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The Opportunity of Social Targeting on Facebook Ads (a Facebook Advertising Agency Perspective)

In my previous article, “The Perils of Social Targeting on Facebook – A Consumers Perspective”, I discussed the horror for a consumer to have their fan-ship of a Facebook page such as Pepto-Bismol shown by social targeting advertisements to their friends. A fan who allows friends to know this tidbit of information is providing fodder for jokes about potential gas problems. But as a Facebook advertising agency, what an opportunity social targeting provides.

Think about it, how else could the good folks at Pepto-Bismol gain over 125,000 Facebook fans? Simple, by using social targeting on Facebook they are able to use a type of online word of mouth to convince Facebook users to become a fan of their page. As Facebook users see that people they know ‘like’ a certain Facebook page, it provides them with the vote of confidence they need to become a fan and ‘like’ that page themselves. Social Targeting on Facebook in a nutshell is a quick and easy way for advertisers to provide users with the motivation needed to ‘like’ their page or post as the page has already been vouched for by known friends and colleagues.

(Above: an example of Pepto-Bismol Social Targeting Advertisements)

I am affirmed of the success of social targeting on Facebook as I review the top performing ads for my client who spends roughly $15K monthly advertising on the forum. As I review the top performing ads from this past month, I notice a trend strongly favoring social targeting. Overwhelmingly, Facebook ads that use social targeting make up over 50% of the top performing ads for my client when measured by click through rate (CTR) and Cost per Conversion (a.k.a. Cost per New Fan).

But don’t just take my word for it. According to Nielsen’s Brand Lift Study 2010, a Facebook user is 25% more likely to click on an ad with social context. Additionally, a user is 100% more likely to remember the advertisement with social targeting and shows a 300% increase in purchase content (Source: Nielsen Advertising Effectiveness, April 2010).

In conclusion, Facebook advertising agency, do your clients a favor and try out social targeting on Facebook. Your client will appreciate the results.

(Above: Social Targeting is an effective way to get fans to land on your Welcome Page)

Have your own experience and opinion on Facebook ads and social targeting? Share it with us here in the comments!

See the blog: Consumers Perspective on Social Targeting on Facebook Ads.

Pepto-Bismol Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/peptobismol

June 22, 2011 | Categories: Advertising, Social Media | Tags: facebook advertising, facebook advertising agency, Social Media | Leave A Comment »

The Perils of Social Targeting on Facebook Ads (the Consumer Perspective)

So one day, against your better judgement you accepted the tasty chimichanga. You were no longer hungry, having already consumed three and now were eating purely because they tasted marvelous. Upon returning home later that evening with your belly in agony, you reached for the Pepto-Bismol and called it a day.

In the morning, grateful to the good folks at Pepto-Bismol, you “Liked” the Pepto-Bismol page on Facebook. A simple gesture, but the least you could do to show your thankfulness for the previous evening. Wary of your friends jokes, and not wanting all your friends to know that you spent the evening near the bathroom, you delete the update on your Facebook Wall that shows you as becoming a Fan of the page. So now your Fan-ship of Pepto-Bismol is your perfect little secret. No one will know besides you and the friendly admins of the Pepto-Bismol page, right?

Wrong. As one of Facebook’s newest advertising options called Social Targeting, companies advertising on Facebook may choose to advertise to friends of Fans on any page. That means, guess what?, anybody, including your comedic best friend or relative may be greeted with an Ad that looks like this:

Who likes Pepto-Bismol - DK Web Consulting

(Above: I REALLY wanted my friends to know I was a fan of Pepto-Bismol...)

How embarrasing right, your name shows up to your friends as a part of the advertising, a type of word of mouth in favor of Pepto-Bismol. Don’t worry though, you agreed to this in the updated Privacy Policy, you did read that right?

But Im not necessarily complaining about this feature. I as a Facebook advertiser find Social Targeting very successful. Read a Facebook Advertising Agency Perspective on Social Targeting.

So in summary, think twice of what you ‘Like’ on Facebook as advertisers like me may share some of your perfect little secrets.

