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Can a single number capture the value of social followers?
Many social media marketers are eager to tie a hard number to the value of their efforts. To that end, firms have attempted to analyze the worth of fans and followers on social networking sites like Facebook.
Digital consulting firm Syncapse and research company Hotspex have come up with an empirical formula that puts an average value of $136.38 on the Facebook fans of the site’s 20 biggest corporate brands. Most of that value comes from how much the fans will spend on the brand’s products, with additional dollars coming from customer loyalty, recommendations and earned media.
The study found that people spent significantly more on products they were fans of, compared with consumers who were not fans. In the case of many of Facebook’s most popular food and beverage marketers, fan spending was more than double that of non-fans.
The pattern of increased fan spending held across all of the top 20 brands on Facebook, with differences ranging from 51% for Oreo fans to 168% for fans of Nokia.
Other studies have shown social followers are more likely to buy a brand’s products, but have focused on whether such consumers are brand-loyal rather than how much they actually spend.
Social media management company Vitrue also attempted to put a dollar figure on Facebook followings. That study examined impressions in the Facebook newsfeed and their earned-media value to arrive at a figure of $3.60.
Syncapse and Hotspex calculated the earned-media component of a fan’s value nearly twice as highly, at $6.79. Their report did not outline the methodology used to arrive at that figure, however. It did note that overall, fans vary widely in how valuable they are for brands.
“Some fans are intensely active while others are totally inactive,” the report said.
Thanks to emarketer.com for sharing this!
Tools We Use To Measure Performance
Social media isn’t there simply for broadcasting – you need to engage. Being present on social media is a good first step, but being savvy with your communications will set you apart. Try this 3 step approach to get you going in the right direction:
- Observe
- Respond
- Engage
Engaging is no doubt the most difficult part, but once you test the water you know where to dive in – asking questions or providing valuable information to others.
Remember, you can follow on Twitter and still be a leader.
Tweeting in the dark? Here are a couple of our favorite tools – play around with your accounts & see what you discover: