How much is a Facebook fan worth?

There has been a lot of discussion about this topic lately, among brands and marketers alike, that are struggling to quantify the value of social marketing efforts. Here in Albany, a local car dealership has been advertizing a $50 incentive to become their fan on Facebook. Another company has come up with a formula that they consider to be a scientific method of putting a dollar value on a fan, while other marketers rebut this formula as inaccurate.

So, who is right?

Honestly, I don’t think it matters.  And at the end of the day, will the perceived value of your Facebook fans help inform any meaningful strategic social marketing decisions?

Probably not.

To effectively use social media as a marketing tool, marketers must be able to demonstrate the value that a follower base delivers to their clients.  At Media Logic, we are taking a more qualitative approach to determining how social marketing is benefitting our clients’ brands and bottom lines. Using four metrics categories, we paint a valuable picture of the marketing impact we’re making through our clients’ social channels, one that delivers valuable insights and actionable conclusions.

Loyalty
Loyalty metrics look at the behavior of repeat visitors and the actions that caused people to become repeat visitors. By understanding the actions that encourage loyalty we can refine messaging, target promotions, and identify similar audiences.

Sample Metrics:

• Cross-pollination between different channels (Facebook to website, website to Twitter, etc.)
• Visitor recency (how long since the last visit)
• Comparing trends between new and returning visitors

Engagement
There are many different ways that visitors can engage with your brand. The goal is to determine which of these ways provide the most value in terms of conversions and loyalty.

Sample Metrics:

• Top-viewed and top-commented posts (so we know the types of content people find most interesting)
• Conversion rate and conversion efficiency (would be applied if we were driving people to a certain action)
• Raw author contribution (which measures the overall quantity of new content)
• Conversation rate (number interactions per post)
• Media consumption (video & photo views)

Authority/Reach
Authority and reach measurements help to gauge how widely content is being found and consumed. To measure authority and reach we take an outside-in view of traffic coming to our site.

Sample Metrics:

• Number of in-bound links from blogs and other sources
• Fans and fan growth rate
• Page views and page view growth rate

General KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure the overall performance and health of marketing campaigns. The metrics in this category are specifically chosen to measure success factors for individual businesses. In most cases, KPIs are measured against targets, which are pre-determined indicators for success or failure.

Sample Metrics:

• Demographic and geographic breakdown (to determine if we are hitting our target audience)
• Daily page view growth rate (measured against the number of followers to see if its keeping pace)
• Fan retention rate

To assign an arbitrary dollar amount to social connections, we would be underestimating the value of the very organic relationship between companies and their fans. And besides, every fan has significantly different levels of influence and engagement with brands and within their social networks. But by looking at patterns across the four metrics we’ve outlined, the real value of fans becomes much more evident, as we begin to understand why people choose to be a fan. And understanding what motivates consumers to action and advocacy on behalf of a brand is invaluable information for agencies and companies developing and refining social media optimization strategies.

Just as eMarketer was making this prediction in January, Media Logic was ramping up a strategic social marketing effort with Healthways SilverSneakers Fitness Program® that would help prove its validity and demonstrate how social media can effectively engage the older adult crowd. By implementing a collaborative marketing approach and launching a site specifically designed to encourage information sharing in a safe, supportive online older adult community, SilverSneakers witnessed active engagement on its Facebook page grow from fewer than 500 fans in December 2009 to nearly 12,000 fans today.

The success of our work with SilverSneakers supports the upward trend of social media adoption among older adults while highlighting the value of social media as a marketing tool enabling conversation-centric, two-way models of communication for membership-based organizations.

Working Social Marketing Into a Mature Network
As far as membership organizations go, the award-winning SilverSneakers Fitness Program was thriving – offered to Medicare Advantage plan members through their health plan clients at more than 9,400 participating fitness and wellness centers across the country, SilverSneakers provides an innovative blend of exercise classes, health education and social opportunities to help mature adults maintain active, independent lifestyles. Studies have even found that older adults who participate in SilverSneakers are admitted to hospitals less frequently, have lower overall healthcare costs and experience a significantly reduced risk of depression.

SilverSneakers was already a hugely popular program, but the strategic use of social marketing has provided the organization with new and effective ways of connecting with potential members, and perhaps more importantly, encouraging loyalty to the program, ongoing member participation and involvement.

“The program is an inherently social experience,” according to our client and Healthways’ senior manager of Member Engagement Marketing, Michelle Eckert. “Introducing social media has allowed our participants to further enhance their social connections by sharing stories, photos, tips and notes of encouragement to others. Our experience supports the research that shows older adults citizens will adopt social media and participate, provided they see content and groups dedicated to their needs and interests.”

Managing Social Media Without Breaking a Sweat
While SilverSneakers began experimenting with social media late last year, the program needed a systemic approach, guidance, and support to create stronger interest and active participation. In January, the organization partnered with us and deployed Zeitgeist & Coffee^sm, our social media management suite specially designed to help organizations ramp up their social media marketing efforts, making them more effective and easier to implement and sustain.

Since implementing Zeitgeist & Coffee, SilverSneakers has realized…

• A significant spike in Facebook fans
• A dramatic increase in fans’ levels of engagement
• More fans who are potential SilverSneakers members visiting the Facebook page to learn about the program
• Friends and family members of SilverSneakers participants are joining the Facebook page to lend support and enthusiasm

SilverSneakers’ experience with Media Logic and Zeitgeist & Coffee has meant the difference between having a Fan page and having an active community.  By providing the methodology, marketing expertise and technology to fully leverage social media as a marketing a tool, we’ve made it easier for organizations to engage older adults and foster a meaningful social presence with the mature audience.

Related Articles

• Engaging the Aging: Creating Conversation for SilverSneakers (logicaljuice.mlinc.com)

Watch as our conversation manager, Michelle, provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Media Logic and SilverSneakers are using social media as a marketing tool for collaboration and interaction with an active community of older adults.