insider retail paper3 social media

8/2/2019 Insider Retail Paper3 Social Media

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The Impactand Influence

of Social Media:Why retail brands

need to becomebetter at generatingconversations

July 2011

the quarterly white paper


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THE INSIDER - INTRODUCTION

THE INSIDER WHITE PAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BYMEDIACOM JULY 2011 2

The Insider is MediaComs eternal communications programme

designed to address the issues that matter for marketers. It iscomprised of several elements including a newsletter, Blink amagaine that covers trends and influences a webcast housedat www.mediacom.com, and a follow-up white paper.

This quarter, our focus turned to social media and the impactand influence that it has had on marketing strategies. In ourintroductory newsletter, MediaComs insight leaders eplainedhow social can provide value for advertisers and demystified theopportunities that it presents.

Epanding on these themes in The Insider webcast, CarolynEverson, Vice President, Global Marketing Solutions atFacebook, joined us to discuss her companys continuing growthand development and eplain how they can help advertisers.

Carolyn was joined by Sara Devine, Manager of DigitalIntegration Marketing for Volkswagen Group of America, whoeplained how her company has already enjoyed social mediasuccess.

Offering a media agency perspective, Sloan Broderick, Directorof Innovation, MediaCom Interaction USA, was on hand to shareadvice and eplain how the correct social media strategy canprovide ROI. The session was moderated by leading businessstrategist and Chairman and CEO of MediaLink LLC, MichaelKassan.

Summing up the main points from the whole quarters activity,this white paper delves deeper into the issues raised and offersnew insights from MediaComs panel of eperts. n


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SUMMARY

Social media is not something you can ignore. Its there

whether you like it or not. And the conversation is happeningwhether or not your brand participates.

Less than 10 years ago, social networking sites were in theirabsolute infancy but have now grown to dominate and dictatehow we communicate with friends, family and brands. Withmore than 750 million active users around the globe, sitessuch as Facebook have enabled advertisers to interact withconsumers as never before.

And while the reach of these sites is undoubtedly impressive,their real impact goes far beyond mere numbers. Whatsmore important for brands is the way in which Facebook andTwitter et al. have influenced and altered consumerbehaviour.

Purchase decisions in store and even the way we do ourshopping have all evolved dramatically. Nowadays, noestablished retailer is without a clicks and mortar strategy.

Thriving in a social media world is the net big challenge for

the sector. Studies show that social commerce - the volumeof goods sold through social media - could be worth as muchas $30 billion globally by 2015 with $14 billion spent in theUS and $16 billion in the rest of the world.

In a world where we are always online, social networking hassucceeded in connecting people on a global level, providingplatforms for global conversations and discussions.

For retail marketers, this provides an incredible opportunity tospeak to brand advocates directly and encourage them topass on their messages. With millions of users, a platformsuch as Facebook can help fuel word-of-mouth marketing onthe grandest of scales.

Research shows that consumers are already conditioned toepect discounts and offers from social media. A survey byIBM found that 61% of consumers become brand fans fordiscounts and 55% to make purchases.

3THE INSIDER WHITE PAPER BROUGHT TO YOU BYMEDIACOM JULY 2011


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SUMMARY (CONTINUED)

Moreover, as these social media platforms continue to

develop, they look set to become even more prominent.Consider the repercussions of Facebooks recent deal withSkype, for instance. By allowing users to make video callsdirect from their contacts list, the platform hopes to becomean ever-more important part of the way we communicate andmanage our lives.

So, what should you as advertisers be doing online?Ultimately, there is no simple solution to social mediasuccess: brands need to identify and assess the wants and

needs of their individual consumers before they candetermine how best to reach them. Identifying ROI in this fieldcan also be tricky, but value is essentially determined byconsumer engagement; if consumers are constantly talkingabout your brand, then your strategy is working.

What brands need to realise is that consumers are nowconditioned to epect two-way conversations and interactions increasingly across all forms of media. Thus, social mediaand social marketing activities shouldnt be isolated, butrather integrated into broader marketing strategies. Brands

need to get better at generating conversations; everythingneeds to be social.

For the uninitiated, you should start by measuring the impactof social media on your brand to work out the role it shouldplay in your communications. Then, after developing a clearsocial strategy, you need to decide where your conversationwill be focussed. Which platform or platforms will you use tointeract with your audience? With these decisions made, youcan start tailoring each individual campaign and reallocatingyour budget accordingly in order to ensure impact.