(Above: You may not be the only one that knows if you click that "Like" button)

See the Advertisers take on Social Targeting on Facebook Ads

Pepto-Bismol Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/peptobismol

June 22, 2011 | Categories: Social Media | Tags: companies advertising on facebook, facebook advertising, social context, Social Media, social media advertising, social targeting | Leave A Comment »

25 Digital marketing resolutions for 2011

To kick start your digital marketing efforts in 2011, we came up with a list of 25 online marketing resolutions for the new year! Grouped by category, there’s something for every medium. Hopefully, you can find a resolution that works for your website.

25 digital marketing resolutions:

Social Media Marketing:

1. Define an ROI for your social media efforts
2. Create better (targeted, relevant, exciting) blog content
3. Create higher quality multimedia content
4. Energize your community
5. Take part in a new community or blog

Search Engine Optimization:

6. Ensure everyone touching your website understands SEO
7. Encourage natural links for your website
8. Craft web content with natural search in mind
9. Ensure your site is following on-page SEO best practices
10. Proactively request high quality, relevant backlinks

Paid Search Marketing:

11. Don’t overlook the basics of PPC management
12. Judge performance on conversions, not just CTR’s
13. Improve under performing campaigns or discontinue them
14. Improve (AB test) your ad copy
15. Understand when it’s time to outsource PPC management

Web Analytics

16. Tag everything! Establish proper site wide reporting
17. Set actionable, meaningful web metrics
18. Invest in tools to give you the answers
19. Establish AB or multivariate testing on landing pages
20. Ensure someone is responsible for results

Web Design

21. Invest in ~~good~~ great website design
22. Build better performing landing pages
23. Establish ROI projections for new designs
24. Design with different devices (mobile, tablet) in mind
25. Design for your consumers

This list was originally posted on Radium and is being reposted with permission from the author.

About the Author:

Rich Angstadt is the president and founder of Radium, an internet marketing agency specializing in search engine optimization, search engine marketing and social media. He is a Google AdWords qualified professional and lives in Austin Texas. Follow Rich on twitter.

January 3, 2011 | Categories: Interactive Marketing | Tags: multivariate testing, paid search marketing, SEO, seo tips, social media engagement, web analytics, Web Design | Leave A Comment »

Why Firms Need to Market to Hispanics

Hispanics are young and on Social Media, so why aren’t you marketing to them? And oh yeah, 1 in 3 Americans will be Hispanic within our lifetime (by the year 2050). The ever-growing Hispanic market within the United States offers tremendous opportunities for marketers. Today an estimated 17% of the US population is Hispanic. Furthermore, Hispanics are the largest growing demographic in the country. The rate of growth in Hispanic purchasing power is equally impressive and by 2013 it is estimated that Hispanic purchasing power will be$1.3 trillion annually.

In addition to those inspiring figures, Hispanics are also avid users of the internet. In fact, Hispanic consumers are younger than the market as an aggregate. They are also often early adopters of technology and frequently use social media sites. More importantly, Hispanics frequently seek out product information online. 57% of Hispanics always go online to find product deals as opposed to 43% of the general market. Hispanics also prefer to learn about brands, compare prices, and make final decisions online. One of the most interesting statistics we found is that 72% of Hispanics trust an online product rating over a friends opinion.

These market conditions make social media a great tool to connect with Hispanic consumers. Social media is excellent for creating a discussion with people, building brand awareness and loyalty. As Hispanics are already very active on social media it makes sense for marketers to add this approach to their overall campaign. However, there is more to it than just posting content on Facebook and hoping it works. The US Hispanic Market is very diverse. It is made up of people from multiple countries with their own culture living within various levels of acculturation to American life. For example, some Hispanics prefer Spanish, while many prefer English or Spanglish. Overall, successfully engaging Hispanics can be tricky but is an opportunity that cannot be ignored.

What to read from the Top 2010 Hispanic Online Marketing Reports

How Fortune 1,000 Brands Engage Spanish Speaking Facebook Fans

July 19, 2010 | Categories: Social Media | Tags: facebook, hispanic marketing, spanish social media | 1 Comment »

What to Read from the Top 2010 Hispanic Online Marketing Reports

Since there are already too many 40+ page reports out there instructing marketers as to where the opportunities lie in engaging with Hispanic consumers, we’re here to make it easy. This is our analysis of the 3 most current free Hispanic Online Marketing reports; the 2010 US Hispanic Social Media and Marketing Overview, the 2010-2011 Hispanic Social Media Guide, and the 2010 Hispanic CyberStudy. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses and we have ranked them in the order that we recommend them to a marketer with a limited amount of time for research on the Hispanic Consumer.

