
FT,where she oversees the
social media journalism
and engagement with
readers.
Using 140 characters,
she describes her role
as:‘I run the FT’s social
media journalism,build
communities around
our content and work on
ways to talk/listen to our
readers across the world.’
BIOGRAPHIES
8. people Like
Fiona’s work.
Nice one Fiona.
Fiona is one of our talented
#socialmediageeks who’s helped
us deliver remarkable brand
engagement and revenue growth
for clients such as AXA PPP,
Macallan and SSE. What’s not to
Like?
If you’d like to build your brand
more effectively, our geeks would
love to have a chat with you.
W: www.eqtr.com
T: 0141 229 1800
Eqtr Drum Ad_February 2013.indd 1 15/02/2013 09:34:03
9. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social09
Withsomanynewdigitalplatformsavailabletomarketers,
isFacebookstillimportant?TheDrum’sIshbelMacleodlooks
atrecentbrandcampaignsonFacebookandtalkstothe
networkitselfaboutmarketingontheplatform.
Ontheface
ofthe matter
I
t was recently revealed in a survey by US-
based Pew Research Centre that two thirds
of Facebook users have taken a break from
the social networking site, with these breaks
normally lasting for several weeks at a time.
And long gone are the days when social media
simply consisted of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook,
with brands now making use of Instagram, Pinterest,
Vine, Google+ and a whole host of other platforms in
order to create different messages and competitions.
Kathy Dykeman, EMEA measurement solutions
group lead at Facebook, argues however that the
network is still important for brands. She tells The
Drum: “Facebook marketing is about leveraging reach
– helping brands to reach the right audience with the
right message at scale. Once brands can pinpoint the
audience they want to target we see great results.”
Dykeman cites a cross-media campaign by Nestlé
Maggi in Germany as an example. The combination
of distribution via three mediums – Facebook Page
posts, print ads and TV ads – resulted in a significant
sales uplift for the brand.
“In short,” explains Dykeman, “Facebook
increases the impact of other mediums – those that
saw both the Facebook and TV ad were impacted
54 per cent more than the sum of individual impacts
of either medium. For us, it’s all about showing
brands that if synergy can be created across
various media platforms, they will see results.”
Monopoly recently showed that Facebook could
still be useful for brands by running a campaign
giving its Facebook fans the chance to choose
which game token should be scrapped, and what
should it should be replaced with. The competition
saw fans in over 120 countries vote, with the iron
being replaced by the cat.
Eric Nyman, global brand leader for Hasbro
Gaming, says: “The impetus for the worldwide
vote came from chatter on Facebook, where
Monopoly has more than 10 million fans.
“We’re constantly interacting with these fans
and there is often chat about favourite tokens
and indeed new token suggestions, so when we
decided to replace a token in the classic Monopoly
game, we thought we’d put it to the vote and get
fans to decide.
11. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social11
“We’ve had a phenomenal amount of fun with
the “Save Your Token” campaign on Facebook,
grown our fan base and created really engaging
content for both new and existing fans to enjoy.”
Kit Kat meanwhile has re-launched its Choose A
Chunky Champion campaign, with fans voting to save
their favourite of four newly unveiled chocolate bars.
“The use of characters who the public can get
behind, the limited voting period, and the fact that
only one will survive, help make this campaign
engaging and successful through the line,”
a spokesperson for the brand said.
Facebook maintains that marketing campaigns
should not be measured on click-throughs alone,
and has suggested that reach, resonance, reaction
and consumer action must all be taken into account
in order to measure if a campaign is successful.
Dykeman insists: “What’s key is a combination
of organic reach, paid reach and viral reach which
will result in the delivery of compelling content to
the right people.”
However, Andy Roberts, group programme
director at KISS, suggests that Facebook is losing
some of its edge as a marketing tool for brands:
“You can’t ignore its size and what it has achieved,
but dare I say Facebook is old news .Yes, it’s part of
the marketing mix of tools we use within KISS to talk
to the audience and it formed the basis of our ‘Hear
it, See it, Share it’ strategy, but I would say that its
role is less as time moves on.”