In short, brands that embrace social media have a muchbetter chance of succeeding than those that dont. In theoffline world, antisocial behaviour can often have a negativeimpact on reputation and popularity and this effect is onlyamplified in a social media world where the conversationnever stops. n


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WHY SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERS

Social media is now part of the fabric of modern life. The

statistics bear out its incredible impact in the last few years.

Facebook has more than 750 million users globally. In somemarkets, such as the UK, nearly half the population has signed up.In fact, Europeans spend more time on Facebook than any othersite and 60% of Facebook users also follow a brand in socialmedia.

Other social media platforms are epanding just as fast. Twitternow carries 1 billion tweets a week and the recent womensfootball World Cup final broke the record for traffic on the platformwith more than 7,000 tweets per second. Mobile use of theplatform has increased 62% since April 2011.

Elsewhere, its early days but Google+ promises to be anotherplatform to watch in this area. If it can build scale then it will offer apowerful challenge to the established players.

These platforms also reach out into the wider web. Facebooks

Connect platform, which allows companies to use Facebook

passwords for their own sites, attracts 10,000 new third-party

sites per day. n

Facebook has morethan 750 million usersglobally. In somemarkets, such as theUK, nearly half thepopulation has signedup.



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WHY SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERS (CONTINUED)

Fans spend more

The bottom line for retail brands is that fans spend more on theproducts and brands they befriend. The amount will vary accordingto the brand and the sector but on average research finds theyspend an additional $71.84.

Additionally consumers who are fans of a brand on Facebook alsouse a product more frequently they inde 28% higher on thismeasure and are also more likely to recommend a product totheir friends (41%).

The power of this word-of-mouth marketing at scale also

extends to trial by their friends. Thirty-six percent of

consumers are more likely to test a product if one of their

Facebook friends is a fan of the brand. n

The bottom line forretail brands is thatfans spend more on theproduct and brandsthey befriend.



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Why retail brands need to be active in this space

The most successful retailers will be those that listen most intentlyto their customers, deliver a seamless multi-channel shoppingeperience, build a sense of community and engage their staff.

Social media lets brands do all of these things. Engaging in adialogue, or even just watching trends gives retailers constant andinstant customer research. At the etreme, retail brands can evenbring customers into the purchase process by crowdsourcingadvice to buyers.

Social media also provides the opportunity for brands to deal headon with customer issues or grievances. Handled well, social medialets retailers turn unhappy customers into brand advocates.

Social media can also act as the new "school gate" whereby brandsencourage sharing of great special offers, potentially incentivisingword-of-mouth via loyalty points.

An additional challenge for brands in this space will also be to dealwith the risks of social media. Some superpower retail brands mayfind their well-meaning social efforts hijacked by protest groups,

competitors or disgruntled e-staff.

However, such occurrences can usually be easily managed

except where they reflect an underlying reputational

challenge. n

The most successfulretailers will be thosethat listen most intentlyto their customers.



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The mobile future

The future of social media will be mobile. Real-time connectivityand updates work best via the device that we always carry with us:our mobiles.

In developing markets, mobile internet is growing ever faster. Thethousands of islands that make up the Philippines and Indonesia,for eample, make fied infrastructure a challenge. Mobile phones,by contrast, dont face such issues and are becoming the primarydevice for social access.

Advances in mobile technology have paved the way for an increasein social media usage. Two years ago, if you looked at mobilebrowsing youd have found the vast majority of usage was quickcontent snacking; people simply trying to kill time. Mobile operatorportals were the first port of call and teting was the best way tocatch up with your friends.

Now that many consumers have smartphones, they are spendingfar more time on their devices and in turn on Facebook andTwitter.

In fact, on average, more time is spent with Facebook on

mobile than via desktop in markets such as the UK. Of the 250

million users signed up to Facebooks mobile platform, an

average of 50% check in every day and in some markets this

rises to 80%. The site is second only to Google as the most

popular destination on the mobile web. n

Mobile phones arebecoming the primarydevice for social access.

More time is spent withFacebook on mobile thanvia desktop in marketssuch as the UK.



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Real-time commerce

Consumers are starting to get their first eperience of real-timecommerce. Usage of check-in/location based services such asFacebook Places and Foursquare allows them to receive and acton offers based either on their location or their friends purchasehabits.

