Engagement Rate 2010

THE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN BRANDS AND PEOPLE ON FACEBOOK: 2010 TRENDS AND ANALYSIS

ENGAGEMENT RATE 2010

What is this?Fact: Facebook, in one way or another, is a growing part of marketing and advertising. It is a growing part of our work.

We do not release many research papers during the year, usually one or two. In the spite of this, we always try to seize an opportunity to understand what links a user to a brand in facebook.

With this research, we are sharing our insights. We are doing it with a metric that we have developed. This paper is geered towards the digital and marketing masses, incorporating both agencies and clients.

We hope you will find it useful.

Thank you,

Gianluca Arnesano, [email protected] Rasia, Strategy [email protected]

About this paperIn 2009, with global brands moving their eyes onto Facebook (and vice versa) we felt the need to measure what we were seeing between brands and consumers.

We developed a metric called Engagement Rate http://slidesha.re/7vsd0F, essentially it is the rate between interactions* and fans** of a brand page.

For page administrator, the metric can somewhat be close to the Post Feedback** but, because the numbers on their own have little meaning, the advantage of the E.R. relies on comparing different pages, different brands and different industries.

By doing so, we could better understand how brands can adapt to their content to create a better connection with people.

* Interactions: like and comments on a news item posted by a brand.** Fans are now people who “like”.*** Post Feedback can now be found on your page insights.

http://www.slideshare.net/frozenfrogs/facebook-engagement-rate

http://www.slideshare.net/frozenfrogs/facebook-engagement-rate

http://slidesha.re/7vsd0F




Why engagement is now more important than everWith facebook attaining over 500 million users* and closing in on Google in terms of pageviews**, we espect that people will consume content more and more often via the news feed**.

If before it was just a matter of getting fans (or becoming liked), now it is a matter of making your content relevant enough to be streamed in usersʼ news feed.

* http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=409753352130** http://siteanalytics.compete.com/facebook.com+google.com/*** News feed = your stream of news in facebook.com

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=409753352130


http://siteanalytics.compete.com/facebook.com+google.com/






The organic stories on facebook

On facebook, each interaction is part of a story. When someone likes or comment a status update, he/she creates an organic story. When your Facebook contacts interacts with a brand, there are chances that the story will be considered of your interest and, consequently, feeded in your Top News section gaining in earned media exposure.

New content

User Feedback

(Engagement)

Organic stories

Self-service ads and engagement ads

OWNED MEDIA

EARNED MEDIA

PAID MEDIA

AW

AR

EN

ES

S

When there is feedback on the news item, a new organic story begins and it will be fed to different contacts, gaining in earned media

A news item (status update, video, image, etc…) is posted on the page owned by the brand.

Additionally, paid media (ads) can raise awareness and eventually create organic stories.

It isn’t SEO, but the first page matters.Organising content compelling enough for creating organic stories is not just a matter of awareness.

The news feed is a place where owned and earned media mix together, creating a page where people get information both from a brand and from a trusted circle of contacts.

To understand the importance of the news feed, we just need to think how Facebook is studying and trying different and integrated paid media solution (to name one: Engagement Ads) to facilitate the creation of new organic stories.*

* Differences between Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=19724

Data and methodology• 50 global brands examined for the

entire 2010

• more than 12,000 status update written in brand pages

• more than 10,000,000 interactions to brands as likes and comments

• Engagement Rate calculated on a monthly average interactions.

• Brands are not divided by typical industry definition, but by their relation with consumers.

• Brands covered in details in the next slide are not intended as “winners” but as pratical ways to explain concepts.

Brands to

drinkf

Brand to Drink

Engagement Rate has always been about how brands relate with their audience. For the “Brands to drink” we looked at Corona and their “The Big Like-back” activity.

We actually really like it. Why? It is similar to a contest, but prizes are unlocked by the cumulative effort of all the people that like Corona. Cutting the contest in different unlockable rewards is a way to scale the competition, so that is not a short burst.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE: Contests are a great way to create engagement in the short term but the planning should consider that we are talking about social spaces. So scale it in a way that you have something to tell and find the right rewards or you will just get prize-hunters.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: This is a way to gather likes to your page. These stories are short and there is little room of development (no comments, for instance), but other contacts could like the page too after seeing it on the News Feed.

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Engagement Rate calculated on the monthly average of interactions.

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Brands to

eatf

Brand to Eat

Why Campbellʼs for brands to eat? When looking at KFC, McDonalds or PizzaHut, our eyes went straight to Campbells page for their moderation efforts. The team working on the page is very responsive to their users.

We would also like to note that we are talking about soups and not tablets (nor smartphones, nor designer items). It is interesting to see that engagement can be created regardless of the coolness of the brand/product.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE: Everyone talks about big fashionable brands, but engagement can be created for other different brands after discovering the right content.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: Moderating and participating to the conversation is the best way to grow existing organic stories, with better chances of more exposure in the news feed.

It is also good social media discipline.

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Brands to

drivef

Brand to Drive

Automotive is the industry that pushes every time, the limits in advertising, marketing and communication. And even on social media they are nothing less.

Audi gives us the occasion to think about brands operating in different countries.Why Audiʼs main page the USA one? Should it not been more generic? Or european? Maybe US is the main market? In Europe we understand that 140mph are not 140km/h, but they sound like 140km/h!

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE: Different languages can be show to the right users with filters and with specialised tools such as Buddy Media. However, complex organisation should opt for local pages and produce relevant content with tabs, text, applications, videos, etc. This should help keep things smooth if you find yourself dealing too much with the international department :)

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: The more relevant your content is, the easier is to get engagement and, consequently, create organic stories that will be fed to the people contacts trough the news feed. Also, the content that is relevant for a European could not be relevant for an American.

