2. Background This analysis is designed to highlight the extent to which brands across several industries are leveraging the potential of Facebook The results are based on observed US internet behavior, leveraging Compete’s patented tracking and normalization processes Data are for February 2011 only and are not adjusted for any seasonal trends Brands included those in the financial services, automotive, retail, telecom, and travel industries; a total of 43 brands were included For each included brand, we included the brand-centric face pages; in some cases we also included other pages (such as those dedicated to recurring characters in advertisements) We used two primary analytics The first is a simple ranking of Unique Visitors (UVs) to Facebook pages UVs are different than “likes” or “dislikes”; “likes”/”dislikes” are cumulative over time; UVs are unique people in a given period independent pod whether they “like” or “dislike” the brand or page The second is an index of Facebook page UVs to UVs to the same brand’s domain The premise is that a higher ratio would suggest , at a high level, a greater leveraging of Facebook relative to primary site strength Next steps are included at the end
3. Walmartleads brands in page visitors Unique Visitors to Facebook Pages of Brands Shown (Feb 2011, MMs, Avg=Avg of all brands included—see Appendix) Among included brands, Walmarthad more unique visitors (UVs) in Feb. than any other brand Walmarthad nearly 1M UVs in February, followed by State Farm and BMW’s US page The set average was 87,000 Unique Visitors Brands not shown were below the average Note: Results here do not reflect seasonality, nor how fresh a page is or its content
4. Only Apple’s iTunes has more FB page UVs than domain UVs Ratio of Facebook Pages UVs to Domain UVs (Feb 2011, Avg, Mean among all brands included—see Appendix) Apples’ iTunes FB page had 1.26 times as many UVs as the iTunes site iTunes was the only site with an index greater than 1.0 Most sites appear to be under-leveraging Facebook Across the set, the index averaged 0.07, and the median was 0.01 Note: Results here do not reflect seasonality of FB or the brand sites, nor the freshness of FB content and/or site content
5. Why iTunes might over-index Apple’s iTunes FB success relative to its site may reflect the variety of activities and content available on its page, but… Is also reflects that itunes.com is used mostly to download iTunes software
6. Next Steps While the results suggest the potential for much greater leveraging of Facebook, the results here are preliminary and a discussion starter Recall: They are based on a subset of all brands and only a single month of data Logical follow-up research questions include: To what extent are FB visitors and brand domain site visitors the same people? If they are the same, can one be used to drive traffic to the other? If they are different, how can they be cross-pollinated? To what extent are results seasonal? Does Facebook visitation drive business? For example, are consumers that visit FB site and the brand more likely to buy/convert/book than those that don’t? Do visitors to one brand’s Facebook page buy/convert/book on rivals’ sites? To what extent are multiple Facebook pages from the same brand contributing to overall interest?
9. About Compete, Inc. Compete, a Kantar Media company, helps the world’s top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading advertisers, agencies and publishers rely on Compete’s products and services to create engaging online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete’s online panel—the largest in the industry—makes the web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people’s lives. Compete is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit http://www.compete.com/.