Real-time commerce offers marketers a new way to manage thepath to purchase. They can seed offers and also harness word-of-mouth via rewarded endorsements. Some brands are already usingnetworks such as Facebook Deals to drive purchases. The nearesttraditional retail equivalent is the limited stock or sales event.

A simple eample is the new iPhone application launched by MyVoucher Codes. This allows people to find shopping deals based ontheir location.

In markets such as France where sales are legally limited to settimes of the year, real-time deals could be a particularly effectiveway for brands to offer year-round discounts.

Few consumers will be able to resist checking-in at stores in returnfor instant benefits or to find out what their friends and others havebought there.

Perhaps the most extreme iteration of real-time commerce is

Blippy, a social network that allows people to share their

credit card purchase information, allowing users to locate

each other via their credit card transactions. The idea being

that a user having a coffee and paying using their credit card

would let all their friends know where they were. n

Real-time commerceoffers marketers a newway to manage thepath to purchase.



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Our numbers are large and growing and that is animportant metric in terms of how we measurepenetration in markets but its really about a totalchange in consumer behaviour. Thats really at themacro level what is happening. For the first time wehave a technology platform that allows us tocommunicate and have a conversation as brandmarketers with consumers in a way that weve alwaysdreamed of and wanted to for decades. We call itWord-of-Mouth marketing at scale.

CAROLYN EVERSONVP OF GLOBAL MARKETING SOLUTIONS, FACEBOOK

Increasing internet penetration and highly activesocial media users means that social media nowrepresents a viable and effective alternative to

increasingly epensive TV in many Asian countries.These are markets with etremely young populationprofiles, consumers who have grown up with digitaland are completely immersed in it.

SEAN SEAMERHEAD OF INTERACTION, MEDIACOM APAC



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Social Media enables retail brands to connect withcustomers on a regional level at a low cost. Apresence on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter andFoursquare offers the perfect CRM tool to get incontact with the customers and push traffic andsales to the stores.

ASTRID PAGENKMPERMANAGING PARTNER, MEDIACOM RETAIL GERMANYMobile is amplifying consumer usage of socialmedia, due to the quick access to content it offers.Our target audiences can engage with friends and

brands far more often and more easily thanpreviously possible on the desktop web. The highusage of Facebook mobile demonstrates thisphenomenon, with more time spent on Facebook viamobile, than via the traditional web.

GEORGE DIxONMANAGER, MOBILE AND DIGITAL MEDIA, MEDIACOM UK



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GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS INSOCIAL MEDIA

1. Think it through

While some companies have become very adept at using socialmedia, others are just starting their journey.

Some are still working out what to do with their page, while othersare at the much more advanced stage, calculating how socialmedia impacts on the brand and how it best works alongside TVspend.

The traditional evolution of a brands Facebook life can besummarised as follows: set up a page, acquire as many fans aspossible and then start to engage.

However, Facebook argues that the companies that get most out ofsocial media are the ones that really think through their integrationwith the platform, not just in terms of marketing but across theirwhole business.

The winners have been the ones that have asked themselves: whatdoes it mean to be a social company? What does it mean forcustomer service, for sales and for product development? Its not

just putting a like button on your page.

Work through all these issues and they can be very complex and

advertising messages on the platform will be more effective because

every communication will be more relevant. n

2. Define success

Social media enables brands to communicate via both paid andearned media and each of these platforms will generate its ownmetrics.

For paid media, its possible to track awareness, engagement and

activity deals. Brands can work with their media agencies to learnwhen and how they should place media in and around socialcommentary.

On the earned front, the two also work together to track and predicthow this conversation impacts on their TV activity and whether TVdrives more conversation.

Having determined how social media can help their organi-

sation, brands can also tap into their agencys resources to

define what success means for them and establish the metricsthat will enable them to know how much progress they are

making. n

Companies that get themost out of socialmedia are the onesthat really think throughtheir integration withthe platform, not just interms of marketing but

across their wholebusiness.

Brands can work withtheir media agencies tolearn when and howthey should placemedia in and aroundsocial commentary.



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GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS INSOCIAL MEDIA (CONTINUED)

3. Create messages that spread

Brand marketers have always wanted to have a one-to-one conver-sation with consumers. Social media is effectively best thought ofas word-of-mouth marketing at scale.