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Brands to

workf

Brand to WorkOr, the page says: “So, what DOES Xerox do?”

Xerox is such an interesting case for the naming. Although we are talking of another top global brand, not everyone might have a clear idea of what exactly they do. Actually, the first question that pop into in my mind is “What does Xerox do in Facebook?”

The team behind social/digital managed to be creative showing some bravery (or maybe they do not know that the page name cannot be changed) by using their official page to answer that question.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE: There is absolutely no need to stick to the style manual. If there is opportunity to better tell your story, be creative on the titles, on the images and on the content that you provide.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: Doing a social media check-up or brand audit can unveil questions wherein people need answers. A monitor tool solution such as Radian6 can help spot these questions. Besides, answers are often relevant content that can make it to the Top News.

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Brands to

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Brand to Wear

Zara, compared to other major brand pages, has a moderate frequency of updates.

While, at first, this might look like a lack of maintenance, it is one of their strongest points. Zara engage its audience with the only thing that really matters to them: clothes. And stores too.

How they do it? Posting the right material. Just check how they announced their new store in Rome.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE AND HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: We hardly believe that “the more I write, the better”.

Frequency is not the key for creating organic stories and good content can be picked up later by users. We could see soon* stories pushed on the top of a brand page for their relevance, making walls less chronologically based.

* http://www.insidefacebook.com/2011/01/20/top-posts-filter-surfaces-the-best-user-content-on-facebook-page-walls/0

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Brands to

dreamf

Brands to Dream: All

We liked them all. Seriously.

But what is a brand to dream? Is that brand that falls into the category of “irrational buying reasons”, also known as luxury. Is also the engagement irrational? No.

In one of our previous reports, when social profiles of luxury brands were created by fans and yet not run by the brand, we noticed how this affected the brand - it was somewhat aspirational. There is a need to feel close, to be part of that world, to see your own profile picture just underneath the brand logo.

However, liking something on a page is just one clike away and to mantain awareness in Facebook just being there is not enough. It has never been enough, actually.That is why all those brands are creating ever more compelling stories that can be liked, shared and commented upn Facebook. For LV itʼs Bono, for Burberry their acoustic shows. The substance: there is always something to narrate.

Plus... while not everyone can afford Louis Vuitton, at least the engagement is free.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE AND HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: Working with visual media is another way to engage with the audience. Highly creative work can also be a viral inside the social network. And this turns to be true especially for those brands that need to send an emotion.

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Brands to

Communicatef

Brands to Communicate

Brands like Nokia and Blackberry show us how a brand page can act like the main news feed for the company. After all, arenʼt corporate websites becoming irrelevant?*

Every brand has different new products each year, but this does not necesseraly mean that you should create a different product page. Instead, you should get creative with tabs, apps, profile pictures and keep working with the already established audience.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE: Sometimes accounts, sometime clients, ask for a dedicated campaign (ok!), a dedicated minisite (ok!) and dedicated social profile (not so ok!). People that clicked like cannot be moved from a page to another so, opening a page for a product lunch that will be abandoned after the end of the campaign, it is most likely a waste of resources.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: Starting a page from scratch means starting from zero. And with zero audience, the chance of creating organic stories will be narrowed to nil.

* 2007, but still very relevant http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/05/29/web-strategy-how-to-evolve-your-irrelevant-corporate-website/

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http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/05/29/web-strategy-how-to-evolve-your-irrelevant-corporate-website/




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Brands for use

everydayf

Brands for use Everyday

Is a brand worth sharing?

Sharing is a quality, but also a requirement, when working on social media. A brand should be indeed remarkable, but should also be shareable.

Remarkable and shareable are very close: if I expect my brands to be shared, it needs to be remarkable to be able to ignite such an action. But shareble has something more: it facilitates the circulation, it is something that sparks the act of passing the word.

Often it is just a matter of technical consideration. When you work of YouTube for instance, let the content to be embeddable, provide shorter url, etc...

WHAT CAN WE LEARN HERE: It might be an obvious concept, or just a simple concept, but when developing graphic assets, content and other material, there should be room for making it shareable.

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO THE ORGANIC STORIES: Sharing is at the base of social media. Even a simple Like on a status update is something that is shared, with the brand and with the contacts. When working on your content, think what can be valuable to share for your audience and remove any eventual gaps that can prevent your content to be shared.

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So how do we create organic stories?We just have a single and simple tip for creating organic stories: find a story, scale it, tell it.

Perhaps it is too obvious, or just simple, but that is the best way, in our opinion to get to the consumer.

Finding your story means find what is relevant to the people and, consequently, which content has more chances of engaging your fans and to result in the main stream news.

Benchmarking similar industries/brand give an idea on how to start this.

Of course, after finding your content, you should be at least a bit creative, scaling it, using pictures and videos, acting in the social scene, mixing short and long term tactics.

Some tips for page managers

1. Have your content planned. The most stupid thing to do is looking for content on the same day that should be posted.

2. Stories should be scaled. That means: find your topic and turn it in different pieces to be released progressively (look at Nikeʼs Write the Future for one example).

3. A social media monitoring solution can help the creation of relevant material by spotting trends and useful insights.

4. Keep under your radar some key people. They could help co-create content, (a lot more useful than begging them for visibility in their blog!)

5. We told you last time, but is worth remembering it. Be creative and make visual materials part of the content.

6. Facebook Apps should be contextualized with your content planning.

7. Still no ideas for your page? Look at how relevant brands to your work do it right (or wrong).

Who we areFrozenFrogs is a digital agency based in Rome.

Our work starts from understanding how we can connect brands and users in social spaces. Creating conversations is just the beginning of our work, a work that integrates with all the aspects of the digital life of a client.

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Engagement Rate 2010