Understanding Paid and Earned Reach on Facebook

Facebook and comScore, October 2012

Measurement Researcher, Facebook

Client Service Manager, comScore, Inc.

Brands are investing in connections and content

Social drives results

comScore April 2012: Power of Like 2: How Social Marketing Works

Connections can extend organic audience

comScore May 2011: The Power of Like : How Brands Reach and Influence Fans Through Social Media Marketing

Low Reach High Reach0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

4.77

8.98Median Return on Ad Spend

Recent research suggests that maximizing reach maximizes ROI

Facebook: Making Digital Campaigns Better, B. Smallwood at IAB Mixx October 2012

Right-hand side on homepage

Facebook’s ad platform is built to leverage the power of social messaging at scale

like Red Bull

Can paid media significantly extend reach for even the largest brands on Facebook? Is the audience reached by paid media valuable to these brands?

Approach

Quantify brand reach through measurement of total audience reached by paid and organic media during a week in June 2012

Assess value of paid audience by measuring key buying and shopping metrics of audience exposed to paid media

In a case study of 3 major brands

Can paid media significantly extend reach for even the largest brands on Facebook?

3 top brands reach 5x audience with paid

Major Retailer Samsung Mobile USA Major Financial Services

Organic reach only 4250483 3373758 2294109

Both Paid and Organic reach

10697054 16833446 4455407

Paid reach only 67611540 82039567 33669817

10,000,000

30,000,000

50,000,000

70,000,000

90,000,000

110,000,000

Audience reached by Paid, Organic, and Both

5.2x

4.9x

5.6x

100 top pages extend audience by 5x when using paid in addition to organic publishing

Do not use Paid Use Paid

Organic Reach 2873454 2911875

Paid Reach NaN 15464473

Average Fans 9980621 10018059

1,000,000

3,000,000

5,000,000

7,000,000

9,000,000

11,000,000

13,000,000

15,000,000

17,000,000

Reach Amplification of top Organic Publishers100 brand pages with top June organic reach

matched by fan size 5.3x

Paid media can extend the reach of a single piece of content by more than 100x

1.2x9.6x8.3x2.6x8.1x4.3x1.2x5.8x4.8x4.2x0x143.4x92.2x19.3x19.7x0.6x0.9x4.7x

80,000,000 60,000,000 40,000,000 20,000,000 0 20,000,000

Samsung per-post reach Paid Earned

Is the audience reached by paid media valuable to these brands?

Paid audience similar to earned in age and Facebook use

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55+

Paid 0.140296206850135

0.213817457535945

0.240682229471977

0.1718277465

8808

0.135264309106762

0.0981120504471014

Earned

0.210035362404804

0.247617432261853

0.215050228185062

0.159992954830884

0.107664296839923

0.0596397254774749

2.50%7.50%

12.50%17.50%22.50%27.50%

Samsung Reach Distribution by Age

0-100 101-200 201-400 400+

Paid 0.240734297120346

0.202733440087293

0.257264317500889

0.299267945291472

Unpaid 0.130271696746082

0.176515603699329

0.273993980709771

0.419218718844818

2.50%

12.50%

22.50%

32.50%

42.50%

Samsung Reach Distribution by Pages Fanned

Those exposed to paid Major Retailer ads on FB, were 66% more likely to purchase online at Major Retailer.com and 45% more likely to buy in-store

Compared to the average Internet user, those exposed to paid media index higher on eCommerce spending overall and spent:

• 3X more in the Gift Certificates/Coupons, Flowers/Gifts, & Sports/Fitness categories online than average Internet user

• 2X more in the Baby Supplies, Handhelds/PDA’s & Portable Devices Categories

• Nearly 2X in the Books/Music, Event Tickets, Video Games/Consoles Categories

• 20% more in the Apparel and Food, Beverage and CPG categories

Retailer.com Retailer stores

Paid Audi-ence

0.0137 0.1

Total Internet 0.0082 0.07

index 166 145

1.00%

3.00%

5.00%

7.00%

9.00%

11.00%

Major Retailer buyer reach pene-tration compared to total internet

June 2012

Samsung Exposed Audience – Heavy, Engaged Internet users with a higher propensity to purchase online across brand-relevant categories

Samsung Exposed users are:

• Heavier, highly engaged Internet users overall

• 68% more likely to visit Technology News Sites, 50% more likely to visit Telecommunications sites and 62% more likely to visit Consumer Electronics sites

• Notably high BPI in two Samsung-relevant categories – Mobile Phones (150) and Handhelds, PDA’s & Portable Devices (169)

• Samsung paid exposed users were 173% more likely than the average user to conduct searches that contained the word ‘Samsung’ and did so 39% more frequently than average

SP

ORT & F

ITNES

S

CONSO

LE V

IDEO

GAM

ES

HANDHEL

DS, P

DAS & P

ORTABLE

DEV

ICES

MUSI

C

LA

PTOP

COMPU

TERS

MOBIL

E PH

ONES &

PLA

NS

MOVIE

S & V

IDEO

S0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Samsung Mobile Paid Audience Buying Power Index Compared to Total

Internet

Those exposed to Major Financial Services brand paid ads were more likely to transact with a MFS brand among other cards in wallet compared to the average Internet user

Major Financial Services (MFS) brand Paid Exposed Users:

• 31% more likely to be a MFS brand Card holder than the average Internet user*

• 18% of paid media exposed group made an online purchase during the exposure month compared to 12% of total Internet; 47% more likely to transact with MFS brand than average user

• Transaction and Dollar Share indices were highest among the paid exposed group – they spent 24% on their MFS cards compared to other cards in the wallet than the average Internet user and were 19% more likely to transact with MFS brand among the other cards in the wallet (transaction share)

*cS panelists were determined to be cardholders if they were observed making an online transaction with a MFS and/or checked a MFS banking or credit card statement showing they made a purchase during the month

Dollar Share Index Transaction Share Index

Buyer Reach Index

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Major Financial Services brand Paid Audience

Reach and Purchase Share Index

Competitor 1 Competitor 2Competitor 3 PaypalMajor Financial Services brand

Can paid media significantly extend reach for even the largest brands on Facebook?

Is the audience reached by paid media valuable to these brands?

Across 100 top publishers and in a case study of 3 major brands, paid media amplified reach by 5x over organic audience

comScore analysis found that paid audiences consistently over-index on key shopping and buying metrics relevant to specific case study brands