Retail food brand Subway has used social media to drive sales ofits Platter offering to businesses in London. In order to drive off-peak sales of sandwiches to companies holding lunchtimemeetings, the brand targeted front of house staff at small andmedium-sied businesses. It targeted PAs, office managers andsecretaries via email alerts, bulletins and search, ensuring everymessage provided links that could be shared via the targets officenetworks.

The strategy helped drive impressive sales gains in London andhas since been rolled out nationally.

Upmarket Israeli retailer Tiv Taam used social media to spread theword about its Italian food promotion. It targeted potentialcustomers in Rome the biggest destination in Italy for Israelitourists via conventional advertising and incentivised them tospread the message to their friends and family back home via

Facebook and other social networks.

Anyone who came into the stores with a picture of the ads in Italywas given a free bottle of Italian wine, helping to drive Tiv Taamsmost successful promotion ever. n

Social media iseffectively best thoughtof as word-of-mouthmarketing at scale.



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4. Learn from other brands

There are some great eamples of brands that have drivenincredible success in social media and brands of all sies can learnfrom these eamples.

Nikon recently became the most social photography brand usingFacebook and Flickr to create engagement with photographers ofall standards.

By using competitions to build up amateur fans on Facebook andsemi-pro fans on Flickr, the company attracted 76,000 fans onFacebook and 8,500 members on Flickr.

The engagement helped boost Nikons share of the compactcamera market in si key European markets.

Another business that has been brilliant at taking advantage ofsocial media is Chinese food producer COFCO. It created acampaign around the companys Total Production Chain toreassure consumers at a time of great concern about food safety.

Working with MSN, the company challenged consumers to managethe five key stages of bringing a product to market: planting, caring,harvesting, processing and logistics. Each player had to recruit fourfriends to help them with their task and the viral nature of thechallenge attracted 24.5 million unique users, boosting food safetyperceptions. n

Nikons socialphotography campaignboosted the companysshare in si key Europeanmarkets.


GOLDEN RULES FOR SUCCESS INSOCIAL MEDIA (CONTINUED)


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With the brand new Beetle we launched a worldwide promoted trend onTwitter and it was an awesome opportunity for us to be able to get out and talkto people one-on-one and not just rely on the press. While there was a concen-trated cross-channel effort to promote this, one thing that we were able tomeasure and [judge as successful] was our promoted trend on Twitter becausewe were able to speak to people [directly] and say we have a brand new car.

SARA DEVINEMANAGER, DIGITAL INTEGRATION MARKETINGVOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA

The most successful retailers will be those listening most intently to theircustomers, delivering a seamless multi-channel shopping eperience, building asense of community and engaging their staff. Social media offers the greatest

opportunity to deliver on all these goals. DANNY DONOVANMANAGING DIRECTOR OF RETAIL, MEDIACOM UK



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WORKING OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO

Look across your whole organisation

Social media is earning an increasing share of the global consumersmedia time. Be it Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or any of the otherplatforms popular around the world, consumers are spending moretime in these spaces.

Brands need to be here. But before they start updating their status,tweeting or posting videos, they also need to work out just what theyhope to gain.

Ultimately theres no point in being on Facebook unless you areusing it in the way that it was intended: to facilitate a one-to-oneconversation with people who like your brand.

Social media can be an information channel, a sales channel, acustomer service channel and a two-way channel. Brands need to beclear about which combination they want to deliver.

Facebooks recent deal with Skype to allow video calling createseven more new possibilities:

Customer service Most serious brands have some kind of

presence on Facebook, just as they do on Twitter. Often this can actas a lightning rod for any consumer frustrations, with negativecomments threatening to take over their wall.

Using video calling will enable brands to address any customer thatis having difficulty with their product or service, find out what iswrong and resolve the issue, quickly and efficiently.

Product set up rather than having to send out a technician toinstall a new TV or set up a mobile, a customer service assistantmight also be able do so via video. Such one-to-one service might be

offered by technology retailers as a more cost-effective alternative tosending staff door to door.

Product demonstration brands can make video-calling part of theirlaunch strategies as well. Rather than simply place a film on

YouTube, video calling will allow consumers to log on to aconference call where a technology brand might, for eample, runthrough the features of its latest product, answer questions andbuild ecitement within its fan base. n

Theres no point inbeing on Facebookunless you are using itin the way that it wasintended: to facilitate aone-to-one conversationwith people who like

your brand.



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Additional benefits

Social media can deliver improved internal processes, enhancingcollaboration with and incorporation of partners into the businessprocess. Companies such as Dell are using social media as aplatform to enhance knowledge sharing across their companies.

