This presentation describes our approach to online marketing for Hex Goods, an e-commerce retailer for designer goods. We designed a series of marketing campaigns using tools like Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, Twitter, affiliate programs, and blog campaigns. This presentation documents the approach, the results, and our learnings from the process.

1. Our goal was to test the effectiveness of social media marketing tactics in
driving value for an online retailer
• Based on cutting-edge research on the science of social networks,
Social Influence Marketing aims to help companies use social influence
The concept to spread messages through networks to drive product purchase or
consideration
• A well-defined learning agenda will enable us to rapidly prototype, test,
and iterate our service offering
The goal • We have a customer, Hex Goods, which will allow us to analyze
marketing tests to determine the optimal channel, language, and tactics
needed to drive desired behaviors
• Regular updates on test plan, execution, and learnings
The output • Final slide deck synthesizing our learning agenda, our findings, and
ultimate recommendations
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2. The mystery-heuristic-algorithm framework guided our learning agenda
• Is social media an effective marketing
Mystery
channel?
• How do we identify influentials within a
network?
Heuristics
• How does a network’s structure affect our
ability to spread a message?
• How do messages in a social network
drive purchase or consideration within a
Algorithm
targeted demographic?
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3. Our customer:
Hex Goods is an online boutique that features new and unique products from
independent designers. Hex Goods launched in November 2011 with a collection of
products for Christmas, followed by a Valetine’s Day collection in January/February
2012. By taking the concept of a small local design boutique and adding the elements
of good online retailers (free shipping, a generous return policy, and a satisfaction
guarantee), we hope to build a brand in a traditionally fragmented market.
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4. Social media is a great marketing tool if used effectively; however it
requires a real investment of time and energy to bear success
Social media has Social proof and
Network diversity is
powerful targeting relevance are key to
critical
capabilities engage communities
• Social media allows for • Startups are natural • Endorsement by
n-th degree targeting echo-chambers community members
lends social proof
• Low barriers enable • Expand network diversity
broad seeding of by: • Target based on
messages o Adding team behavioral
members with demographics, not just
• Key is finding entry diverse networks traditional demographics
points into relevant o Earning publicity
networks for the target o Just ‘getting out • Communicate through
market there’ appropriate social
channels for maximum
effectiveness
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5. Social media marketing manual for an entrepreneur
1
Define the key metric or metrics that drive economic outcomes for your
Define metrics business
2
Create a network systems map to identify factors and loops that
Build systems map positively and negatively influence key business metrics
3
Target high-impact network variables, drivers, and feedback loops for
Design testing marketing efforts
campaigns
4
Embed analytics to enable rapid learning from testing campaigns and
Test, measure, and understand how marketing efforts are influencing the network system
iterate
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6. 1 Establish proper metrics for the SIM campaign
Example of metric selection process for our client
Easy to Links to bus Useful for Driven by
Potential measure goals small marketing
Guidelines metrics samples
Purchases
1. Easy to measure
2. Links to broader
ü ü ü
business goals in a Newsletter
measurable way (eg,
awareness, profit)
sign-ups ü ü
Referrals
3. Useful with small
sample sizes
ü ü ü
Return Visits
4. Likely to be driven
directly by marketing ü ü
campaign
Engaged Visits
ü ü ü ü
Visits
ü ü ü ü
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7. 2 Create a network systems map to identify factors and loops that
positively and negatively influence key business metrics
Guidelines Examples from our map
1. Develop systems map focused 1. Focus on engaged visitors
on optimizing your key metric
2. Return visitors, newsletter sign-
2. Determine the key secondary ups, purchases, attractiveness,
metrics awareness, referrals, etc
3. Determine other key variables 3. Advertising, value proposition,
that you can influence uniqueness, incentives, etc
4. Determine the relationship 4. Incentives drive referrals,
between variables referrals drive publicity
5. Identify the key feedback loops 5. Engaged visitors-referrals-
that exist awareness-new visitors-
engaged visitors
6. Identify among the loops, which
has the greatest impact on the 6. Referral loop, purchase loop,
key metric incentive loop, etc
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8. 2 Example network systems map from our client
