One of the biggest myths of social media is that simply having a Facebook or Twitter presence will bring success. “I love it when brands come to me and say they want 25 million fans. I say that’s fine, but do you want 25 million one-time visitors or 20,000 consumers [who] are actually consuming content with your brand?” asks Ford’s Brian McClary. “A local window company was offering a free pizza for [becoming a Facebook fan]. Who doesn’t like free pizza? So I clicked ‘like,’ got my pizza, and then immediately un-liked them. People think the biggest number wins, but it’s about engagement.”
While many brands still equate success with scale, research is yielding insights that enable brands to understand the true costs and rewards of social media. These findings apply to all social media users, but they have particular relevance for youth marketers because teens and young adults have integrated social media into their lives.
It’s Not About Selling Product
Brands and marketing executives say the main benefit of using social media is to engage with customers (85%), to have direct interactions with customers (65%), to get feedback rapidly (60%), and to learn about customer preferences (59%), according to eMarketer and Focus. “It’s not about direct selling,” says McClary. “It’s about awareness and relationship-building. I would love if [a visitor to a Ford event] goes right out to buy a Focus, but I am just as happy [that this visitor] saw the inside of our car and thought it was cool.”
Ford is developing its social media presence to specifically capture the attention of teens and young adults, he says. The key in building these relationships — and the core of Ford’s social media philosophy — is to always give something back. “We are rewarding their interest.” This means if a virtual-world user downloads a virtual Ford Focus, he or she also receives a free virtual Ford t-shirt. Facebook fans receive custom badges or are the first to learn about new products. “We revealed the new Explorer model to our Facebook fans before anyone else,” says McClary.
Social media campaigns are not inexpensive. It may be free to open Twitter or Facebook accounts, but Focus and Bonsai Interactive report the average year-long social media campaign costs $210,600. This figure includes:
• Staff costs: It’s critical to have a regular and constant voice to answer customer inquiries and to maintain a “spam-free” zone. Ford, for instance, monitors nearly everything that mentions its name and models, from mainstream websites to individual blogs. Ford tries to respond to every comment within six hours. “Granted, it’s pretty much a canned response — ‘hey, sorry, give us a call’ — but the important thing is to recognize and provide some feedback,” says McClary.
• Advertising support: Examples include targeted ads on Facebook, adding follow buttons on a company’s website, and email advertisements. The adage “If you build it, they will come” is not true of brand presence on social media.
• External fees: If a brand outsources its social media efforts, then it needs to factor in these expenses.
• Support tools: The basic elements of social media may be free, but in-depth tools such as tracking require additional investments. Moreover, if a campaign is successful, it’s important that the brand follow up and expand the effort.
Even though social media may cost more than brands originally anticipate, many feel it’s a justifiable expenditure; research finds consumers reached via social media spend more than their offline counterparts.
Twitter, for instance, provides a solid return on investment if the brand or company has at least 33,000 followers. The average monthly value of a Twitter follower is $2.38, while the monthly cost to keep them is $1.67, according to Focus.
The average annualized value of an individual Facebook fan is $136.38, and these fans spend, on average, $71.84 more per year than non-Facebook fans, reports Syncapse. McDonald’s, for instance, finds its fans spend $159.79 more per year than non-fans.
What’s A Facebook Fan Worth?
The “value” of a Facebook fan is assessed in three primary ways, according to comScore:
• Increasing the depth of engagement and loyalty;
• Generating incremental purchase behavior;
• Leveraging the influence of friends of fans.
One primary way Facebook users demonstrate their affinity for brands is by “liking” or “becoming a fan” of a brand. In exchange, they often receive deals and promotions.
Facebook fans are like trees with numerous branches. For every fan, there are an additional 34 friends of fans who also can be reached, says comScore.
Most Facebook users engage with companies via their newsfeed. For instance, Starbucks delivered 156 brand impressions — such as the newsfeed link — for every page view on its fan page. One of the more pressing challenges for brands is making sure users actually see the posted messages. Only 16% of fans see branded content that is posted five out of seven days. As a comparison, 12% of friend status updates posted via the newsfeed are viewed by them.
In order to increase the likelihood that Facebook users will see a brand posting, analysts recommend posting frequently and regularly. More importantly, these messages must be relevant and interesting. Humor is also effective.
Online Vs. Offline. It’s important to note that Facebook fans are often completely different than those who patronize a company offline, according to comScore. For instance, 31% of Starbucks fans are ages 18-24, yet only 20% of those who visited a Starbucks within the past month were ages 18-24. Similarly, 14% of in-store visitors were over age 54, though only 7% of these individuals are fans of the brand. This means the next challenge for brands after developing a social media presence is to find ways to bring online consumers to the offline world, and vice versa.
Contacts and Connections: Bonsai Interactive, Troy Claus, Founder, 480 Guelph Line, #7, Burlington, ON Canada L7R 3M1; 289-337-9944; info@bonsaiinteractive.com; www.bonsaiinteractive.com.
comScore Data Gems, comScore, Magid Abraham, CEO/Cofounder, 11950 Democracy Dr., #600, Reston, VA; 703-438-2000; www.comscoredatamine.com; www.comscore.com.
Compete Pulse, Compete Inc., Cynthia Stevens, Director of Marketing, 4 Copley Pl., #700, Boston, MA 02116; 617-933-5600, x5651; cstevens@compete.com; www.competeinc.com.
Ford Motor Company, Brian McClary, Social and Emerging Media, Regent Court Building, Room 4N 328, 16800 Executive Plaza Dr., Dearborn, MI 48126; 313-248-7029; bmcclary@ford.com; www.ford.com.
Syncapse, Meg Sinclair, Marketing Communications, 20 Duncan St., #301, Toronto, ON Canada M5H 3G8; 416-847-0392; m.sinclair@syncapse.com; www.syncapse.com.
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