Those brands which remain on Facebook are
making sure that they perform the best for their fans,
with research from Socialbakers finding that brands
are responding faster than ever to comments made
on the platform: down from an average of 20.9
hours in Q2 of 2012 to 13.7 hours in Q4 2012.
The alcohol vertical ranked last for response
rate in the industry report, responding to only 29.7
per cent of comments; compared to the airline
industry which responded in 74.1 per cent of cases.
The research also found that 55 per cent of fan
questions were answered on brands’ Facebook
pages in Q4, compared to 30 per cent in Q2.
Alex Packham, social media manager at NOW TV,
suggests that there are two key schools of thought
when it comes to Facebook marketing: “For big
brands there are currently two approaches towards
Facebook marketing; it’s either your main social
channel, or your ‘tick along’ channel. Facebook’s
strategy towards businesses currently means social
marketers have to either dedicate significant level of
spend to maximising activity, or rely on the (minimal)
organic results that can be achieved without spend.
Anything in the middle of this is a wasted opportunity
as Facebook’s advertising system and Edgerank
algorithm sway so strongly to paid amplification,
anything in the middle will be drowned out by the
heavy investors.
“That said, Graph Search is the first welcome
addition to its product portfolio for consumers
and businesses alike for a while – Google search
will remain the primary discovery tool for products
and services, but consumers will look to ‘sense
check’ their results against recommendation’s by
friends based on their social data, which could be
found using Graph Search, and that becomes a
very powerful opportunity for businesses indeed.”
While there are mixed views on Facebook
marketing, it does seem like the platform is
staying strong, and those who continue to
use it aim to continue to push boundaries
and communicate with their followers.
“Facebookmarketingisaboutleveragingreach–helping
brandstoreachtherightaudiencewiththerightmessage
atscale.Oncebrandscanpinpointtheaudiencethey
wanttotargetweseegreatresults.”KathyDykeman,Facebook
Kathy Dykeman provides
her top five tips for
Facebook marketing
Get the
messaging right
As with all channels,
make sure the messaging
of your Facebook activity
is well integrated into
your broader campaign
objectives. To create
this synergy,make sure
that TV and Facebook
campaigns complement
each other,it seems
obvious but creative
executions across all
your channels should
reinforce each other.
Think
beyond fans
It’s vital not to forget
about your target
audience. It’s important
to maximise reach among
your target audience to
increase purchases.
Think in terms
of cross-media
If used right,Facebook
is the most cost-effective
way to reach the right
audience.
Use Facebook
alongside TV and
your other channels
Facebook reinforces
TV activity brilliantly.
Nutella,for example,used
Facebook alongside a TV
campaign,finding that
3.8 million people saw the
campaign on Facebook,
but had not seen it on TV.
Think about
mobile reach
One of our Preferred
Marketing Developers,
Nanigans,found that
Page Post Ads on mobile
generated a 1.9x higher
click-through rate than
those on desktop,which
serves to reinforce
the importance of
building mobile
into all campaigns.
Top 5
Facebook
marketing
tips
1
2
3
4
5
12. www.thedrum.com 01.MARCH.13 THE DRUM12Social
S
o far, the launch of Twitter’s six second
video product Vine has received a mixed
welcome. The platform takes the short-
and-sweet aspect of Twitter, and turns
it into a video format, allowing the public
to use both motion and sound.
The platform, described as ‘a new mobile service
that lets you create and share beautiful, short looping
videos’, has faced criticism as some users have
taken advantage of the simple format to upload
short porn films. Now rated 17+ and with certain
search terms censored, Vine is being used more
and more for the reason it was created: to create
short, quirky video.
In its first weekend, over 110,000 clips were
uploaded; a number that is steadily growing. Brands
are quickly understanding how to use the platform
as well, with website Brands on Vine having already
been set up to showcase what is being done.
Michael Litman, creator of Brands on Vine and
senior social strategist at AnalogFolk, discussed
the opportunities for the platform:
“The six second video format allows greater
opportunity to creatively tell a brand narrative.
However, the immediacy and personal nature of
the channel suggests it will be used less for ads
and more to capture and lifestream what a brand
is doing or thinking right now, rather like the most
successful brands using Instagram. Vine was the
platform of choice for capturing short segments on
the catwalk at New York Fashion Week, for example.”
He suggests that those brands surging ahead with
their use of Vine include General Electric, Cadburys,
MTV Style, Manchester City FC, GAP and Schuh.
The diversity of these brands suggests that any
brand can create a six second video.
The Drum asked three agencies – Jam, Rubber
Republic and Weapon7 – to create their own
Vine ads, shed light on the creative process and
demonstrate Vine’s capacity as an advertising
platform going forward.
WhatdoesTwitter’ssixsecondvideoserviceVineofferbrands?
Cansuchashortformatbeeffectiveasanadvertisingplatform?
TheDrumspeakstoagenciestofindout.
Heardit
through the
great Vine?
13. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social13
Jason Cascarina, creative director at
Weapon7, describes the ad:“It struck
us that the seemingly prescriptive time
length is actually ideal for dramatising
anything that can occur over six seconds.
“According to the World Health
Organisation, approximately one person
dies every six seconds due to tobacco.
“From there, it was a simple matter
of literally revealing this fact, by having
a cigarette burn down to uncover the
type. You could add further messaging
for an anti-smoking campaign in the
accompanying caption.
“We grabbed an iPhone and shot a shaky
test version outside the office. Away from
the building. And didn’t inhale.”
Weapon7 executive creative director
Jeremy Garner added:“Watching
Vinepeek it struck us that we are
witnessing six seconds of life from
around the world. The concepts went
from the epic to the mundane. The
sublime to the ridiculous.”
http://bit.ly/W1j5mw
Weapon7 uses the
six second format
to create a punchy
anti-smoking ad...
Jam’s Ian Gambier said:“If fingers were
the size of men and women,they’d
probably start blowing each other up
eventually! So we decided to make a
stop-motion story of a bazooka wielding
finger getting his revenge. Vine has made
it super easy to make these kind of stories
and share them with the world.”
Creative director Wayne Deakin added:
“Like Instagram back in 2010,Vine has
become the overnight must-have for
agencies and brands. It has received a
sudden,energetic burst of genuine buzz
across the web. Brands can now benefit
from bite-sized video content that is short
enough to grab your audience’s attention
and deliver simple messages as part of
a wider campaign.
“Content and context is key with Vine
and understanding if you’ve audience
is even willing to watch regardless of
it being only six second in duration.
Remember I can still press the close
button in under a second. The benefits
are there for brands to take use of. But
be careful where you aim it and what
you put out doesn’t blow up in your face.”
http://bit.ly/XmiuXx
Jam’s short for Vine
likens the video
sharing platform
to a loaded gun...
Rubber Republic’s Tiffany Maddox took a
simplistic approach to creating her video.
“I channeled my inner magpie and
gathered anything that caught my eye
within reaching distance.
“The first Vine didn’t look exactly
as I wanted,and because there’s no
edit feature,I had to scrap it and repeat
the whole process three times. Once I’d got
the hang of it though,it was easy enough.
“Vine has the potential to be a great
little app,though what exactly that means
for brands remains to be seen.
“It isn’t faultless and could do with a
few tweaks. The share function is hit and
miss,and if you’re slightly ham fisted it
can take a few tries. Mostly though it’s very
neat and well designed,the UI is simple
but retains a good aesthetic and the vine
community are finding ways to be creative.
All it really needs is a few updates to iron
out some of the more irritating kinks and
it could well be a permanent fixture in our
social toolbox.”
http://bit.ly/W7Hodd
Rubber Republic’s
Vine video gives
the mobile app the
stamp of approval...
14. www.thedrum.com 01.MARCH.13 THE DRUM14Social
M
arketing metrics have long been the
source of lively debate, as the century-
old quote from advertising pioneer
John Wanamaker attests: “Half the
money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is
I don’t know which half.”
The rise of the web has changed things to some
extent and it is now possible to track the customer
journey, from awareness to purchase, and directly
attribute a cost per acquisition. This model starts with
the assumption that purchase is the primary objective
however – and that all visits follow a linear path.
Some longer-established marketing disciplines, such
as TV, radio and PR, have models in place for dealing
with this conundrum. Many would argue they’re flaky,
but their shelf life has afforded them a degree of validity.
Social media is the latest pretender to pull up a chair
at marketing’s top table. But up until now, the sector
has been unable to combine behind a collective voice
when it comes to ROI. It’s a tough brief, given its digital
heritage: it must be measurable, scalable, observable
(open), attributable, and, above all, relevant to the
brand, whether you’re Marmite or Samsonite.
Last summer we kicked off a process to tackle this
thorny problem, adopting a social approach and working
with a variety of different stakeholders from across the
industry to canvass opinion and share suggestions.
Clients, agencies, media buyers, industry
commentators and academics have all been involved
to date, and a simple and transparent framework
is now within our grasp.
Starting point
The question that crops up in every client meeting is,
“Yes, but what will social media investment actually
do for my brand? How much budget should I commit
if there’s no tried-and-tested ROI model?”
The starting point of the model needed to
encompass the cornerstones of all social media
strategies: development of relevant content planning;
identification and outreach to the most influential
advocates; amplification of the reach and impact of the
positive messages; and quantified value aligned with
other existing ROI metrics.
The Approach – The Three As
1. Analysis
The starting point of any social campaign is always
to see what people are saying. The web is essentially
a huge unfocussed focus group, and tools such as
Brandwatch, Radian6 and Sysomos can help provide
some structure to the many voices and opinions
that any brand will find exist out there about them.
This data is useful, but apply a level of insight
and analysis and you can reveal:
Its nature: Where are people talking? What
are the key topics? What is the sentiment?
Its depth: Are audiences truly engaged or mentioning
you in passing? Is there a groundswell of loyal
supporters willing to support / defend your brand?
How can they be segmented and embraced to help
drive third-party advocacy?
Its focus: Finally and allied to the above is the
question of whether social commentaries are talking
to you (direct) or about you (indirect). How and when
should the brand invite itself into the conversation?
The analysis phase helps brands assess the relative
value of each interaction. Marketers instinctively know
an in-depth review of their product from an influential
blogger on a popular platform is more valuable than a
Facebook Like. But how much more valuable?
A weighting system will possibly need to be applied
but we need to beware of metrics that apply an arbitrary
sector-wide ‘multiplier’, like the (now widely discredited)
Measuringsocialmedia’sreturnoninvestmentcan
beatrickyissueforbrands.Here,Neil Major,strategy
directoratYomego, providesinsightintoaneffective
frameworkformeasuringthevalueofsocialmedia.
thevalue
ofsocial
advertising value equivalent used in the past by the PR
industry. Weightings will be applied on a client-by-client
basis based on their individual business model.
2. Alignment
No two businesses are the same but there are things
they all have in common. To provide a framework
for discussion, the working party has identified 11
common business drivers that regularly apply. Clients
would simply pick those that apply to them.
The 11 can be segmented into four categories:
Media value: These are the typical measures of
many ad campaigns – awareness, reach and degree
of engagement.
Sales value: The value of social mentions can directly
be applied to sales conversion if, for instance, an
e-commerce client knows its traffic conversion rate. We
can apply a value based on traffic derived from social
media sources, either directly or indirectly. This section
can also deliver a value in terms of increased customer
retention if year-on-year sales data is made available.
Growth value: Market share and share price can
sometimes be the real determinants of marketing
success, as assessed by board members. If
attribution can be applied to social, a direct value can
be applied in terms of the incremental value of the
brand.
Cost saving: Effective adoption of social media can
slash costs. Some brands have saved millions by
facilitating peer-to-peer query resolution so this should
be added into the pot.
Intelligent social CRM can enhance the single
customer view and significantly boost response rates,
reducing wastage. Social is made for crowdsourcing/
R&D, so savings via co-creation and customer
feedback need to be quantified and applied to the
overall total.
15. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social15
3. Attribution
So we have relevant data, and we know what we’re
measuring against. The key to establishing successful
measurement now lies in an open partnership between
the agency and client.
The key to attribution isn’t to use an advertising
equivalent value broadly applied across all campaigns
but something specific to the particular circumstances
we’ve scoped and campaigned within. To make this
as accurate as possible, clients will need to provide
access, for instance, to sales data, average customer
values and ROI metrics from other disciplines. Of
the four types of campaigns identified, market share
or stock price are potentially harder to attribute but
value can still be ascertained by using a subtractive
model. That is to say when all other channel effects
have been quantified, then the remaining should be
attributed to social.
This model is not perfect. For instance, it still equates
an advertising click (eg promoted tweet) alongside an
editorial click (eg retweeting a friend). But every model
needs a starting point and all respected, tried-and-
tested metrics have been here before.
This framework needs to be interrogated and
refined if social is to continue – and potentially increase
– the level of support it deserves. In this article, we’ve
scratched the surface. A more detailed discussion
is available if you download the free Value of Social
Advocacy white paper at Yomego.com.
But one thing is crystal clear. The Holy Grail of social
media ROI will only be achieved via a concerted and
collaborative effort.
Neil Major (@neilmajor) is strategy
director at Yomego (@YomegoSocial)
Identifying
key business
objectives
£
Awareness
Reach
Social Engagement
Advocacy
Media Value
Website traffic
and footfall
Conversion
Incremental
yoy sales
Enhanced CRM
Sales
Share price
increase
Market share
increase
Growth
Customer Service
Research and
development
Cost
Reduction
Yomego has identified
11 common business
drivers that can be
applied to measuring
the outcomes of social
media campaigns. The
11 can be segmented into
the following categories.
16. Organised by:In association with: Supported by:
MakingaNoise
aboutSocialMedia
Open to any UK based individual, company or organisation that
are producing effective social media campaigns / strategies.
New categories for 2013 include:
• Best use of Pinterest
• Best use of Google +
• Community Manager of the Year
Enter and prove that you know how to make social media work
Register at www.socialbuzzawards.com
Entry Deadline: Friday 9 August 2013
Register
now
17. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social17
The Drum catches up with a selection of
industry experts to ask their views on some
of the big issues affecting the social media
sector,such as video and data.
Q A&
What do you see as the ROI from social media?
Jim Dowling,
managing partner, Cake
There are plenty, but top of my list would
be measurements that clearly link to
commercial gain. 15 per cent of all retail is now
conducted online, and 50 per cent of online traffic
is being driven by social media. As a result, it is quite
easy for brands to track whether their efforts in social
media are turning into business. The investment is an
investment in content or conversation. The return is
a sale, an existing customer spending more or a
disgruntled customer retained.
Jim Coleman,
managing partner, We Are Social
The measurement of ROI itself is out of
date. While it has classically been defined
as a financial measure, return is no longer always
about the bottom line – brands are becoming less
interested in tracing back social media to the actual
sale itself. For social media, return could be a better
understanding of your customer base and their
sentiments towards your brand, a more engaged
user base that fosters brand loyalty and the ability
to use your social communities as a focus group
to influence new product development.
Jonathan Palmer,
head of social, Vizeum UK
Social media allows us to change
perception, gain awareness and create
an ongoing dialogue with our consumers in order
to build brand preference and loyalty. It also allows
us to gather, over time, a lot of valuable consumer
insights, which can be used to help optimise our
future planning and ensure that we are giving
our clients the best strategies going forward.
More importantly, social plays a part in an
overall comms strategy, and the ROI should
be part of a greater holistic brief.
Martin Jordan,
marketing director, Equator
It has to be about awareness. Being
active in social media takes a lot of
investment and your initial return is based on
whether or not anyone is listening or even better,
engaging. While said listener may not buy straight
away, the trust/relationship that you can create via
social media may contribute to them doing so at
some point in the future. If you can ascertain what
role social media plays in your purchasing funnel,
you’ll be able to take that initial engagement and
through time translate that into a financial ROI.
What’s the biggest challenge for brands’
social media strategies in a multichannel
environment?
Jan Rezeb, CEO, Socialbakers
We saw 2012 as the year when
companies set up presence and started
to focus on two-way communication. We
believe that in 2013 the focus will be on measuring
quality of relationships, competitive intelligence and
the consistency of data. Perhaps the most
important development will be measuring the
velocity of positive and negative remarks. Brands
are starting to move towards democratisation
as they accept that public opinion matters and
they are no longer in control of the majority of
information released about their company.
Social
is where
we see some
of the most
visible marketing
mistakes.Brands
should make sure
all channels are
considered and
planned for right
from the initial
conception
of the
campaign.
Jim Coleman, managing
partner, we are social
18. www.thedrum.com 01.MARCH.13 THE DRUM18Social
Steve Richards,
managing director, Yomego
Segmenting the messaging while joining
up the ROI. Messaging needs to be
optimised for different social platforms, let alone
different marketing channels. The way you interact
with customers on Twitter versus Pinterest won’t be
the same – one size doesn’t fit all. Success will come
back to the sort of best practice for one-to-one
marketing that predates social media – it’s about
having joined up systems and databases
underpinning everything. Better targeting and a
more sophisticated single customer view will help
to minimise wastage in marketing budgets.
Neil Higton,
senior account director, Essence
Often the biggest challenge is making
sure that a brand’s social media strategy
is not the last consideration in a multichannel
marketing plan. In the past it has been quite
common for brands to add social media as an
‘afterthought,’ which can be quite restrictive,
especially when developing campaigns with
specific social objectives and goals. Brands that
have organisational structures that allow their
departments to operate in silos can also enhance
this problem, preventing a truly integrated approach.
Nigel Ferrier, executive chairman,
Ferrier Pearce Creative Group
The question of resource and the threat
of missed opportunities if the message
becomes diluted across a number of different
channels through the lack of resource is the biggest
challenge that is faced across all industries using
social media.
What is the role of video content in
social media marketing?
Paul Shephard, CEO, Coup Media
Video as a content marketing mechanic
will continue to increase in importance
because it translates so perfectly to
mobile screens (better than say... an image, copy
or infographic). But video will only work for you if it’s
useful, funny, extraordinary or otherwise emotionally
engaging. If you know your objectives, know your
audience and deliver video content that resonates
then video can be super effective especially as
mobile screens become the normal way to consume
content. If you can’t do that, video becomes a more
time consuming and expensive way to fail.
Freddie Young,
community director, 1000heads
Countless studies tell us that, when it
comes to consuming information online,
people prefer watching videos to reading text. For
this reason alone, video can be a fantastic way for
brands to communicate. As platforms like Vine,
Cinemagram, Viddy, Socialcam and Keek make it
quick and easy to create video, there is an obvious
opportunity for brands to use this medium more –
but if it’s not done with a strong strategy in place,
it’s just more brand noise.
Jan Rezab, CEO, Socialbakers
YouTube is the second biggest search
engine on planet, and Facebook the biggest
social media platform, so being shared on
these channels increases exposure hugely. Video can
also be resource-effective in terms of solving a complex
problem visually. It’s an opportunity to give customers
answers in a concise constructive and graphic way,
especially if you have a large amount of customer
service queries all relating to the same problem.
How valuable is the data being discovered
by social media to brands?
Dominic Sparkes,
CEO and co-founder, Tempero
Data is worth nothing without context and
expert analysis. At Tempero we have seen
many organisations sign up to advanced monitoring
and analysis tools only to lose interest when the
results are inaccurate, confusing and irrelevant.
To use data effectively, there needs to be a reason
for collection, a plan for analysis and a willingness
to action any actionable insight.
David Cushman,
strategy partner, Social Partners
Savvy marketeers are already turning
to real-time data from open social media
to inform decisions about how, when and where to
market, what content to create, for whom, in what
format and to deliver where. It’s a powerful planning
tool. But it’s also a powerful insight into customer
need and should be used to inform decisions
throughout the organisation, from new product
development and R&D to customer service and PR.
For many brands there is a direct sales play, too.
Critically, social media data can help an organisation
treat customers as partners in every decision it makes.
Every boardroom should have access to the data.
Ben Hatton,
managing director, Rippleffect
Social media is a research tool. There is such
a huge amount of data readily available and
every brand should be using social media research
to its full potential. You can use social media for so
many things that have direct impact on your business
such as finding out what your fans think of your next
poster, finding all the people on Twitter who mention
your product or issue in their bio as well as tracking
every conversation about your brand. Perhaps most
importantly there is also an incredible amount of data
freely available about your competitors – and if they
are not finding value in it you certainly can!
Sam Waymont,
social planning director, Essence
Data is only valuable if you use it correctly.
Every brand on Facebook has access to
informative data, such as age and location, as well as
daily insights into what their consumers like and don’t
like. It’s up to brands to use this knowledge to shape
marketing and product strategies. Remember though,
this is only a consumer sample that has connected with
your brand via social media, while it’s both powerful
and useful, in some cases it may not be representative.
19. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com Social19
Percentage of the UK
population on Facebook
[Socialbakers]
FACT FILE
51.61%
52% of marketers have
increased time dedicated
to managing social media
[EML Wildfire,via
Econsultancy,May 2012]
52%
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
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££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££££££££
££££
Spend on social media
banners in first half of 2012
[IAB expenditure report,
October 2012]
£134.2m
20. www.thedrum.com 01.MARCH.13 THE DRUM20KnowledgeBank
COUP MEDIA
T- 0845 805 7345
E- hello@coupmedia.co.uk
W- www.coupmedia.com
- @coupmedia_paul / @coupmedia
TWITTER’SAPI:
ATASTEOFHONEY?
T
hey say that a taste of honey is
worse than none at all. Well some
of the developers who built
software using Facebook’s Ad
API might just be starting to agree...
Why? Because as Facebook adds more
and more functionality to its own advertising
platform, so it erodes many of the reasons
we had to use third third party tools in the
first place.
The Facebook ecosystem of third party
developers has become the social monolith’s
number one R&D resource... and now they’re
starting to reap the benefits by taking in house
many of the better ideas developed outside of
their Menlo Park HQ. Will Twitter do the same
a few years down the line?
Rewind to 2009 when early access to
Facebook’s Ad API was an incredibly valuable
pass to be granted. Many of the companies
who built the first iterations of ad serving
platforms (think Brighter Option, Ad Parlour,
Vitrue et al) did very nicely from the wave of
buy outs, mergers and acquisitions around
that time as agencies and development
houses came together.
But many others weren’t a part of that union
and now they’re looking on helplessly as
Facebook cherry picks the best parts of their
products, and delivers that free of charge as
improvements to their proprietary ad platform
(instead of imposing the typical 5-10% charge
of overall campaign spend levied by the 3rd
party providers).
This isn’t an anti-Facebook rant; I love them
from a personal and professional perspective,
but I can imagine how it could feel like a
callous blow to some businesses/development
houses every time Facebook implements
a ‘new’ piece of functionality to its initially
rudimentary ad serving offering.
And while Facebook’s motto is ‘Move fast,
Break Things’, I’m not sure that’s totally
ringing true... they haven’t moved particularly
fast here: Their first clunky Bulk Ad Uploader
appeared a good number of years ago, and
their latest refinement to ad serving (conversion
tracking) happened in January of this year.
But they are breaking things – mainly the
business models of third party Facebook
ad serving platforms. By including the new,
prettier multi-pane graphical user interface,
power editing tools, conversion tracking and
deeper analytics to their ad serving platform,
Facebook are stealing the thunder of many
third party providers – and giving it to us for
free. Who’s going to argue with that?
The people who built that functionality
in the first place, using Facebook’s Ad API,
that’s who!
You could (and I would) argue that any
business built on someone else’s API, and
which doesn’t plan for ‘the hand that giveth’
taking away at some point is asking for trouble.
This is definitely something all developers
and software houses need to be aware of as
Twitter moves to build its own ecosystem of
developers and third party tools to do more
than let you post to Twitter. That ecosystem
will grow fast, just as Twitter CEO Dick Costolo
hinted at back in 2011.
