What’s a Facebook Fan Worth?

In typical marketer fashion, marketers are always looking to tie a number to the value of social subscribers and what it can do for a brand.  e-Marketer recently had an interesting post on “What Brand Fans Are Worth.”  Digital consulting firm, Syncapse and research company, Hotspex recently came up with a formula to determine the value of a follower/fan.

The formula found that on average a Facebook fan is worth around $136.38 when it comes to the 20 biggest brands on the site (McDonald’s, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Pringles, Oreo, and Skittles).

The value was determined by looking at how much fans spend on the brands’ products, customer loyalty, recommendations and earned media.

The study found people spend twice as much on products they are Facebook fans of than non-fans spend on that product or brand.  In the world of loyalty programs, this is a very interesting number.

As you may know, customers that are part of loyalty programs visit stores twice as often as non-members and spend an average as four times a much as those that are not in the program.   This study makes a good case for why Facebook pages should be part of an overall loyalty program strategy.

Though, I would go even a step further to say not only should Facebook and other social sites be a part of the strategy but so should mobile.  After all, there are 270 million mobile phones in the US, and mobile provides one of the easiest and most direct ways to improve engagement with loyalty customers.

Marketers Say Yes to Social Media. Or Not?

eMarketer recently posted the results to the “The Marketing Trends Report 2010” from Anderson Analytics and the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG).

The report found “Marketing ROI” is currently the most important trend to marketing executives.

Social Media also made the top 10 trends for executives with 72 percent of respondents planning a social strategy for this year and 36 percent listing “Social Media ROI” as an important buzzword in 2010.

Don’t get too excited though, according to the same research, even though marketers know they need to have an overall social media strategy – they are also sick of hearing about it.

Along with being one of the most important buzz terms this year, “social media” was also found to be one of the most annoying.  Nearly 30 percent of those surveyed are sick of the phrase.  15 percent were annoyed specifically by Twitter.

That said, even if people are tired of hearing or reading about it (or not), social spending is predicted to increase in 2010 (which is not surprising).

Your best bet – look over the buzzwords and use it as a checklist for your 2010 marketing plan.  And maybe review the buzzwords and make sure you are addressing them (or intentionally not using them).

You can read eMarketer’s full post here.

Don’t Bet Against Mobile Coupons

Time and again, mobile coupon redemption rates have proven to be exceptional when employed as part of both pilot and real-world marketing programs.

As Mobile Marketer concisely put it,

According to Forrester Research, 30 percent of consumers would like to receive mobile coupons.

Redemption rates for mobile coupons range from 5 percent to 15 percent, which is much higher than typical print coupon rates of 1 percent or less.

Thus I’m a little puzzled by this survey from Honeywell and Harris Interactive – which our friends at eMarketer have teed up with the headline “Consumers Slow to Take Advantage of Mobile Coupons.”

Really?  According to the survey, 50% of 18-to-34 year-olds said they would be willing to share their mobile numbers with retailers in order to receive coupons.  To me that screams “green light.”

Maybe the issue is how the questions were phrased – something that has been shown to substantially impact polling in political campaigns.  Obviously, if you ask somebody if they want more advertising in their lives…they’ll probably say no.

But as this generation ages, digital life – specifically organizing one’s activities, shopping and entertainment through mobile devices – will become the norm.  In fact, it already has.  What’s lagging is significant participation by major brands, which will mature mobile coupons as an established marketing channel.

Mobile couponing can take several forms:

• 2D bar codes
• QR codes
• Text coupons
• Calls-to-action driving customers to mobile Internet sites
• Calls-to-action driving customers to mobile apps
• Mobile sites that are themselves coupons
• Mobile apps that are coupons
• ….Or some combination of all of the above

I’ve already moved past the question of “whether or not mobile coupons will catch on.”  They will.  Trust me.  The real horse race is which of these competing technologies, and factions within the ecosystem, will win the day to power mobile couponing and other marketing efforts for major brands.

Oh, and one last thing to watch out for –

The killer app that could permanently dispense with any confusion in this arena will be cloud-based “closed loop redemption systems.”  These systems will allow a retailer to redeem a coupon from any of the above listed channels within their cloud, and will also give retailers the opportunity to seamlessly push coupons out to multiple channels.

