Digital Marketing’s Effect on Business Performance

by Enrico Contosta

Thesis Advisor: Jill Maher

Finding the Missing Link

PREVIEW

•What is it?•Why is this important?•How do most companies use it?•Thesis•Research findings•What can we learn?

What is it?

?

Social Media is “an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio.”wikipedia.org

Really it’s just a fancy way of describing the immeasurable number of conversations happening online.

Why is this important?

?

3 of 4 Americans use Social TechnologyForrester, The Growth of Social Technology Adoption, 2008

Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online

activity – more than email.Nielsen, Global Faces & Network Places, 2009

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populated in the world.

Only India and China are more populated.

500 BILLION.The number of minutes spent on Facebook each month in 2010.

500 BILLION.The number of minutes spent on Facebook each month in 2010.

In 2009, it was only 145 billion.

Social media is democratizing communications. In government and business.“Technology is shifting the power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are in control.”Rupert Murdoch, Global Media Entrepreneur

93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media.Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008

93% of social media users believe a company should have a presence in social media.Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008

That doesn’t mean 93% of social media users want to hear more one-way broadcasting.

Social Media is supposed to be a Dialogue,

not a MONOLOGUE.

How do most companies use it?

?

85% of social media users believe that a company should go further than just having a presence on social sites and

should also interact with its customers.Cone, Business in Social Media Study, September 2008

Organizations that do it right?

?

What does it take to use Social Media effectively?

Thesis:Through the use of

Content, Engagement, and Analytics, successful business performance can be achieved.

Companies Analyzed

Research Findings:

Content

Metric Positive/ Negative

Relationship

Significance

Blog -Frequency of Updates per Month

+

New Products or Features

-

Promotions - .037

Events - .001

Social Integration Buttons

+

Call-to-Action Step

-

Obvious Sales Process

-

SEO Grade +

Growth in Sales (%) vs. Tested Metric

Research Findings:

Engagement

Metric Positive/ Negative

Relationship

Significance

Facebook Page -

# of Fans/ Likes -

Frequency of Posts

-

Welcome Page -

General Product/ Service Information

-

Customer Support -

Product/ Service Engagement

-

Fan-to-Fan Community Engagement

-

Promotional Use +

Rich Media Use -

Call-to-Action Implementation

+

Growth in Sales (%) vs. Tested Metric

Faceb

oo

k

Growth in Sales (%) vs. Tested MetricMetric Positive/

Negative Relationship

Significance

Twitter Handle -

Tweets per Day -

# of Followers + .111

# Following -

Klout Score + .156

KL: True Reach + .108

KL: Amplification

+ .034

KL: Network +Metric Positive/ Negative

Relationship

Significance

Location-based Services

- .150

Android/ iPhone App

- .143

Twit

ter

Mob

ile

Research Findings:

Analytics

Metric Positive/ Negative

Relationship

Significance

World Rank -

U.S. Rank -

Sites Linking In + .084

Unique Visitors per Month

+

Growth in Sales (%) vs. Tested Metric

An

aly

tics

What can we learn?

?

Social Media is like a giant

magnifying glass on your

company.

Social Media can improve:

Customer

ServiceRepeat

Business

Word of

Mouth

Social Media cannot improve:

Bad Products

or Services

Bad Companies

Fundamental Rules to Live by:

Create Valuable Content

Engage with your Clients

Track and Analyze Analytics

Listen and Identify what your Clients

want to see

?Questions