Twitter’s announcement that they are
finally opening up an Ads API of their own is
the first really important development since
2007 when Facebook launched its application
development platform.
It’s so important that it will make people sit
up, listen and quickly want to figure out how to
take advantage of it. The ones who get it right
(and get it right early) will be wined and dined
by any number of Social Media Sugar Daddies,
but those who don’t get it (by ‘it’ I mean
the product, the business model, the vision)
right need to be aware of the social software
wasteland that could be waiting for them as
Twitter surveys their products, licks their lips,
takes the best bits and leaves the rest.
I’m no programmer – I’m sure I’ve given that
game away long before now, but I am involved
in a number of products/companies that pull on
APIs as their lifeblood. As such I (we) accept
that we are beholden to the whims of the API
provider – such is our lot in life.
But those businesses that provide APIs
open up whole worlds of possibilities that
would never be possible, and we all reap
the benefits at some stage – whether as
developers or consumers.
The fact is that those who develop and
share their APIs deserve to get first dibs
on what’s built using that API. As long as
everyone knows that – and plans for that
eventuality there can be no nasty surprises.
In short, there is an ‘i’ in API... and it’s a big
one. Twitter know that, Facebook know that,
and we should know that too.
Paul Shepherd,
CEO, Coup Media
21. THE DRUM 01.MARCH.13 www.thedrum.com KnowledgeBank21
THE
WILD
WIDE
WEB
FERRIER PEARCE CREATIVE GROUP
T- 01883 342682
E- nigel@ferrier-pearce.co.uk
W- www.ferrierpearce.com
- @ferrierpearce
O
ver a decade since the social
media revolution and we are still
seeing examples of some of the
world’s biggest and best known
brands – pardon our French – cocking it up.
You only have to look at the recent
Starbucks strategy to feed a live stream
of #spreadthecheer in the Natural History
Museum that was hijacked by tax protestors.
This post-dates a whole host of ill advised
social media dramas involving Skittles,
Chrysler and even Ryanair to name but a few.
Only #waitrosereasons managed to claw back
some integrity for the brand.
The ‘shoot now and ask questions later’
approach that is adopted when it comes
to social media is drawing to an end. The
ease with which you can update, upload and
respond means that it becomes very easy
to lose sight of a strategy. Not only that but
it is also very easy for mistakes to be made
that will no longer go unnoticed. Rouge
bandits can cause more damage with a single
misguided tweet than the most scathing of
press reviews. The web has gone wild and it’s
time to bring back some order.
Within a year, internet use on mobile
devices will overtake desktop access for
the first time, which is easy to believe when
over 60% of all mobile phones worldwide are
internet enabled smartphones. Consumers
now have the attention span to that of a gnat,
with a reduction over the last 25 years from
12 minutes to 5 seconds. Not only that but
their ability to multitask has also gone through
the roof, 86% of smartphone users will be
online in conjunction with undertaking other
activities such as watching TV. Only recently
it was reported that the general population
checks their phone over 100 times a day.
Integrated marketing is not a term that
is unfamiliar, so why is it so challenging to
implement this across all online activity?
Particularly when you know that your target
audience is likely to have their fingers glued to
their phones and watching your every move,
making judgments and drawing conclusions
based on how the brand is presented.
The social media obsession is drawing
to an end to make way for a new and more
advanced management protocol that is
designed to ensure continuity across all
digital outlets.
Consideration for the interaction between
digital channels is now more important
than ever. While a campaign can be run
on a singular platform, thought must be
put in to how this will translate should the
audience wish for it to be drawn out across
the web as a whole. The length of a tweet,
responsiveness of a website and compatibility
of your links will all play a part in determining
the flop or flight of your online campaigns.
Digital media management has evolved as
the integrated and strategic approach to the
management of a digital footprint. There is
no longer the option of independent online
channels operating in isolation.
The sheriff is back in town...
To get your online engagement rounded
up, and find out more about digital media
management email nigel@ferrier-pearce.co.uk
Nigel Ferrier, Executive Chairman,
Ferrier Pearce Creative Group
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