Happy couponing, everybody.

Mobile Coupons: Awareness to Action

eMarketer.com

“Mobile coupons tie users from awareness to action.”

Marketers spend $15 billion dollars on coupons every year just in the US, and the economic downturn means consumers are likely to start looking for more discounts. With handset penetration north of 80% according to the Telecommunications Industry Association, the time for widespread mobile coupon usage may have come.

Many types of mobile coupons and several ways of using the offers sent to their phones. Consumers can send texts to codes for specific offers, access the service directly or get SMS alerts when new coupons become available. Also, targeted coupon code offers based on their location, age and gender, which can redeemed at the point of sale.

Quick Stats: Have Students Graduated from E-Mail?

eMarketer Article
October 2008 ROI Study

• More than six out of 10 US high school and college students surveyed “never” or “hardly ever” read marketing e-mails.
• The majority of respondents said companies were not effectively speaking to them personally through e-mail.
• 2/3 of students surveyed said they rarely or never took action after reading marketing e-mails.

How Do Mobile Users Spend Time?

Good data from eMarketer, US mobile users on “phones more than ever, talking, texting, watching videos and using the mobile Web.” For mobile users, SMS text messaging activity leads.

More from the report:

• 54% of mobile users surveyed in September 2008 had increased usage over 25% over the past two years
• Close to four out of five mobile users sent text messages
• One-fifth said their usage had increased by 50% or more
• One-third of respondents talked on their mobile phone more than 10 hours per week
• 34% of respondents ages 17 and under talked for more than 15 hours weekly
• Almost four out of 10 mobile Internet users surfed the mobile Web for 2 or more hours every week.
• 62% of mobile users surveyed said they either already owned or would own one within the next 12 months
• 29% of those who did spent more than 2 hours every week texting

Will Mobile Marketers Pay for Texts?

Source eMarketer

An eMarketer report on the the biggest component of mobile message advertising. According to eMarketer, will reach $4.5 billion in revenues in the US by 2012, from nearly $1.5 billion this year.

Since the Verizon Wireless announcement that it would begin charging $0.03 per SMS message sent to its subscribers, uncertainty on the possibility of doubling or even tripling costs to marketers who send text messages to their subscription Verizon consumers.

John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst at eMarketer, said “Carriers will likely start charging marketers for commercial texts at some point. But in the long run, it will be thought of as negotiating point, rather than a threat to the freedom of the mobile Web.”

Though Verizon Wireless has rescinded its October 9, 2008  announcement that increase fees to subscribers on its network, this data provides clear insight that text messaging revenue is on the rise. Verizon indicated that it had not initiated an increase in fees since 2003.

Text Messaging Drives Mobile Data Growth

In a recent eMarketer report, US mobile data service revenues rose to $14.8 billion in the first half of 2008, according to CTIA, up 40% over the first half of 2007.

Text messaging played a big role in the mobile date revenue jump.

• Data revenues reached $10.5 billion.
  
• Mobile data accounts for 1/5 of mobile revenue.
• According to CTIA, Americans sent 75 billion text messages in June 2008 alone. Texts are part of a trend toward using mobile handsets to do more than just talk.
• More than 3 out of 10 US Internet users ages 18 to 24 surveyed last year said after online searches, they were likely to use text messages to communicate about services, products and brands.

Read more

Industry Stats: Mobile Ad Spend Continues to Rise

eMarketer

Projections continue to report on the mobile advertising spend. In this recent eMarketer report, advertisers worldwide will spend $2.4 billion on mobile in 2009, up from $1 billion this year.

“Some US universities have courses in mobile marketing right now. Mobile is at a point where online was 10 years ago.”

Total worldwide spending on mobile message advertising alone will reach $14.2 billion in 2012.

In the US, spending on mobile ads will reach $6.5 billion in 2012, up from $1.7 billion in 2008.

View article.

Industry Stats: SMS Drives Mobile Data Spend in Q1 2008

eMarketer

Mobile data revenues reached $49 billion worldwide in Q1 2008, accounting for nearly one-fifth of all mobile services spending, according to Informa Telecoms and Media.

Messaging-oriented services such as SMS and MMS still dominate the mobile data revenue picture compared with mobile entertainment.

View e-Marketer article.