1. 2010 US Hispanic Social Media and Marketing Overview

This was our favorite report and a clear case of why not to judge a book by its cover. While the title page and overall design may look a bit like a 12th grade History Paper, this report is full of useful statistics as well as qualitative data from industry experts that make it a good read. Recommended reading includes: “The Latino Research Story” (pg 9-10), “Who’s Best to Handle it All” (pg 21-23), “The Pan Latin Connector” (pg 33-34) and “Expectations, Propositions, & Future Thought” (pg 35-39).

2. 2010 Hispanic CyberStudy

This is the shortest and most visually attractive by far of the three studies, you can actually get through the entire report in about 15 minutes. The focus of this report is on internet usage by Hispanics and it breaks the Hispanic population down by level of acculturation and details the language and usage preferences of those groups. While it does not have the sheer amount of information as the other two studies, we found it to be very educational and succinct. Must reads include: “American Yardstick” (pg 15), “Young Hispanics” (pg 11), “Technology Leaders” (pg 15), and “Life Stages” (pg 22-26).

3. 2010-2011 Hispanic Social Media Guide

This report reads like a conglomeration of differing opinions from a multitude of firms in the Hispanic Marketing industry. So if you are looking to shop a number of these firms, you can find plenty of advertising and contact info in this report. Besides that, the only articles that I would recommend reading would be “How to Build a Hispanic Online Community” (pg 19-22) and “How to Effectively Work with Latino Bloggers” (pg 24-26).

There is a notable lack of quantitative data as the first graph doesn’t show up until page 27 and it is borrowed from an eMarketer Ad of their own report. Additionally, a majority of the other statistics found in this report are copied over from the Hispanic Cyber Study Report described above.

All three of these reports bring something a little different to the table while educating the marketer looking to engage Hispanic customers. Hopefully this guide saves you a little bit of time in trying to read all three.

June 15, 2010 | Categories: Social Media | Tags: facebook, hispanic marketing, hispanic pr blog, linkedin, myspace, ning, Social Media, spanish social media, twitter | 5 Comments »

Engaging Spanish Speaking Consumers through Social Media – the March of Dimes Way

After years of fielding thousands of phone calls and emails from Spanish speaking mothers and parents to be, the March of Dimes realized the necessity to expand their outreach efforts. And while reports are now streaming in bearing statistics about how much more active Hispanics are on social media, it seems that the March of Dimes knew all along.

100% Comment response is the goal at NacerSano

The March of Dimes launched its Spanish-language site, nacersano.org, in 2004 as a response to the deficiency of trusted and accurate health information among Spanish-speaking women and their families. In 2007, realizing they needed to have an even bigger presence within the Spanish-speaking community; they kicked off a social media initiative with their Spanish-language blog, located at blog.nacersano.org. This blog enabled the March of Dimes to engage with their consumers in a more organic and informal setting.

Social Media is not new to the March of Dimes. Beverly Robertson, a National Director at the March of Dimes, who heads up social media efforts, has gained approximately 8,000 twitter followers to date (@marchofdimes). Their Facebook page has over 70,000 fans. But what is quite noticeably innovative & impressive is the manner in which they are able to converse openly with their Spanish speaking fans. To enable this, Miss Robertson’s Hispanic Outreach team, spearheaded by Lilliam Acosta-Sanchez, has established Spanish language Facebook Fan page and Twitter accounts, all linked through their Spanish-language brand “nacersano.” The overall goals of the team are to use social media for health information outreach and to raise awareness of the March of Dimes and its mission among Spanish-speaking Latinos.

During our conversation in May, Mrs. Acosta-Sanchez noted that an average month will bring approximately 400 questions from consumers that need a response via social media. They are proud that their team is able to respond to 100% of the questions that come in through their blog, Facebook Fan page and Twitter accounts. An impressive feat, considering the low or non-existent engagement levels of many large firms and organizations.

