Benchmarking Facebook marketing campaign performance

March 27, 2011 - PRLog -- 28 March 2011, Singapore - Blugrapes today revealed average click through rates and fan conversion rates, based on their Facebook marketing campaigns conducted across the ASEAN region. To date, these have delivered over 5 billion impressions , with some 2.4 million users’ clicks  and more than 700,000 trackable leads  acquired for companies, including Fortune 500 consumer brands. The aim of Blugrapes’ study was to provide businesses with quantitative marketing performance indicators to gauge the actual performance and effectiveness of their Facebook marketing campaigns, when deployed across different industries and countries. This is the first time that such statistics have been revealed within the ASEAN region.

This study was based upon Facebook marketing campaigns driven by Blugrapes, a leading performance-driven marketing company, focusing on social media marketing, mobile marketing, media tracking and integrated digital marketing solutions. These social media campaigns were carried out by Blugrapes from mid 2009 to early 2011. The marketing campaigns were initiated by companies including Coca Cola, Dulux, Friso and Toshiba Notebook Computers.

Click Through Rates and Conversion rates
Blugrapes’ study showed that Facebook marketing campaigns deployed in ASEAN have on average a 0.04% click through rate  (CTR), with lead conversion rates of about 33% across 15 consumer marketing industries. These performance indicators are basic measures of a campaign’s performance. CTR measures the engagement quality of the ads served, while lead conversion measures lead acquisition capabilities.  The number of Facebook users who click “Like” (known as leads) forms a community who willingly accept direct and on-going communications with the brand. This is frequently the objective of marketers, who wish to form direct conversation channels with their consumers.

The 0.04% CTR for Facebook Ads is typically lower than a pure online display advertisement of 0.2% , as Facebook Ads are intended to be less intrusive. This means that only users who are genuinely interested would click on the Facebook Ads resulting in the higher lead conversion rates compared to typical online advertisements at only 2-3%  (Facebook marketing lead conversion is 33%). The ability of the platform to target and segment users for advertisement also enhances relevancy that contributes to the high conversion rates.

“We launched this Facebook marketing benchmark study, as it is important for businesses to see if their campaigns are effective and meeting the right performance targets. With social media strategies becoming further entrenched in the regular marketing mix, brand owners want to know if their investments are producing the right results. I believe we will see social media lead conversion rates increasing in the future as more sophisticated consumer targeting becomes available. This is only the beginning, as location-based social media services are being adopted that allow localised relevancy and also quantification of consumer foot traffic within a reasonable degree of accuracy,” said Ryan Lim, Business Director of Blugrapes.

Performance indicators across industries
Blugrapes revealed the CTR and lead conversion rates across 15 industry groups – Beauty, Consumables, Education, Entertainment, Events, Food & Beverage (F&B), Fashion, Finance, Government, Industrial, Maternity, Service, Technology, Transport and Travel. Industries with the highest CTRs and lead conversion rates were Entertainment, F&B and Travel ranging from 0.07% to 0.09%. This is because social media marketing campaigns within these service-oriented industries typically involved compelling content and were often filled with time-sensitive tactical promotions. These strategies attract and engage users better and have an immediate call to action.  

“When it comes to social media marketing, content and relevance is key. With engaging content and the right exciting offers, Blugrapes saw lead conversion rates increase as close to 90% for some of our campaigns,” explained Ryan Lim.

Performance Indicators across countries
In Blugrapes’ study, the top three countries with the highest CTRs were Indonesia, the Philippines and India. Interestingly enough these countries were also reported to have the largest Facebook user populations . The countries with the highest lead conversion rates were Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. By contrast, developed countries like Germany, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong had 3 to 4 times lower CTRs and lead conversion rates. This is because consumers in more developed and sophisticated countries are usually more discerning when it comes to advertisements. They also tend to be more reserved and cautious about the authenticity of the claims of products online given the numerous and constant bombardments of advertisements online.  

“Having lower CTRs and lead conversion rates in developed countries does not mean that consumers in these geographies are not reading the advertisements or wanting to engage with the brands. However, it does mean that these marketers may need to provide more relevancy and value to consumers, in terms of interesting content or compelling offers, in order to encourage users to engage with your product or services,” said Ryan Lim.

What this means for marketers
While there is currently, no single set of agreed industry indicators to accurately measure the ROI for social media campaign, hard metrics like CTR and lead conversion rate serve as good benchmarks for businesses, looking to improve relationships with consumers. This study has revealed the following tips that can help marketers refine their social media campaign:
1.   Optimize advertisements on a daily basis to ensure good CTRs
2.   Ensure consistency of copy, image and destination to reflect consumer relevancy
3.   Focus on consumer value through compelling content and clear call to action will ensure high CTR and lead conversion rates

“Social media marketing is similar to courtship.  The first steps in a social media campaign are to create content, build relationships, grow the communities and cultivate dialogue. The second steps are more critical, when businesses must engage and nurture their fans in a meaningful and credible way. The final stage is for marketers to find out how they can convert these leads into regular and loyal customers, who are willing to not only buy their products and services, but to act as ambassadors encouraging others to also become customers,” concluded Ryan.

# # #

About Blugrapes
Founded in 2006, Blugrapes is a performance driven marketing company providing Facebook marketing, mobile marketing, media tracking and integrated digital marketing solutions. It has built Facebook communities of over 70,000 fans, as well as a regional interactive SMS solution used by more than 100,000 unique users to date. It also provides highly customized marketing accountability and reporting systems to aid marketers and agencies improve marketing effectiveness and returns. Its clients include Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, L'Oréal and many others in the consumer marketing industry. http://www.blugrapes.com