Below is live coverage of the Turning the Social Web Into Real ROI from the SES San Jose 2009 conference.
This coverage is provided by Patty Adams of Vertical Measures.
We are using a live blogging tool to provide the real time coverage. You can interact with us and while we are live blogging, so feel free to ask us questions as we blog. We will publish the archive below after the session is completed.
| Turning the Social Web Into Real ROI | (08/11/2009) |
| 1:38 | PattyAdams:
Speakers:
Sean Heywood, Managing Partner, MR Barber Shop & Urban Lounge
Claudia Virgilio, Vice President Western Region, Performics
Rogelio (Ro) Choy, Chief Revenue Officer, RockYou
Summary of presentation: This session will explore best practices in how marketers can leverage the social web as a simple way to quickly build and manage effective campaigns. Our panel of experts will share their first-hand experience and help marketers gain a better understanding of what they can do to maximize their success through the use of these tools. |
| 1:50 | PattyAdams: The general idea of this panel is to look at how social media advertising has evolved to it's current state today. |
| 1:51 | PattyAdams: Today, the perspective and changed significantly. On Facebook, for instances, there are ad platforms, different from the initial intent. There will be an agency perspective, a publisher perspective and an end user perspective today. |
| 1:52 | PattyAdams: We'll look at different perspectives of the panelists today and how to look at social web and ROI. |
| 1:53 | PattyAdams: Each panelist will provide a unique viewpoint from which we all can learn. |
| 1:54 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
How she's thinking about social media: At her company, she relies heavily on experience of her team that has gone out and tested social media. They look at the channel holistically, across everything. Look at it like a consumer journey: who are they going after and what will influence their purchase? Social is perfect for that. |
| 1:57 | PattyAdams: SEAN:
How are you thinking about using social media to build awareness: There is a focus on profit, little room for experiments. They look to isolate a community to give a relevant message to a targeted community. They look to touch the audience with a message that's applicable and have seen CTRs have increased. |
| 1:57 | PattyAdams: Looking at the sequence of how internet was approached. Started with search. Added relevancy to site, needed to monetize to traffic to site. |
| 1:59 | PattyAdams: RO:
They build applications to reach audiences. They also have development partners. Almost entirely for social networks. They seek differentiation. Looking to add rich media to network. Large focus on Facebook. They want to engage the user in social media. |
| 2:01 | PattyAdams: They want to see a high level of engagement to result in a click through. They focus on engagement level to dictate click thrus. Starbucks was a great example. They did a great campaign that drove multiplier effects to their campaign, every time it's used it grows. Very viral. Fan pages are great for this. Also the use of status updates that raise awareness. |
| 2:03 | PattyAdams: How are you thinking about measurement? Metrics across social media vs. traditional marketing spend?
CLAUDIA:
They look at conversions. They look at an action (sales, registration, etc.). Also looking at engagement-based metrics (time on site, etc). Looking at a Facebook page and monitoring connections. There are many layers of metrics. Measuring social actions to see viral effect. Impressions are measurable. Looking to measure overall reach which can double ROI. |
| 2:04 | PattyAdams: SEAN (same question):
I look at how many members I get from Facebook. Very simple measure for us. We can see the engagement level and focus our efforts.
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| 2:05 | PattyAdams: RO: (same question):
Measurement really is the same regardless. I don't see much difference in metrics as they all impact ROI. We don't think of metrics any different in the social space. |
| 2:05 | PattyAdams: Regarding the virality of social networks. How do you show it? Measure it? How do you measure how viral it is? |
| 2:07 | PattyAdams: RO:
For us, we measure activity that drives awareness. We measure it by click thrus by a certain notification. We measure what the inherent value of that communication is. Are they becoming fans? More fans, more advocates. Mostly as it impacts Facebook. |
| 2:09 | PattyAdams: I have a page on Facebook; do I promote that or do I invest in promoting my web page?
SEAN:
The value of the Facebook page is something we're struggling with. There are some limitations on Facebook which is challenging. We have a fan page are are exploring methodson how to convert people to become fans. We have a challenging measuring the value of our Facebook page.
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| 2:10 | PattyAdams: Agencies should take this struggle into consideration when trying to sell social media: how to we measure the value? Is there a guarantee of sorts? Lots of questions. |
| 2:11 | PattyAdams: Regarding Facebook fan pages, how to you leverage it? |
| 2:11 | PattyAdams: RO:
Would people alter tab settings to avoid measurement? To enhance it? |
| 2:12 | PattyAdams: SEAN:
We have several iterations of fan pages. We're trying to track value. I think of all the options available, Facebook has the best value. |
| 2:12 | PattyAdams: RO:
Some of the challenges we've had in the past have been remedied with the latest Facebook update. |
| 2:14 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
For performance-based agencies, we want to drive traffic to the site through the Facebook page. The changes warrant different types of metrics to measure success of a website vs. a Facebook page. Looking at social a bit different but within the same context and align with clients. We still look at conversions though we do watch impressions. Our conversions are site to sale. Lead generation. We're also now looking at engagement metrics (fans, connections, etc). |
| 2:15 | PattyAdams: RO:
I'm a huge proponent of fan pages vs websites. Websites are one-way; fan pages are interactive. The value of a fan page is that there is a multiplier effect; the actions that can create other actions, which is only possible on a fan page. |
| 2:16 | PattyAdams: So much activity is in the space now, you have to make the investment or you'll lose the activity measurement and how it can generate awareness. |
| 2:17 | PattyAdams: One of Facebook's challenge is the wide spectrum of the audience. Do you see a fixation on click-thru rates for ads? |
| 2:17 | PattyAdams: Are there other metrics we should be concerned with?
