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How Brands Using Social Media
Numbers,
Please
Ignite Marketing and Drive Growth
Measurement of Paid Social Media Appears Solid
But Are the Metrics for Organic Social Overstated?
Gian M. Fulgoni
Editors’ Note: Warc, the London-based publisher of the Journal of the Advertising Research (JAR),
comScore, Inc.
annually selects a panel of marketing experts to review case-study submissions for its Warc Prize for Social
Strategy.1 Gian Fulgoni, co-founder and chairman emeritus of comScore, Inc. (and JAR columnist) was
one of the 2015 Warc judges.2 In the pages that follow, Fulgoni shares the insights he gained as a judge
reviewing 33 finalist case studies3 submitted by firms around the world in competition for the Warc Prize
for Social Strategy. Winners were announced in June.
The 2015 Warc Prize for Social Strategy is a com-
• Social as a Substitute for media spend
petition that asks marketers to demonstrate how
• Social as a Savior
effectively they had used social media in their
• Social as a Soft Metric of effectiveness
marketing efforts. Each case was judged using five
• Social as a Sales Driver.
percentage-weighted criteria:123
Social as a Supplement to Media Spend
• Insight and strategic thinking (20 percent)
There are two types of branded social media com-
• Implementation (10 percent)
munications: “organic” and “paid.” Organic social
• Social effects (15 percent)
media consists of brand communications that are
• Business effects (45 percent)
created by the advertiser on a social platform. The
• Can other marketers learn from this case study?
advertiser/sponsor doesn’t pay for it, and it can
(10 percent)
lead to “earned” media where the consumer shares
the communication with others—either online or
The shortlisted entries came from 11 different mar-
via word of mouth. “Paid” content is as it sounds:
kets around the world—a mix of creative agencies,
The advertiser pays for the content. Both of these
media networks, digital, and social specialists. The
types of social communications are used as supple-
United Kingdom supplied the largest number of
ments to existing media programs, and this is prob-
shortlisted entries (10), ahead of the United States
ably the most common way that social marketing
(7) and Australia (5).
is used today. In part, this reflects the reality that
As a judge, I was struck by the creative use of
building high reach on social media using organic
social media and the positive impact it had on
alone has become increasingly difficult due to algo-
many business results. My thoughts can be crystal-
rithmic changes to social newsfeeds that favor paid
ized into five dimensions—what I call the “Five S’s
over organic brand communications.
Research published by Facebook4 in late 2014
of Social Marketing”:
• Social as a Supplement to media spend
“The Warc Prize for Social Strategy,” Warc 2015. http://www.warc.
com/Topics/WarcSocialPrize2015.topic
2
“The Warc Prize for Social Strategy — Judges,” Warc 2015. http://
www.warc.com/Awards/WarcSocialPrize2015/judges.info
3
“The Warc Prize for Social Strategy — Shortlist,” Warc 2015. http://
warc.me/PrF9u3
1
232 JOURNAL
OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH September 2015
showed that consumers wanted to see more stories
from friends and from the Facebook brand pages
they cared about. They also reported that they
desired less promotional content. It is interesting to
“An Update to News Feed: What it Means for Businesses.” (2014,
November 14). Retrieved from Facebook for Business website: https://
www.facebook.com/business/news/update-to-facebook-news-feed
4
DOI: 10.2501/JAR-2015-004
How Brands Using Social Media Ignite Marketing and Drive Growth thearf.org
As a judge, I was struck by the creative
Game” (released after the campaign) the
Navy first found that its target segment—
use of social media and the positive impact
what the Navy referred to as the “brightest
cryptology minds”—could not “resist the
it had on many business results.
aroma of a nearly impossible puzzle.”
With this as a foundation, the Navy
designed an alternative reality game to
note, however, that Facebook reported that
entry put it well: “Start a fire and then rely
connect with its target. It used posts on
much of the content people identified as
on our social tribes to fan the flames.”
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr
“too promotional” were organic posts from
The second supplemental approach
to initiate and propagate a digital puzzle
brands that they have “Liked” rather than
turned the first on its head: It called for
by sending out a series of coded clues,
separately placed paid advertisements.
the use of paid, owned, and earned social
tips, and updates. Earned media amplified
Facebook long has had controls both
media to build awareness of the campaign
the campaign.
for the number of paid advertisements a
to a level where “earned” television cov-
The results were impressive. Accord-
person sees on a “newsfeed”—the area
erage (i.e., television coverage not paid
ing to Facebook Analytics, the campaign
on a user’s home page where new posts
for by the brand) brought further value to
reached 113,494 unique individuals—that’s
from friends or brands they have “liked”
the brand. This worked well for a number
87 prospects for every cryptologist enlist-
are posted—and also to manage the qual-
of campaigns in the Warc challenge—for
ment needed. And, without the support of
ity of those advertisements (based on
example, those that used humor and/or
any paid media, the Navy met its recruit-
engagement, hiding advertisements, etc.).
celebrities and, therefore, were entertain-
ing objective ahead of schedule.