Feedback Loops
to focus on:
• Referral loop
• Investment loop
• Awareness loop
• Publicity loop
Not focused on:
• Return loop
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9. 3 Design campaigns: Target high-impact network variables, drivers, and
feedback loops for marketing efforts
Guidelines
1. Determine the top priority loops
and drivers relevant to your key
metric Our campaigns
2. Determine the appropriate A
• Facebook campaign
channels based on
B
• Google AdWords
• Relevance
C
• Blogs
• Budget constraints
• Twitter
D
• Impact on systems map
• Referral program
E
3. Design pilot campaign
4. Iterate campaigns based on
results
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10. 4 Test measure iterate: Embed analytics to enable rapid learning from
testing campaigns and understand how marketing efforts are
influencing the network system
Ideas
Learn
faster
Build
faster
Learn
Build
Split
tests
Focus
on
MVP
Customer
interviews
Outsource
Customer
development
Iteration
Root
cause
analysis
Free
&
open
source
software
Robust
advisory
board
Stage-­‐gates
Hypothesis
based
testing
Simulation
testing
Data
Develop
Measure
faster
Split
tests
Measure
Focus
on
analytics
Measure
what
matters
Real
time
analysis
Customer-­‐back
KPIs
Active
marketing
Tie
results
to
profitability
Quantify
results
Adapted
from
http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/
&
Eric
Ries
talks
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11. 4 Example from Hex Goods
• Iteration: Tested four different marketing campaigns (AdWords, facebook1,
facebook2, Z-ferral)
Build faster • Free & open-source software: Used Google Analytics to track visitor
behavior; Venisim for network maps; Gephi & NodeXL for twitter analysis
• Measure what matters: Chose profitability-connected metrics from the onset
• Quantify results: Google Analytics allowed us to track connect source of
visitor to site activity
Measure • Split tests: Horse-raced facebook campaigns to determine effectiveness
• Hypothesis-based testing: All testing campaigns were grounded in a detailed
hypothesis about outcomes
• Simulation testing: Built robust network systems map to understand which
Learn faster potential drivers could have the highest impact on our target metrics
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12. Campaign Details
Feedback loops
Description meant to drive Effectiveness
Referral loop,
A
3 targeted facebook ad Publicity loop,
Facebook campaigns Awareness loop
Investment loop
B
Google Campaigns focused on gifting
Awareness loop
AdWords and product-specific searches
C
Targeted design blogs to write
Blogs Publicity Loop
stories about Hex Goods
D Targeted twitter analysis to Publicity Loop,
Twitter determine optimum communities Awareness Loop,
to follow and promote to Referral Loop
E
Developed affiliate program to Referral Loop,
Referral Publicity Loop
incentivize referrals
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13. Campaigns that were both relevant and had an element of
“social proof” were most effective in driving engaged traffic
Marketing ROI
Cost per Bounce Cost per
Source Campaign visitor ($) rate (%) engaged visitor
Facebook Geography 1.60 83 9.42
Untargeted connections 0.45 83 2.65
Targeted connections 1.64 83 9.68
Wall posts 0.08 48 0.15
Blogs Oh, the Lovely Things 0.15 45 0.28
LA in the Bay 1.11 43 1.96
MBA Social 1.02 25 1.36
Nest Eagle Rock 0.45 36 0.71
Inventables 0.61 9 0.67
Google Headband 0.86 93 12.68
AdWords 0.38 93 5.66
Kindle Fire
Zferral Affiliate program 1.79 60 4.46
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14. A
Facebook ads were one of the highest return options, but only when we
used the social graph
Campaigns Learnings
▪ Geography: Targeted standard ▪ Geography campaign performed
Facebook ads to 10 zipcodes that poorly; click-through rates were low,
represented our target market CPC was high, and the target
population was very small
▪ Connections: “Sponsored
stories” presented to people who ▪ Connections campaign performed very
are friends with someone who well; most clicks and connections came
“likes” Hex Goods from friends of friends
▪ Targeted connections: ▪ Targeted connections performed okay;
“Sponsored stories” presented to limiting to target demographic put
people who are friends with viewers outside of the friend circle
someone who “likes” Hex Goods,
and also falls in our target ▪ Facebook campaigns drive additional
demographic value through “likes” that open up a
marketing channel (wall posts are a
very low cost channel)
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15. A
Geography campaign results
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16. A
Connections and targeted connections campaign results
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17. B
Google AdWords performed poorly, and led to particularly high bounce
rates, making them an expensive advertising option
Campaigns Learnings
▪ Gift campaign: Hex Goods ▪ CPC on Google AdWords is driven by
general advertisement to people the competition; who else is bidding,
searching for gift-related keywords and how much can they afford to pay?