We at DK wanted to dig deeper, so we looked at the numbers to verify the March of Dime’s claims. We found that they were indeed very active conversing with their fans and consumers. The nacersano.org Facebook page is able to maintain a 335 Engagement Score, indicating a very high level of interaction with fans on their page. This ranking (take a look at our ranking system) calculates how often a fan comments or ‘likes’ a posting, and evaluates all Facebook pages on a pound-for-pound scale. The nacersano Twitter page obtains an equally high Engagement Score of 60, calculated by dividing mentions by nacersano by the times nacersano has been mentioned.

The team behind nacersano also discussed growth of their Spanish social media presence with us. They explained that their growth to date is primarily viral and that their objective is less about growing and more about building relationships with their current fans/followers. Based on their ability to engage their consumers thus far, we also believe their growth will come naturally.

nacersano’s web presence:
•www.nacersano.org – The March of Dimes Spanish-language Web site
•http://blog.nacersano.org – Spanish-language blog on pregnancy-related topics.
•www.twitter.com/nacersano – Pregnancy-related tips.
•www.twitter.com/nacersanobaby – Baby-related tips.
•www.facebook.com/nacersano – Fan page.

June 7, 2010 | Categories: Social Media | Tags: facebook, hispanic marketing, hootsuite, march of dimes, nacer sano, nacersano, non profit, social oomph, twitter | 4 Comments »

Measuring Social Media Engagement

So if your Facebook fan page has 2,000 fan interactions per week and mine only has 200, is there any way my page could be considered more engaging? Why yes, absolutely there is. What needs to be considered is the amount of interaction per fan, which puts all pages on an equalizing, pound-for-pound scale. Basically, this enables an apples to apples comparison of your fan page with 2 million fans with my page of 200 fans.

It is often hard to measure how effective a campaign is and how engaged fans are in the conversation. A simple, albeit manual way to measure how involved fans are is by using the Social Media Engagement Scoring system that ranks a page based on posts per day to quantity of fans. This system allows a brand to take a realistic view at how well they converse with their fans in comparison with other brands.

We have found that in general, a score of over 200 in Facebook means fans are engaged. A score over 300 means that fans are highly engaged. A score of over 50 in Twitter is good. A Twitter Engagement score of over 75 is superb. Our calculations are simple (download an example here) and can be broken down into four easy steps for both Facebook and Twitter.

For Facebook:

Step 1 - Decide how many days to count for (if an account is very active, than fewer days) and then extrapolate it to 1 month or whatever time period you prefer. If the account is not terribly active it is easy to account for a whole week and sometimes even month.

Step 2 – Our favorite part – counting. This is the most time consuming part. We count both interaction on admin posts and fan posts in Facebook. We count a post by an administrator plus any “like” of that post or comment on that post as an “Admin Interactions”. For “Fan Interactions” we count any post by a fan on the wall and any comments or “likes” of that post. We sum those interactions and obtain the number of fans of that page.

Step 3 – Record these numbers in a spreadsheet such as the one we provided as an example above.

Step 4 – Run the numbers. If you use our example (above) the formulas are already there (no calculation necessary!) For Facebook we add up the number of interactions from admin posts and fan posts and convert that to a daily figure. After that we simply divide “Total Interactions/Day” by the number of fans and multiply that number by 100,000 to make the figure a bit more usable. This will give you the Facebook Engagement Score for that page.

For Twitter:

Step 1 – Decide what time period you would like to account for. A week is the most practical for Twitter but you can also do daily. This is because the Twitter search function only maintains one week of results.

Step 2 – Count the number of @s (mentions of another user) on a given Twitter page for that time period. After that number is obtained we find the number of times that Twitter page has been mentioned. We use http://search.twitter.com to search how many times that twitter page has been referenced (See illustration below). Again, this data only goes back one week so that limits the time period you can actually account for.

Using search.twitter to find mentions of any Twitter user

Step 3 – Record these numbers in a spreadsheet. Use our example from above.

Step 4 – Divide @s by mentions and multiply by 100 to arrive at the Twitter Engagement Score. (Calculations already done when using our downloadable example.

Now you will understand how a fan page with only a few dozen fan posts can be far more engaging than a page with thousands of fan posts. Do you have anything to add? Other ideas? Let us know in the comments please.

