A project for the WFA DIGITAL NETWORK

March 2011

The value of a fan?

This is an abridged public version of learningsprepared for the World Federation of Advertisers.

Full report is available on request to WFA members:http://www.wfanet.org/en

Some background• Challenge posed by WFA’s Digital Network

• MB & Dynamic Logic agreed to help

• Not about an arbitrary $ figure for media/ sales value

• All about how to build brand and optimise fan pages

• Bespoke reports already with participants – this report is an abridged overview of findings for industry learning

• Many thanks to all WFA members who took part

Marketers

•How are they approaching the use of social media?

•What do they expect from social media?

Brand Fans

•How and why are they using brand fan pages?

•Are fan pages improving brand opinions? How?

Phase 1 Phase 2

Unique two phase research project: combining two perspectives

What do you consider to be “the value of a fan”?

WFA members’ view: brand value over business metrics

85%

85%

80%

75%

50%

45%

15%

From liking to love: How fan

pages build brands

96% spending more on social

Time and money versus expectation?

But unsure about the returns

Social media fan base ROI?

Fans already outspend non-fans by over 4x. The fan page challenge is to deepen the relationship

Source: Brandz, 2010 global database

Share of wallet

62%

67%

83%

100%

Fans

4%

13.4%

Bonding

Advantage

Performance

Relevance

Presence

19%

31%

37%

50%

Non-Fans

1%

2.8%

Qualitative learning about how to engage is available

Ignoring social

media,

staying out of game

Jumping on

bandwagon —

"must be there"

Thoughtfully integrated

program

• Less relevant/current

and trustworthy

• Complete loss of

control (consumers

define the brand by

themselves)

• Ability to listen to

consumers and

understand their needs

• Consumers co-own

the brand and

evangelize

• Consumers see right

through this — and it

kills credibility

• Traditional marketing

approaches alienate

consumers

Listening is key to success

Source: Firefly Language of Love

Phase Two: Learning from our brands’ fans

• 24 fan pages from large companies

• Categories included confectionery, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, personal care and telecommunications

• US, UK, Australia, France, Germany and Sweden plus some global

Phase Two: Methodology

Wall post:"Dear BRAND fans,

your opinion is important to us!

Please help us improve this page by answering

our short 5 minute survey."

We spoke mainly to existing fans...

Virtually all page visitors completing our surveys were registered fans.

They had typically been registered for 3-4 months.

9

19

32

20

11

9

Registered today

Less than a month

2-3 months

4-6 months

7-12 months

More than a year

Fan Tenure (%)

Visitors 5%

Fans 95%

First thing we learned:

Size matters!

But it certainly isn’t everything…

0 500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000

Bigger fan pages generally rated betterBut number of fans doesn’t tell the whole story

Fan

Ind

exR

atin

g

# of Fans

Low

High Correlation: 0.28

FanIndexRating

Overall opinion

“Very favourable”

Recommendation likelihood

“Very likely”

Revisit likelihood

“Very likely”

Attention to brand posts

“Pay a lot of attention, read them regularly”

The FanIndex rating is a composite measure

FanIndexRating

Fan pageattributes

Impact on brand equity

Impact on engagement

We diagnose drivers of the FanIndex ratingand then assess impact on brand measures

Benefits of being a fan

Fan pagecontent

Impact on brand appeal

Starting with the basics:

Trust is a must have

Fan page attributes (agree strongly) %

35

36

37

39

42

43

45

48

55

Information I was looking for

New and innovative

Wide variety of information

Stylish design

Useful information

Fun and engaging content

Clear and uncluttered

Trustworthy source of information

Easy to use and navigate

Most pages we assessed are delivering well on trust

Trust

Transparency

Authenticity

Familiarity Likeability

Expertise

The Language of Love has taught us:maintain trust through transparency

Source: Firefly Language of Love

Key differentiators:

Variety, innovation and style

Appear as news, never advertising.

Keep them guessing about what comes next...

They must provide me with information, good knowledge

about the brand so that I could share that

with friends like an ‘expert’

-Male, 19

Fan Page Benefits (Top Box) %

Fans most value news & information;

13%

32%

34%

41%

45%

47%

55%

58%

61%

62%

It gives me a sense of status

Allows me share my thoughts and ideas

I enjoy feeling part of a brand community

Access to free downloads and virtual gifts

Enjoy reading other people’s thoughts and ideas

Allows me to show I like the brand

Sales, discounts, coupons and special offers

Contests and giveaways

New product information

Latest news about the brand

also contests and offers

Another key differentiator:

A sense of community

There’s no silver bullet

How you best build appeal will depend on brand personality & objectives

Last but certainly not least:

Post regularly!

More frequent posts tend to result in a better FanIndex rating

123

5

4

Fan

Ind

exR

atin

g

# of PostsLow

High

Correlation: 0.46

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Checklist

Regular posts

Expected Trustworthy brand news

Expected

New product

infoExpected

OffersExpected

Contests/ Giveaways

Expected

InteractionDifferentiator

VarietyDifferentiator

InnovationDifferentiator

CommunityDifferentiator

FunDifferentiator

Conclusions• Fans pages of all sizes can build equity and

engagement, but as expectations increase, brands have to keep pace

• Check your page against our expected checklist

• Then differentiate by going the extra mile in a way which will achieve your specific brand objectives

• Post and comment frequently. Beware campaign mentality: fan pages that ‘go quiet’ can have a detrimental brand impact

• Commit considerable resource: community managers?

Further researchWhile this study has provided some fascinating initial insights, there is still much to learn. Millward Brown and Dynamic Logic hope in future to extend this work with partners to explore areas such as:

• How responses to fan pages vary by category, country, user type

• How attitudes to fan pages change over time

• How attitudinal responses to fan pages link to behavioural and engagement metrics

• How fan page quality relates to efficiency of fan recruitment and retention

Further informationFor further information about this study, please contact:

• WFA Rob Dreblowr.dreblow@wfanet.org

• Millward Brown/ Dynamic Logic Duncan SouthgateDuncan.Southgate@millwardbrown.comJuan Manuel Hernandez JuanManuel.Hernandez@millwardbrown.com

Contact MB or DL to conduct your own bespoke fan page assessment