▪ Product-specific campaigns: ▪ Winning on Google AdWords means
Product-specific advertisements to having the highest customer LTV and
people searching for keywords therefore the highest bid price
related to those products
▪ Therefore, Google AdWords is an
ineffective tool for cash-poor start-ups
who don’t have customer histories and
therefore little understanding of
customer LTV
▪ In addition, bounce rates from Google
AdWords are extremely high
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18. B
AdWords campaign results
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19. C
Blogs were an effective marketing campaign, especially when they were
targeted to the right audience
Campaigns Learnings
▪ Oh, the Lovely Things: Featured ▪ Blogs and publicity outperform
on a design blog that frequently advertising by a significant margin
features products from Etsy
designers ▪ Relevance is extremely important in
driving traffic; design blogs dramatically
▪ LA in the Bay: Featured on a outperformed other blogs
general women’s lifestyle blog
from LA; contest offering a free ▪ Because the cost of publicity is mostly
Hex Goods product time, blogs are a great resource for
time-rich, cash-poor start-ups
▪ MBA Social: MBA lifestyle blog
▪ Nest Eagle Rock: Personal blog
of one of my designers
▪ Inventables: Blog for a local
Chicago start-up
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20. C
Blog campaign results
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21. C
Pinterest is a great way to be seen, but did not drive significant referral
traffic
140 pins
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22. D
A twitter network analysis is helpful in determining which users to invest
in establishing relationships with
Analyses Learnings
▪ Analyzed three key influentials ▪ Twitter analysis helps determine which
on twitter with a direct reach of of the potentially influential users to
over 920k design-interested target
individuals ▪ Just counting followers is
insufficient – followers must also
▪ Evaluated network structure to be a relevant demographic
find brokers and ‘gate keepers’
that would impact target’s f-ratio* ▪ For targets with a very low f-ratio*,
attempt to establish relationships with
▪ Assessed network makeup to its follows that have a high ratio
better understand the ▪ A high ratio indicates that the
communities our targeted individual is more likely to
influential follows reciprocate your follow request
*: F-ratio is a measure of “following-ratio” or ‘approachability’, defined as following relations divided by follower relationships | 22

23. D
The importance of the f-ratio
Understanding the f-ratio
The f-ratio is defined as a twitter user's number of following relationships divided by the number of follower
relationships and is an estimate of a twitter user's likelihood to reciprocally follow you.
Furthermore, an f-ratio reveals the type of twitter user the individual is:
• A high f-ratio (1:many) indicates that the individual uses twitter to broadcast information, as such are very
influential. These users tend to be celebrities, companies, and established brands.
• A low f-ratio (many:1) indicates that this user is primarily a consumer of information. Many individual, passive, and
unengaged users fall into this category.
• A neutral f-ratio (1:1) indicates that this user may regularly engage in a dialogue with the community. These
users are often respected bloggers, marketers, and smaller brands.
