User engagement must be measured

by Marc Nohr Marketing Direct 01-Apr-08

Marc Nohr gives his opinions on social networking

Speaking on the radio recently, Ben Elton argued that social networking sites signal "the end of privacy". Along with reality TV, they represent a confessional tendency, a desire on the part of the Facebook generation to reveal all. Only when he said it, it sounded funnier.

To the DM fraternity, this phenomenon is a major opportunity. We don't need to devise elaborate strategies for eliciting information about consumers if they're willingly giving it. Neither do we need to find ingenious ways of targeting consumers if they're identifying themselves to us. Or do we?

In a recent posting, a blogger shared the results of a test he had conducted which pitted the direct response credentials of Facebook against Google. He devised a Facebook ad, set the targeting parameters and tested it against a Google ad with similar content. I'm sure you can guess the outcome. The cost per response on Google was 25 per cent lower than Facebook. The conversion rate was 100 per cent better. No surprises there. People seeking a product on Google are further down the purchase funnel than those on Facebook, so are likely to be cheaper to recruit.

You could argue he missed the point - since Google searches clearly signal intent to purchase, while that's not how people use Facebook. The sites are different. So if Google is direct response nirvana, does that mean we should give up on social networks from a response perspective?

Yes and no. Yes, if we are expecting social networks to generate the same kind of leads as search. But as punters are at different points of the purchase funnel, it may mean using social networks not to close the sale, but to open it, to encourage dialogue (or polylogues) between customers and promote advocacy. Which in turn poses two new challenges. First, how to generate the kind of content that will encourage this behaviour, if it is not a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'm banner. And second, to develop the kind of metrics that will allow us to track how effectively (including cost-effectively) we open conversations and deepen engagement.

Microsoft's new Engagement tool is one such attempt, and hopefully timely, too. A recent JupiterResearch report said that 75 per cent of clients simply aren't assessing the effectiveness of their efforts to stimulate user interaction. It's time for us to change that for a start. If it matters, let's measure it.

- Marc Nohr is the managing partner of Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw

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