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| 2:18 | PattyAdams: RO:
From our perspective, we don't just sell network. You find the right audience and you'll find a higher click thru rate. We couple a campaign with an integrated experience, integrating the brand experience. |
| 2:20 | PattyAdams: For one client, we're associating ourselves to click thru rates and the experience. We're driving traffic to the page to lift click thru but to also elevate brand awareness. Contextual engagement is key. |
| 2:21 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
I agree. For our clients, click thru is important but we try to present it to them in such a way to widen their understanding. We recently integrated a paid strategy with a social strategy. We targeted the demographic for this client. The results were impressive. We found that Facebook got the most impressions and the most traffic, more than paid search. The CPC was 42% less than paid. The ROI also exceed expectations. We focused on other parameters and the client was pleased. |
| 2:22 | PattyAdams: There are companies that look at people's connections to determine what ads to serve to a user. Anyone have an opinion on this ad decisioning? |
| 2:24 | PattyAdams: RO:
There are many brands that have great understanding of their audience. Social media can make it limiting. Services like the one described can expand that target. You see the user and you see the user's friends. You're now mulitplying the targeting by 10-fold. They actually do work. So as a result, there is a huge opportunity for results. |
| 2:24 | PattyAdams: Micro-targeting best practices. What is the impact and the success? |
| 2:26 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
Age, income, affiliations, hobbies and interests are are trackable. We get really refined and specific for our campaigns; social media helps with this. We try to get as close to end user as we can. We can target by location, country, birthdays....we're doing testing on micro-targeting and seeing success. |
| 2:27 | PattyAdams: SEAN:
Segmenting is probably more along the lines of what we do. We target certain demographics with reasonable success. When we segment too much, the impressions get too small. We're trying to figure out some metrics for this. |
| 2:27 | PattyAdams: (opening up to Q&A).... |
| 2:28 | PattyAdams: Let's talk about ROI: Can each panel member address that?
SEAN:
Our monthly revenue premiums are identified. We have a good formula to measure this. We have come conversion challenges. |
| 2:29 | PattyAdams: RO:
For us, we measure social gain, active users. We have a price per social gain. |
| 2:30 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
For us, it's sales-based. We track all the way down to the sale. For another client, it's cost per lead. That's what our clients want to see. |
| 2:30 | PattyAdams: Some of clients see 3-to-1 ROI on Facebook. |
| 2:31 | PattyAdams: How do you balance tradition vs social media advertising?
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| 2:31 | PattyAdams: To clarify, what is the threshold of traditional vs social media advertising? |
| 2:33 | PattyAdams: RO:
There is a lot to control on social ads. In the past, they were direct communication. It's about bringing opportunity to the end user. It's a call to action, taking it to an active state for the user. Easier to do in social vs. traditional. |
| 2:34 | PattyAdams: SEAN:
The nature of the platform makes it good for a split test between social and traditional. Ads with questions work well. |
| 2:35 | PattyAdams: RO:
You don't want to point people to a brand, you want engagement with that brand.
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| 2:36 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
It's about authenticity. It's not always about the offer, it can be about educating the end user. |
| 2:36 | PattyAdams: RO:
It's more powerful to engage. |
| 2:37 | PattyAdams: Do any of you have any "echo effect" stats? For instance, a friend taking action because someone else took action first and they followed? |
| 2:38 | PattyAdams: RO:
We see 30% for a video being considered viral. You can measure it. We see 30% we get excited. |
| 2:39 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
You need to bring people back to both Facebook and your site. It's all about relevancy. You need the traffic, you need the juice. They are equally important. You want the activity on your Facebook page for awareness, but ultimately want them to your website. |
| 2:41 | PattyAdams: Websites are easier to capture entire brand over Facebook, so you need both. |
| 2:42 | PattyAdams: Facebook will continue to build out more unique experiences on their pages but ultimately, the experience lies in the website itself. Facebook is valuable for the viral aspect. |
| 2:42 | PattyAdams: One more questions.... |
| 2:42 | PattyAdams: Would the advantage of a micro-targeted campaign be that the CTR would naturally be higher than a keyword campaign?
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| 2:43 | PattyAdams: CLAUDIA:
For our micro-targeted campaign, yes, it did. Social still performed better. Looking at broader metrics is still our focus in the future. Branding, education, connections go beyond simply a CTR. |
| 2:44 | PattyAdams: Even in micro targeted segment, your impressions go down and your CTR would go up as it's so targeted. |
| 2:45 | 
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