But those same controls weren’t as closely
ing for television to cover, or those that
It was a popular case study with the
monitored for promotional posts (i.e.,
focused on reducing crime in society and,
Warc judges as well, as the effort took
organic communications from a brand).
therefore, worthy of being included in tel-
home best-in-show gold-prize honors in
Therefore, Facebook introduced new vol-
evision news coverage. A strong case in
the 2015 Prize for Social Strategy
ume and content controls for promotional
point: The use of Tinder, the dating app,
posts that would allow consumers to see
by the Immigrant Council of Ireland for
Social as a Savior
more of what they wanted from brands.
its campaign to raise awareness about sex-
On a surprising number of occasions,
This meant that brands would have to rely
trafficking (See “Social as a Savior”, right).
social was the centerpiece of an effort to
more on paid social than previously had
breathe life into a failing—or even dying—
Social as a Substitute for
brand. In some cases, it was clear that the
Media Spend
brand’s prior marketing strategies had
finalists in the 2015 Warc Prize for Social
In some situations—especially where the
failed abysmally. In others, it appeared that
Strategy competition, brand managers
brand was struggling financially—social
the brand essentially had been abandoned
used two diametrically different types of
media could substitute for media spend.
by its owners. In such instances, neces-
supplemental social strategies: campaigns
SPC, an Australian fruit processor, found
sity became the mother of invention, and
that supported television and campaigns
itself in such a perilous position that it was
impressive creative tactics involving social
that were amplified by television.
just months away from closure. The com-
were implemented (leaving me to wonder
been the case.
It is interesting that in all the case-studies
Traditional media spend quickly was
pany was able to use influencers, Tweets,
why it took being on the brink of disaster
used to seed a campaign, often supporting
direct messages, and Facebook posts
to unleash creative social juices). Perhaps,
the notion that nothing yet beats television
quickly to rally sympathetic support from
because social is still unproven at many
for generating high reach in a very short
Australians across the country to purchase
companies, it took precisely that kind of a
period of time. And, social amplification
its products and save a 100-year-old brand.
situation to persuade senior management
was implemented to further build reach
The power of social media also helped
to invest in social marketing. Clearly, all
and frequency beyond television alone. A
the U.S. Navy—faced with government
variation on the same strategy involved the
spending cuts—recruit 1,291 cryptolo-
Also intriguing were the cases that fea-
use of paid social media to fuel earned and
gists without a media budget. In a brilliant
tured global-marketing strategies that
owned social communications. One brand
adaptation of the movie “The Imitation
completely failed to be effective in some
else had failed.
September 2015 JOURNAL
OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH 233
How Brands Using Social Media Ignite Marketing and Drive Growth
individual countries, leaving the brand in a
the Irish Government published a new
its specific impact from that of the other
very vulnerable position in those markets.
Criminal Law (Sexual Offenses) Bill.
elements of the marketing mix. It would
In such instances, social marketing became
especially relevant in a brand’s rebuilding
appear that this was not easy to accom• Check One Two (United Kingdom)
plish, largely because many of the case
efforts because it essentially demanded
Testicular cancer is the most common
studies failed to cite a rigorous approach.
that brand managers understand the
cancer in men ages 25–49 years. But, if
When analytics were used, some form of
nuances of a particular local market and
diagnosed at an early stage, it has the
attribution modeling was preferred. It
tailor their communications appropriately.
highest cure rate of all cancers. Check
appeared that most of this was not based
In an age of globalization, it’s important
One Two’s mission was to promote
on models built at the individual person
that marketers think global but act local.
awareness and prevention of testicular
or household level but, rather, on the use
And social can be used in a very cost-
cancer through a comedy campaign it
of an aggregate approach.
effective manner as a key part of the local
called #FeelingNuts developed by the
The accurate measurement of the impact
marketing approach.
digital agency, Jam. The effort initially
of organic social communications is far
In some cases, the brand was believed to
targeted online influencers, such as
more challenging than it is for paid social.
lack an affinity with millennials, and social
Alpha M (a leading influencer for men’s
It became clear, for example, in many
understandably was as a key tactic to use
health, style, and grooming advice) and
of the 2015 Prize for Social Strategy case
to reengage that target audience with the
Daz Black (a top “Vineographer”—
studies, that social’s organic reach was
brand. My takeaway was that some mar-
i.e., heavily-followed user on Vine, the
being grossly overestimated. This occurred
keters somehow ignore millennials—or, at
video-sharing site owned by Twitter).