June 3, 2010 | Categories: Social Media | Tags: engagement score, facebook, facebook engagement, search.twitter, Social Media, social media engagement, social media engagement score, twitter, twitter engagement | 2 Comments »

How Fortune 1,000 Brands Engage Spanish Speaking Facebook Fans

Many large brands such as Nike, McDonald’s and others have well over 1 million fans and struggle deciding how best to communicate with Spanish speaking fans which in many cases are 10% or more of their total fan base. We determined there are 4 main methods to begin engaging a brand’s fans using Spanish language marketing.

They are: 1 – Creating a new Page, 2 – Posting to Everyone, 3 – Using Filters, or 4 – Creating a new Tab. We created a list of pros and cons for each of the 4 methods and we detail these below.

1 – Creating a new Page
Building a new page dedicated to Spanish content is one popular choice that many large brands use. AT&T, CNN, Tostitos, and the NBA have all chosen this path and grown substantial followings. A new page will show up on an internal search by the firm’s brand name which will help in drawing new fans. A key benefit for choosing this method is that it enables a brand to provide content specifically targeted to its Spanish language fans in a dedicated forum. This has been seen as the most common way to communicate with a brands Spanish speaking fan base.

However, there are a number of cons associated with beginning a new page dedicated to Spanish conversation. First of all, you will be driving fans away from a very popular page with thousands or millions of fans and starting a new page from scratch. Secondly, the new Spanish page will inevitably cannibalize fans from the existing page. Maybe most importantly, many Spanish speaking fans of these large brands are bilingual and enjoy having access to content in different languages. Now with two pages, the brand is making them choose. Furthermore, many bilingual Americans have the belief that English content is generally more accurate and updated then Spanish content.

2 – Posting to Everyone

A solution to beginning a new page, is to integrate all Spanish content onto the existing English page. Whether the brand adapts all content to Spanish, or just selected parts, it all will appear on the Facebook stream to all fans whether they speak Spanish or not. This may be a good option for brands as the method generates high awareness of the fact that the brand speaks and understands Spanish and they will do so without starting a new page without their millions of fans. Bilingual fans will also be able to easily see all content in both languages.

There are many downsides to this method though. First off, it can get very cluttered. Postings of the same content in different languages may actually turn off a number of fans. Also, the brand is losing the opportunity to target its Spanish speaking fans using a dedicated forum. Finally, what if fans that speak other languages get offended that they do not see their second tongue displayed?

3 – Using Filters

To avoid having duplicate content visible to a brand’s fans, they might also consider the use of filters. Any time an administrator posts content on a fan page, they have the option of posting to everyone (default) or to post only to certain geographic areas or languages. A brand can thus post Spanish content only for its fans that have their Facebook account set to Spanish. Bilingual fans will like this as they will see all Spanish and English content with no duplications. Also, the brand doesn’t have to start a new page from scratch and fans with different language settings will not even know that there is additional Spanish content.

There are some big problems with filters though, chiefly is that many bilingual Spanish speakers have their settings on English. They would not even know that there was additional content there for them! Also, as the page would mostly be an English page with only some Spanish content available through filters, it would not have the same feel as a newly created Spanish dedicated page. Finally, some of the virality would be lost as a fan’s comment on a Spanish posting would not have the ability to stream to a friends’ wall unless they both had their language settings on Spanish.

4 – Creating a new Tab

The final option to consider is the use of custom built tabs. Many ad agencies and other custom web agencies will develop a custom Facebook tab that can hold all Spanish content within the original main page. This would in many ways work as a second wall in which the brand would engage its Spanish speaking fans with an attractive Spanish title as well as content targeted in their language. They would maintain their original fan base and be able to provide links to this tab in all their marketing material geared towards Spanish speakers. Also, bilingual fans would not feel left out from the English discussion which is important to consider.

Creating a second tab has some disadvantages of course. They are typically more costly to maintain, on average between $100 – $2,500 per month depending on the content and frequency of posting. A custom tab also does not have all of the same functionality as the wall does such as the ability to show up on the stream of friends of fans. Virality is critical to the success of many brands marketing campaigns and a degree of this is lost here. Finally, the tab will not show up in an internal Facebook search.

You can download the entire Facebook Spanish Engagement Options List here.

This list is in by no means complete. Please comment back with your thoughts, additions, and revisions as we all think about how best to engage Spanish speaking fans.

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May 7, 2010 | Categories: Social Media | Tags: engagement, facebook, group discussion, linkedin, Social Media, spanish social media, twitter | 3 Comments »

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