Social media can also be used to deliver involvement anticipation.Getting consumers who are loyal to and appreciate a brandsproducts and services to act as a creative community willencourage them to go out and buy the product. Pia Hut hasleveraged crowdsourcing by allowing consumers to vote on newproducts such as the chains net stuffed crust recipe.

If real-time commerce is to be part of the retail business modelthen brands need to test these platforms early. Brands need toeperiment and benefit from first-mover advantage withoutbecoming too tied to any single application.

Smart marketers will be including these channels as part of theireperimental digital media spend in 2011 and 2012. Agility willbe key to successful trials of the space, as companies look to findnew ways not just to drive traffic to their websites but also footfall

into their stores.

Its early days and the precise degree to which brands will be ableto drive behaviour via these channels has yet to be determined.

If these real-time platforms can show real improvements in

sales then their influence over retailers will be massive. Early

involvement could be very lucrative: experimentation will allow

companies to learn and exploit opportunities and they may

also be able to sign long-term preferred advertiser deals for

what could become a major area of marketing/promotional

spending down the line. n

Social media can beused to deliverinvolvement antici-pation.


WORKING OUT WHAT YOU CAN DO (CONTINUED)


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Developing a social media strategy

Brands should work both internally and with their agencies todevelop their social media strategy.

Internally, they will need to deal with the prospect of discovery. Thismay mean liaising with legal departments, PR and crisismanagement.

It can include working out how the Facebook page will be managedand who will manage it: should it be with the PR team most of thetime but handed over to product specialists whenever theres alaunch for eample?

Internally, they will need to determine how big a job social media iswithin their company and whether its one or more dedicated jobsor a bit of lots of peoples roles.

Eternally, agencies provide an essential navigational role, helpingbrands distribute and optimise content and conversation. Agenciescan use their eperience of working across a wide client base tohelp determine how new products should come to market or a newmessage should be distributed.

They can assign relevant values to each platform which will bevery different for a customer service brand compared to anentertainment brand or a car manufacturer.

Agencies can also act as a conduit for advice on the best way

to benefit from different media platforms. They can feed back

learnings from schemes such as Facebook Studio a

brainstorming session for ad agencies and Studio.com a

library of the best work on Facebook as well as telling

Facebook via its client council what brands need from the

platform. n

Eternally, agenciesprovide an essentialnavigational role,helping brandsdistribute and optimisecontent and conver-sation.




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Understand how it works with traditional media

Eperience shows that there is a hierarchy of media. The speedwith which events or brand messages appear on differentplatforms varies. Twitter and Facebook work fast but blogs andforums take longer to catch up. TV and print take even longer.

Social media can, however, play a key role in deliveringengagement for more traditional messages. Ikea in Austria wantedto stop Florian, the biseual star of its latest TV ad, from polarisingconsumers.

The brand seeded the TV commercial online and created aFacebook Fan page that brought Florian to life, enabling thecharacter to interact directly with his fans while also talking aboutIkea kitchens and running cooking related competitions. Thestrategy delivered impressive reach within Ikeas target audience.

Similarly KFC in the Philippines used social media to boost news ofthe fast food retailers new Chewy Cheese product, which was dueto launch on TV. By creating a Facebook Fan page, the brandengaged teens with the stretchy nature of Chewy Cheese by invitingthem to upload pictures of themselves showing their Chewy

Cheese smiles.

The page, which was seeded to bloggers, also featuredcompetitions to win free food and allowed fans to vote for theirfavourite photos. This helped boost search rankings for KFC andattracted thousands of fans to the brand.

Brands that invest in key events and traditional channels arecommitting large sums of money; a Super Bowl ad costs around$3.5 million per 30-second slot.

Using social media can deliver greater value from this

traditional spend and also ensure that consumers watch

owned content more closely. n

Brands that invest inkey events andtraditional channels are committing largesums of money; aSuper Bowl ad costsaround $3.5 million per

30-second slot.



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Keep an eye on future developments

The launch of the new Google+ platform shows how quickly thesocial media space can change. In just three weeks it attracted anestimated 19 million global users thanks to heavy publicity and ahost of innovative features.

New elements include: Sparks, which lets you specify the contentyou like, such as cars, and create a bespoke news feed; Hangouts,which enables group video chat; and Circles, a feature that lets youdefine different groups of friends who are generating comments.