because the reach of an organic post or
a minimum, fail to realize how different
YouTube, Vine, and Instagram subse-
Tweet was being computed as the simple
their behavior and communication pat-
quently helped spread the message to a
aggregate of the number of followers or
terns are—until it’s almost too late. With
wider community. Awareness surged—
friends. This is a problem in that it cannot
disaster at hand, some of the marketers in
with the added benefit that no media
be assumed that an organic communica-
the Warc group of 33 finalists came up with
budget was required.
tion is ever “in view” to all followers or
imaginatively creative ways in which to
friends. Moreover, there’s no deduplica-
establish the relevance of the brand among
Social as a Soft Metric of
tion of the same person across followers.
this important demo segment.
Effectiveness
It’s very likely, in fact, that the true reach of
“Social as a savior” is a particularly
The use of social media can produce a diz-
an organic post is far lower than the simple
apt descriptor of how some not-for-profit
zying array of metrics, such as “Likes,”
aggregation of followers.
organizations have been able to use social
re-Tweets, posts, shares, impressions (i.e.,
The impact of paid social, by contrast,
marketing to achieve their goals. The fol-
the number of times a communication was
can be assessed more accurately because
lowing are two examples from the Warc list
seen), etc.
a social-media platform is able to identify
of finalists:
But it can be challenging to relate these
all of the consumers who were exposed (or
“soft” metrics to hard measures of brand
not exposed) to a paid piece of social com-
impact (i.e., sales lift), and, thereby, fully
munications. An effective way to measure
The campaign objective was to raise
evaluate the true impact of social mar-
the impact of paid social is to use an A/B
awareness of sex trafficking by utiliz-
keting. Of course, if no other tactics were
design, where the in-store buying behavior
ing Tinder, the dating/social mobile
used in the marketing mix, then it would
of the exposed consumers is compared to
app. The campaign was the brainchild
be a simple matter to assign all credit for
that of a balanced unexposed group. Behav-
of the Irish ad agency, eightytwenty,
any positive brand impact to social. And,
iorally tracked research panels—those that
and involved creating a number of fake
indeed, there were a number of Warc case-
use a sample of consumers—originally were
profiles of women on Tinder. The first
study submissions in which social market-
used in such analyses.5 Current practices,
profile picture began looking normal
ing was used exclusively and the power of
however, tend to prefer “cookie matching”
(enticing men to match or click further),
social was evident.
5
• Immigrant Council of Ireland
and the subsequent photos proceeded
In the majority of cases, however, social
to tell a story of an abused woman.
was used as a supplement to paid media,
Three weeks after the campaign ended,
and it required analytical work to isolate
234 JOURNAL
OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH September 2015
“The Power of Like2: How Social Marketing Works,” comScore, June 12, 2012. Retrieved
on July 27, 2015, from http://www.comscore.com/
Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2012/
The-Power-of-Like-2-How-Social-Marketing-Works
How Brands Using Social Media Ignite Marketing and Drive Growth thearf.org
The 2015 Warc Price for Social Strategy
Oscar Mayer campaign benchmarks and
case studies contained many examples that
of the bacon phenomenon by creat-
included social, and lifted brand sales with the
invention since whatever came before
successfully put the brand at the center
ing, as USA Today observed, “The best
sliced bread.”6
combined effort of an overall campaign.
• Coca-Cola: “Share-a-Coke US”
One of the key aspects of social is shar-
over research panels. In this analytical
The role of paid and earned social was
ing, and Coca-Cola provided teenagers
approach, many of the consumers who are
critical. It began with well-known food
with something very personal to share.
exposed to paid social communications
bloggers sharing their creations, thereby
The Coca-Cola brand name was taken
have their “social cookies” anonymously
helping build awareness and providing
off of 20-ounce bottles and replaced
linked to the cookies used to identify their
inspiration. Then, a carefully selected
with 250 of the most common teen
in-store buying through retailer loyalty-
consumer segment was targeted and
names. The campaign originally was
card data. No research panel is needed
asked to “create, snap, and share” its
created by Ogilvy in Australia. Coca-
with this approach. Another advantage:
own creations on social platforms. Insta­
Cola knew from running the Share-a-
Cookie-matching provides the benefit of
gram, Facebook, and Twitter were the
Coke campaign in various countries
data-sample sizes that can be as many as
three main social channels. The results
that a teenager could be persuaded to
1,000-times larger than one would obtain
were impressive.
buy a bottle of Coke with her or her
with a research panel.
own name on it. But in this U.S. cam• Oscar Mayer: “Wake Up and Smell
paign, the soft-drink marketer added a
Social Driving Sales Success
the Bacon”
new dimension: encouraging the teen
Putting aside the specific contribution of
In one of the most creative entries, the
target audience also to purchase and
social marketing to a brand’s performance,
agency 360i built a digital experience for
share bottles with their friends’ names
it was clear that the 2015 Warc Prize for
Oscar Mayer around the unmistakable
on them.