Summary of our analysis
Twitter user Description f-ratio Follower relevance
@designmilk Popular modern design blog .0014 Low
@thecoolhunter Trendspotting blog .003 Low
@dwell Modern home goods and interior design .0018 High
magazine and blog
@dwell employees Employees of dwell corporation .34 High
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24. D
designmilk’s relationships are primarily one-way and lie outside of our
target demographic
Interior design
Companies &
institutes
# of followers: 470k
f-ratio: .0014
Broad design, design blogs, product design
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25. D
thecoolhunter’s had a diverse network and a high f-ratio; however, its
network lacked communities of the target demographic
Music
Celebs & bloggers
Style & fashion
Ad & marketing agencies
# of followers: 172k
Architecture & design f-ratio: .003
News, travel, info
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26. D
dwell’s network had a small communities of our target demographic and a
large community of current and former dwell employees
Blogs/websites
Interior design
Museums &
institutes
Employees Architecture
# of followers: 355k
f-ratio: .0018
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27. D
dwell’s employees represent an ideal entry point to dwell’s network; they
were often re-tweeted by dwell and had an average f-ratio of .34:1
Employee community of dwell’s network
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28. E
Referral program through Z-ferral was not as effective as we had hoped
for driving incentivized referrals
Campaigns Learnings
Ambassador Program:
• Developed an incentivized referral ▪ Referral program needs significant
program that required sign-ups by volume to find appropriate
existing visitors ambassadors
• Utilized zferral embedded ▪ Rewards may need to be driven from
software to award 10% “cash metrics other than purchases,
reward” for any purchase driven especially in a start-up environment
by referrals
▪ Referral needs marketing on its own. It
Hello-bar: is not driven much by organic growth
• Implemented simple “hello bar” on
the top of the site to inform visitors
about the referral program
Facebook mini-campaign
• Attempted to drive ambassadors
based on personal facebook
connections and hexgoods fans
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29. D
How to incentivize sharing amongst groups?
Why would people recommend?
1. Available outlet (fbook, twitter,
Guidelines for referral program
gmail)
2. Engage on this outlet 1. Determine appropriate reward/
incentive system
3. Satisfied customer, or • Prizes
interested customer • Discounts
• Points
4. Incentivized to share within
• Cash rewards
the network
2. Determine reward structure,
5. Know someone who would like
the product or service including whether to award for
2nd order referrals (eg, pyramid
6. Think its relevant for your structure)
community
3. Choose appropriate program
7. Think something is cool
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30. D
We chose to use Zferral as our affiliate platform, but there are many
options available
Options for an affiliate program Our initial campaign choice
Zferral
• Referral software, easy to integrate Campaign
1
2
3
4
with ecommerce sites 1st order 5%
10%
15%
10%
• Based on a monthly subscription commission
plus 3% commission
2ND order 0
5%
0%
0%
• Cash rewards and other options
commission
available
Buzz Referral
• Referral software
• Based on monthly subscription
• Referrals, social promo codes, and
sweepstakes/contests
NextBee
• Referral and customer loyalty
program
Vouchfor!
Extole.com
Qualityunit.com
ReferralCandy
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31. D
Example Referral Program page
Hello Bar
Landing Page
Tracking page
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32. Executive Summary for Social Influence Marketing
Goals:
▪ Based on cutting-edge research done on the science of social networks, Social Influence
Marketing (SIM) aims to help companies use social influence to spread messages through
networks to drive product purchase or consideration
▪ We have established a customer, Hex Goods, which allowed us to analyze marketing tests to
determine the optimal channel, language, and tactics needed to drive desired behaviors
Outcome
▪ The team ran 7 different marketing campaigns across 5 channels: Facebook, Google Adwords,
Blogs, Twitter, and a referral program
▪ Each marketing campaign was tracked for effectiveness and revised where necessary
▪ The team determined three key takeaways from our work:
– Social media marketing channels have powerful targeting capabilities
– Network diversity is critical to spread messages, especially for a start-up
– Social proof and relevance are very important to engage the target audience and community
Handbook for Social Influence Marketing
▪ The team recommends the approach to effectively run a social influence marketing campaign
– Define the key metric or metrics that drive economic outcomes for your business
– Create a network systems map to identify factors and loops that influence key metrics
– Design testing campaigns to target high-impact network variables, drivers, and feedbacks
– Test, measure and iterate using embedded analytics to enable rapid learning from testing
campaigns and understand how marketing efforts are influencing the network system
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