@argylesocial

Presented November 30, 2011 at Social Fresh Baltimore

@argylesocial

@argylesocial@ericboggs@jthandy

@argylesocial

In God we trust. All others must bring data.

W. Edwards Deming

@argylesocial

In God we trust. All others must bring data.

W. Edwards DemingThere is no “data” confirming that

Deming actually said this.

@argylesocial

“On the web, (this quote) has been widely attributed to Deming and Robert W. Hayden; however Prof. Hayden told us that he can claim no credit for this quote, and ironically we could find no ‘data’ confirming Deming actually said this.”

The Elements of Statistical Learning, 2nd

Edition, PrefaceHastie, Tibshirani,

Friedmand

@argylesocial

“On the web, (this quote) has been widely attributed to Deming and Robert W. Hayden; however Prof. Hayden told us that he can claim no credit for this quote, and ironically we could find no ‘data’ confirming Deming actually said this.”

The Elements of Statistical Learning, 2nd Edition, PrefaceHastie, Tibshirani, Friedmand

Beware rules of thumb.

Data reveals the truth.

@argylesocial

A Delicious Slice of Argyle User Data

• Aggregated and anonymous• December 2010 through May 2011• 381 organizations; all industries, all

sizes

@argylesocial

Definitions

• Post: a single piece of content published via Argyle Social.

• Click: a redirection from an Argyle short URL, published via Argyle Social.

• Conversion: direct or indirect completion of an Argyle Goal as a result of a click on a post published via Argyle Social.

@argylesocial

Insight #1 RSS Automation Works

RSS Manual0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Clicks by Posting Method

Posting Method

Clic

ks

RSS Manual$0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

Revenue by Posting Method

Posting MethodR

ev

en

ue

@argylesocial

Insight #1 RSS Automation Works

RSS Manual0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Clicks by Posting Method

Posting Method

Clic

ks

RSS Manual$0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

Revenue by Posting Method

Posting MethodR

ev

en

ue

RSS automation is just as effective as posting

manually.

@argylesocial

Insight #2 Scheduled Posts Generate Clicks, Not Conversions

<2min 2-30min 30min-3hrs

3-12hrs 12-24hrs

>24hrs $-

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

$400

Timeliness vs. Influenced Revenue

Posting Delay

Infl

uen

ced

Rev

enu

e

Posted Immediately Scheduled for Later0

5

10

15

20

25

Timeliness vs. Traffic

Posting Timeframe

Cli

cks

@argylesocial

Insight #2 Scheduled Posts Generate Clicks, Not Conversions

<2min 2-30min 30min-3hrs

3-12hrs 12-24hrs

>24hrs $-

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

$400

Timeliness vs. Influenced Revenue

Posting Delay

Infl

uen

ced

Rev

enu

e

Posted Immediately Scheduled for Later0

5

10

15

20

25

Timeliness vs. Traffic

Posting Timeframe

Cli

cks Scheduled posts drive traffic.

Timeliness drives conversions.

@argylesocial

Insight #3Hashtag Stuffing Doesn’t Work

52%

21%

26%

How Effective are Posts with Hashtags?

Posts with Hashtags UnderperformNo Significant DifferencePosts with Hashtags Outperform

-70%

-50%

-30%

-10% 10

%30

%50

%70

%90

%11

0%

0

5

10

15

20

25

Relative Performance of Hashtag vs Non-Hash-tag Posts

Performance Increase (Decrease) of Posts with Hashtags

# o

f T

wit

er

Ac

co

un

ts

@argylesocial

Insight #3Hashtag Stuffing Doesn’t Work

52%

21%

26%

How Effective are Posts with Hashtags?

Posts with Hashtags UnderperformNo Significant DifferencePosts with Hashtags Outperform

-70%

-50%

-30%

-10% 10

%30

%50

%70

%90

%11

0%

0

5

10

15

20

25

Relative Performance of Hashtag vs Non-Hash-tag Posts

Performance Increase (Decrease) of Posts with Hashtags

# o

f T

wit

er

Ac

co

un

ts

Don’t target content to hashtags.

Target hashtags to content when relevant.

@argylesocial

Curators

Balanced

Promoters

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Clicks Per Post

Curators

Balanced

Promoters

0.0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0%

Click To Conversion

Curators

Balanced

Promoters

0.0% 50.0% 100.0% 150.0%

Post Conversion Rate

Sample BreakdownPromoters: link to their own site more than 50% of the time.

Balanced: link to their own site between 25% and 50% of the time.Curators: link to their own site less than 25% of the time.

Insight #4A balanced content strategy drives conversions

@argylesocial

Curators

Balanced

Promoters

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Clicks Per Post

Curators

Balanced

Promoters

0.0% 0.5% 1.0% 1.5% 2.0% 2.5% 3.0%

Click To Conversion

Curators

Balanced

Promoters

0.0% 50.0% 100.0% 150.0%

Post Conversion Rate

Sample BreakdownPromoters: link to their own site more than 50% of the time.

Balanced: link to their own site between 25% and 50% of the time.Curators: link to their own site less than 25% of the time.

Over-curating is ineffective.

Over-promoting isn’t as ineffective as you might

think.

Insight #4A balanced content strategy drives conversions

@argylesocial

Saturday Sunday0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

B2C Facebook Engagement by Saturday/Sunday

Posts Engagement

% o

f Bra

nd

Po

sts

En

ga

ge

me

nt R

ate

Va

ria

nce

Significant!

Weekday Weekend0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

B2C Facebook Engagement by Weekday/Weekend

Posts Engagement

% o

f Bra

nd

Po

sts

En

ga

ge

me

nt R

ate

Va

ria

nce

Significant!

Insight #5Timing isn’t an exact science.

@argylesocial

Saturday Sunday0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

B2C Facebook Engagement by Saturday/Sunday

Posts Engagement

% o

f Bra

nd

Po

sts

En

ga

ge

me

nt R

ate

Va

ria

nce

Significant!

Weekday Weekend0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

-50%

-40%

-30%

-20%

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

B2C Facebook Engagement by Weekday/Weekend

Posts Engagement

% o

f Bra

nd

Po

sts

En

ga

ge

me

nt R

ate

Va

ria

nce

Significant!

Insight #5Timing isn’t an exact science.

Timing matters! But it matters in

different ways according to your business.

@argylesocial

Becoming Data-DrivenUse the Scientific Method!

• Start with a hypothesis

“I think that I will get more lift by scheduling my morning posts at 8am instead of 10am.”

• Design and execute experiment“If I tweet similar content at 8am and 10am everyday for 2 weeks, I’ll have enough data to know.”

• Analyze and conclude

“Hmmm! The data tells me that my hypothesis is correct!” (…or not)

@argylesocial

Slides at ar.gy/socialbaltimore

Thank you very much.Eric Boggs@ericboggshttp://argylesocial.com

Do or do not. There is no try.

~Albus Dumbledore