Social Strategy case studies contained
sensory experience of cooking bacon by
The campaign intentionally was
many examples of campaigns that
blending a custom bacon scent, prototyp-
launched small in scale, allowing teens
ing a device to deliver it, and developing
to discover the campaign on their own
an accompanying alarm-clock app.
terms and take ownership of it. Custom
• included social, and
• lifted brand sales with the combined
effort of an overall campaign.
Among the programs I ranked the highest:
• Chobani Yogurt: “#PlainInspiring”
The device was promoted by a video
20-ounce packaging with 250 popular
that parodied contemporary fragrance
teen names generated instant interest
advertisements, and fans were encour-
as word of mouth spread through the
aged to apply to win a limited-edition
social sphere. The only paid media, at
clock. The alarm also was seeded with
that point, was search, which was used
reporters and influencers, but only
to react to organic interest and drive traf-
In the Australian yogurt market, Cho-
5,000 were offered to “bacon enthu-
fic to ShareaCoke.com.
bani was the premium-price brand, but
siasts” through a sweepstake on the
Television and online video followed
its media budget had been reduced to a
Oscar Mayer site. Even so, the app was
the initial soft launch. The company then
level of just 4 percent of previous cam-
at the center of the brand’s social com-
initiated mass “digital takeovers” —
paigns. By introducing a social media
munications that involved both paid
which use large digital advertisements
campaign that promoted yogurt-eating
and earned media.
to obtain virtually 100 percent share of
occasions beyond breakfast (created by
Not surprisingly, the campaign
the agency Weber Shandwick), the brand
became a viral sensation and also gar-
was able to grow its sales significantly
nered earned television coverage. “Wake
and, also important, to maintain its
Up and Smell the Bacon”—a campaign
premium-price position.
with social at its core—exceeded all past
voice on participating sites’ home pages.
“Wake up with a whiff of bacon,” USA Today, March 5,
2014. Retrieved July 27, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.
com/story/tech/columnist/2014/03/05/oscar-mayer-baconalarm-gadget-and-app-tech-now/6072297/
6
September 2015 JOURNAL
OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH 235
How Brands Using Social Media Ignite Marketing and Drive Growth
It’s especially impressive to see the creative
organic efforts—needs further development. Because social generates so
applications of social and how it can be used
to amplify the impact of traditional media.
many intervening metrics, it’s easy to rely
on them as evidence of success. It’s clear,
however, that some of the metrics being
used to evaluate organic social marketing
In addition, a creative digital outdoor
Summary
plan featured interactive human-sized
If ever I had any doubt, the 2015 Prize for
Coke bottles on bus shelters where teens
Social Strategy case studies demonstrated
could type in their names, take a photo,
that social media has become central to
and share it with their friends.
the marketing efforts of many brands and
Social came back into the mix with
organizations. And, in turn, the palette
significant paid support behind organic
of tools that a marketer can use has been
content across Facebook, Instagram,
enhanced dramatically by social.
are overstated.
In the case of paid social media, more
and more tools are becoming available
to allow marketers to more definitively
understand its impact. This especially is
important because recent changes in the
ranking algorithms of some social platforms have had the effect of favoring paid
versus organic communications in terms of
Twitter, and Tumblr. Endorsements
It’s especially impressive to see the
from teens’ favorite online person-
creative applications of social and how
alities further ignited sharing. All in
it can be used to amplify the impact of
all, social-centric effort delivered
traditional media. I would venture to
Gian M. Fulgoni is co-founder and chairman emeritus
outstanding results, with U.S. sales
say that social can bring marketing crea-
of comScore, Inc. Previously he was president/ceo of
increasing by 11 percent versus the
tivity to life, especially even in those
Information Resources, Inc. During a 40-year career at
prior year. And the Share-a-Coke cam-
instances where media budgets are lim-
the c-level of corporate management, he has overseen
paign in North America was more
ited or nonexistent.
the development of many innovative technological
reach and frequency. successful in driving sales than in any
The only current shortcoming I see
other country where the campaign had
is that the specific isolation on business
advertising effectiveness. He is a regular contributor to
been launched.
results of the impact of social—especially
the Journal of Advertising Research.
236 JOURNAL
OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH September 2015
methods of measuring consumer behavior and