The document analyzes the return on investment (ROI) from owned social media for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands in Belgium. It finds that in 2011, most brands' social media efforts were not profitable compared to traditional media. Listening provided limited useful customer information for FMCG brands. On platforms like YouTube and Facebook, the majority of brands' videos and pages attracted little traffic, meaning investments did not cover costs. While social media potential exists, many steps are still needed before it becomes an effective channel for local FMCG brands in Belgium.

1. ROI from owned social media for FMCG
brands in Belgium
Steve Goudsmit
To contact me :
• sg@live.be
• http://www.linkedin.com/pub/steve-goudsmit/37/760/ba3
• http://www.twitter.com/stevegoudsmit
June 2012

2. « Social media »
390 millions of results
(in English only)
2

3. « Social media » AND ROI
20,5 millions of results
(in English only)
3

4. « Social media » AND FMCG
3,5 millions of results
(in English only)
4

5. BUT, based on desk research, none of the brands clearly
measures ROI from social media
Are social media a profitable channel for FMCG companies?
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6. Table of content
1. Integration in a process
2. Methodology
3. Listening results
4. Owned media results
5. Conclusions
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7. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
1. Integration in a process
Before launching an owned
media campaign, brands
should ideally check what
customers think about them.
The next step is to use these
informations to define
objectives and translate
them into relevant
performance indicators.
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8. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
2. Methodoly: brand selection
Omission of manufacturers (P&G, Unilever, Kraft, ...) and private label (too
1 low advertising investments)
2 Selection of brands active in Belgium: sample of 520 brands
Focus on local brands & brands active in maximum 2 other countries than
3 Belgium (based on e-commerce websites in Germany, Spain, France, Italy,
United Kingdom, Portugal & Netherlands)
115 brands left
Removing equivocal brand (which have several meanings such as
4 « Zero » chocolate, « Sun » soap, ... )
84 brands left
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9. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
2. Methodology : listening & owned
For the listening part, selection of 20 brands out of 84 (see previous
slide) & study 32 verbatims per brand based on 2 platforms :
LISTENING
• SocialMention: which collects comments, photos, videos, ...
from social medias
• Google Blogs: which collects content from several blogs
For the owned part, selection of 84 brands and identification of the
social medias where they invest:
OWNED
Study on 3 plateforms : YouTube, Twitter & Facebook (omission of
blogs because it is not owned media)
• Period covering year 2011
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10. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
2. Methodology : owned (CPM)
• « Owned » media analysis is based on the respective cost per
contact of traditional media compared with social medias
20,52 €/1000
contacts
14,87 €/1000
contacts
This delivers the maximal value a brand can invest in social media
before reaching the break even point vs traditional medias
10

11. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
2. Methodology : example (CPM)
- Assume a YouTube video with 3.000 views
- CPM YouTube = CPM Television = 20,52 € (in 2011)
(CPMtelevision2011/1000) * number of views = (20,52/1000) *
3000 = 61,56 €, the maximum a brand should have invested
before reaching the break-even point versus traditional media
By interviewing brand managers and comparing their statements
with the calculated result, it has been possible to judge the ROI
from social media
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12. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
3. Listening results (1/2)
• Identification of several limits (sarcasm recognition, poor quality
of the considered platforms & of some verbatims, classification
of those, ... )
... So easy to remove ! Nothing like a Douwe
Meet Danio
Just spilled half of the Egberts in the
ErYouTuberhmicron
bottle... morning
640 Total amount of analysed verbatims
Amount of verbatims that really target the
280 brand (double use of words,…)
65 Total number of verbatims that express a
real opinion about the brands
7 Total verbatims that have been judged
“relevant” (= that can help the brand)
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13. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
3. Listening results(2/2)
 For the major part of FMCG brands, not enough available
information to get a representative information feed
 Previous reasons explain why interviewed brand managers don’t
invest in such services
 It seems more interesting to analyse the product category (tap
water vs. Bru, Spa)
 So far, listening cannot be considered as a substitute to traditionnal
market research techniques
 Listening still helped to detect 2 potential crisis (but from a
qualitative point of view)
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14. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
4. Owned media results
• All the brands are not active on the 3 social medias that have been
studied
25% 20 % 5%
• On Facebook, beer brands (Jupiler, Maes, ...) attract more members
than other brands
• Notion of «social magnetism»: several brands attract more than
others (image we want to be associated to)
• Notion of «tipping point»: minimal threshold from which an
investment is profitable (was not considered by the managers)
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15. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
4. Owned media results: YouTube
YouTube appeals many brands thanks to some videos that carry
millions of views
WHILE
60% of studied videos(356 out of 593) were watched less than
100 times
14 brands out of 16 should not spend in 2011 more than
1000 € before reaching the break-even point against
traditional medias
Examples: for the audience of the total YouTube effort in
2011, Spa should not have spent more than 19 €, Leffe 39€,
Vandemoortele 67 €, Nutrilon 362 € and Lotus 1.363 €
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16. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
4. Owned media results: Facebook
Facebook is more and more used as a communication tool
WHILE
80% of the brands (16 out of 20) should not have spent more
than 5.000 € in 2011 € before reaching the break-even point
against traditional medias
30% of the interviewed consumers did not remember
having « liked » the Jupiler or Maes page and 90% of
them don’t remember their last message
Examples: for the audience of the total Facebook effort in
2011, Come a Casa should not have spent more than 56€,
Silan 832 €, Gini 3.448 €, Maes 18.939 € and Jupiler 59.721
€ 16

17. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
4. Owned media results: ROI
Based on the previous slides and knowing that the
interviewed brands have spent between 40.000 €
and 60.000 € in owned media, it should be
concluded those investments have not been
profitable for the FMCG in Belgium in 2011
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18. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
4. Social media vs. Traditional media
For 75 % of the brands, social medias represent less than 1 % of the total
cumulated views social medias + TV. For the remaining 25%, social medias
represent less than 5% of this total number
Maes Duvel Jupiler Dixan
5% 5% 2% 1%
Social media
share of
voice
95% 95% 98% 99%
Maredsous Persil Lotus Spa
0% 0% 0% 0%
TV share of
voice
100% 100% 100% 100%
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19. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
5. Conclusions (1/3)
Marketers should move from a « naïve optimism » to the next
stage « analyses and actions that conducts to success ». Industry
does not often measure ROI from social medias
Study was done on local and regional brands in Belgium. Results
would have been slightly better in a country such as Germany or
the US, which benefit from more economies of scale.
Neverthless, language barriers limit economies of scales for
Facebook & Twitter while for YouTube, a world version could be
considered
Due to the continuous growth of stimuli, creativty remains
essential to differentiate from competitors
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20. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
5. Conclusions (2/3)
Listening in FMCG suffers from the limited number of verbatims
linked to the low customer implication for those products.
Listening technology has limits to industrialize the research
In 2011, audience of owned media is marginal vs. traditional
medias
Efforts in social medias are not profitable in comparison with
traditional medias
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21. Integration Methodology Listening Owned media Conclusions
5. Conclusions (3/3)
Earned media seems to be the consequence of a good paid &
owned campaign: better awareness of the brand, customer
motivation to express themselves which can lead to the next
campaign (creation of a vertuous circle)
Social medias for FMCG companies in Belgium are not the ideal
media (no low costs, no effective performances)
There is clearly a potential but still a lot of steps before social
media become a profitable tool for local & regional brands of
FMCG active in Belgium
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22. Thank you for your attention !
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23. Q&A
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