By combining the social power of the connection with the dataprovided by Gmail registration, Adword targeting and knowledge ofsearch keywords, brands using this platform will be able to find outmore about their customers than ever before.

Imagine a consumer searching for products and retailers on GoogleMaps and getting results that show them recommendations fromtheir network of friends about what to buy, where to shop and,more crucially, where to avoid.

Paid for messages from recommended retailers might prove highly

powerful. Imagine consumers searching for a restaurant on theirmobile and the results showing redeemable vouchers that matchtheir taste preferences, serviced by recommended outlets nearby.

Brands are already establishing themselves on Google+ Ford hasa page, for instance but the real potential is in the power of thedata fusion. Its the opportunity for advertisers to use the power ofGoogles reach and targeting in a new, richer, more personal way.

Jump ahead a few years when analysts predict about half of us willuse our phone (probably Android-powered) as a cashless wallet.

Near-field communications will let us buy products by putting ourphones net to a scanner.

This will be the same phone we used to find the store via Maps,read the recommendations of our network of friends to help selectthe right product, used search to find the best price and checked-inat the store to get a group discount voucher. For retailers, thisrepresents a perfect storm of opportunity powered by social media.

Of course, everything hinges on Google+ reaching the kind of

penetration/usage its more established brethren currentlyenjoy. n

In just three weeks,Google+ attracted anestimated 19 millionglobal users.



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The media cost implications

Social media also changes the way advertisers and their agenciestrade with media owners. With few eceptions where advertisersbuy display advertising on platforms such as Facebook socialmedia forces brands to move away from their traditional focus ondiscounts and rebates.

Most social media reach has to be earned rather than paid-for. Youcan advertise to drive passive awareness but the most effectivemessages are those that become part of the conversation.

Earning a place in these conversations is easier for some sectorsthan others. People are much more willing to talk about which car,which mobile or which holiday they want to buy than they are to talkabout which brand of washing powder they like.

Advertisers need to appreciate that while 90% of consumers followsocial media, community leaders wield far greater influence.Understanding what motivates them will help advertisers generatecontet and conversation around their brand message.

You and your agency will also need to create new relationships with

media owners in this space, one based around co-operation andknowledge rather than the echange of money.

Advertisers need to learn from platforms like Facebook and Google,to understand what consumers respond to in these environments,what makes a conversation carry on and to develop their skills inusing them.

Ultimately advertising spend is probably the last conversation

brands should have when they work out their social media

strategy. n

Most social media reachhas to be earned ratherthan paid-for.

While 90% ofconsumers follow socialmedia, communityleaders wield greaterinfluence.




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As an agency we need to be able to partner with anyone who can

bring something valuable to the [social media] platform. That might bea creative agency, a technology platform like Buddy Media thatintegrates with Facebook, or a content producer. Its our job andresponsibility to be the guide for the brand, articulate the value and tryto make the pieces fit together as seamlessly as possible.

SLOAN BRODERICKDIRECTOR OF INNOVATION, MEDIACOM INTERACTION USA

[The Force] was something we used Facebook and Twitter for along withPR before and after the ad actually ran on-air during the Super Bowl.I believe there were 12 million views on YouTube before the Super Bowleven took place because we had used our Facebook platform, Twitter, PRand paid search, and worked this together as an ecosystem to actuallypromote that ad and then etend the lifespan of that ad after the [event].I think its currently still the number one ad viewed on YouTube ever withclose to 40 million views.

SARA DEVINEMANAGER, DIGITAL INTEGRATION MARKETING,

VOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA

We think theres a mutual benefit in the agency community and

Facebook working tightly together. The VW eample is a great eamplebecause the whole marketing campaign was social. Im not here to saymove money from TV or move money from print, Im here to say that if youmake your marketing more social it is going to be amplified that muchbetter and the agency community is in the perfect position to be able tocoordinate those pieces.




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Recent research may show that Facebook has peaked in

some developed markets but the depth of service andmessage integration that is possible on the platformcontinues to develop. Few media platforms can offer somuch to so many parts of an organisation be it marketing,customer service or research.

The latest deal with Skype etends Facebooks valueimmensely and reinforces the need for marketers todedicate serious time to understanding the platform.

IVAN FERNANDESGLOBAL DIRECTOR, SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY,

MEDIACOM WORLDWIDE



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ASSESSING ROI

Eactly how you as advertisers assess the potential value you can

get from social media will depend on the precise way you decide touse Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

The value that companies get from the monitoring of public opinionand/or the use of social media as a research tool can be one of theeasiest areas to look at. In many instances, social media willreplace more traditional research activity and the costs of eachapproach can be readily compared.

For the likes of Dominos, the use of promotional codes provides aneasy measure of impact while Starbucks in the US and Canada cancalculate the reduction in its advertising bill having set up a jobs-focused Facebook page.

Ultimately, the process of testing or increasing investment in socialmedia doesnt vary by market. The critical step is to set the rightmetrics and make sure you have the measurement in place.

The number of Facebook fans isnt going to make stakeholders feelmore comfortable with moving money out of TV. A commonevaluation metric that lets you compare channels such as

awareness or sales is vital.

Facebook is partnering with Nielsen to create an online GRPmeasurement that will facilitate direct comparison with traditionalmedia metrics but thats not the only measure.

Brands need to consider KPIs that measure the value of storiesand conversations. To have a million fans that dont say muchabout your brand or are not interacting with page posts is missingthe point.

Brands need to measure the number of stories that their fansgenerate and the number of comments their friends add to see thereach they present.

Each social media platform will have its own metrics but Facebookallows you to track spread by finding out that if 25 people clickedon your ad then 15 of their friends also followed suit.

Nevertheless, not all elements of fan value can be expressed

as a metric. How much is it worth to a brand if someone

criticises them and 10 fans get on to say they are wrong?n

The value thatcompanies get from themonitoring of publicopinion and/or the useof social media as aresearch tool can beone of the easiest

areas to look at.



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We dont think about the value of a fan, and we encourage brandsnot to measure the value of their presence on Facebook just on the

value of fans. We have brands that have 20 million fans and I wouldargue that they are still not getting the maimum benefit out ofFacebook because they havent thought out the platform integration intheir business. If they think about all of our platform benefits: thelikes, the social plugins, etc., the benefit they get from the advertising

[will be] that much higher.

Were also starting to understand that [measurement] is reallyabout the value of what we call stories and conversations. If you justhave a million fans and stop there, youre missing the whole point.Really, its about what those million fans are doing for you. What arethey talking about? How many stories are they generating? Becauseevery time they generate something, it feeds the ecosystem. If I havean awesome eperience [with a brand], and I talk about it in myFacebook environment, it goes to my friends [and] friends of friends,almost like concentric circles. Thats what we should be measuring,not have you ticked the bo and got number of fans?


Most social media reach has to be earned rather than paid-for. Youcan advertise to drive passive awareness but the most effectivemessages are those that become part of the conversation that takesplace between consumers. If you dont get the reach you seek, theproblem is yours, you cant ring up a media owner and ask for compen-sation.

CHRISTIAN SCHMALzL

CHIEF OPERATIONS AND INVESTMENT DIRECTOR,MEDIACOM WORLDWIDE



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ACTIONS FOR ADVERTISERS

Six things you can do right now...

1. Measure the impact of social media on your brand, your

sales and the business reputation.

These measures need to be comparable with the measures youalready use for traditional media so that you can work out what roleit should play in your communications.

2. Develop a clear strategy for social media, even if it is not to

participate in certain platforms.Many companies are at different stages of development but it iscrucial that marketers understand what social media can do for themand the company as a whole.

3. Decide where your consumer conversation point is going to be.

Even brands that are used to consumer interaction are rethinkingtheir strategies. German magaine Spiegel has recently startedusing Facebook as the place for consumers to comment on itsarticles.

4. Understand that each campaign will require an individual

approach.

Insight and strategy will be crucial to work out what will get peopletalking and the answers will differ from client to client and productto product.

5. Tailor experiences to local audiences.

While the sites might be the same, multinational brands should stilltailor social eperiences to local audiences. Even where languagesmight be the same - say, from the US to Canada or Meico toUruguay - matters of competing promotional/editorial calendars,promotional relevance to consumers, and brand variances acrossregions dictate that social presences are managed at a national

level.

6. Reallocate your budget.

With the strategy set and the message agreed, you can finallyassess where you are going to spend. Budget might be allocated tocontent for social media distribution, funding people needed toregularly interact with consumers or building relationships with keycommunity leaders, for eample. n



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INSIDER, PLEASE CONTACT:

Fraser Riddell

Chief Global Business Development Officer

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New York

NY 10018

USA

+1 (212) 912 5106

[email protected]

www.mediacom.com

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