Today, Che Guevara finds himself adorning key-rings, T-Shirts, mugs and virtually every possible form of merchandise conceivable to the human mind. Ironic, but perhaps proof that the longevity of most modern social endeavours are eventually decided by their ability to ring in commercial gains.
What works for Che Guevara, needs to work for social networks as well. While all social networks base their USP on the ‘connect’ they establish among users, their longevity is decided by their ability to translate this ‘connect’ into euros. Primarily, euros from advertisers confident that they are getting value. It’s that value part that is the key. With an intention of tackling this problem head on, Facebook in partnership with Nielsen has announced a product to help measure the impact of ads that appear on Facebook. The product, ‘Brand Lift’, will measure some metrics of ad effectiveness on users’ minds through surveying Facebook users.
I spoke about something similar in my last post before Neilsen/Facebook released this product, and although it doesn’t get involved in the user generated side of things, it’s a step in the right direction. Brand Lift polls users’ to gauge their involvement with Facebook ads on key parameters such as aided awareness, ad recall, message association, brand favourability, and purchase consideration. The system then compares the responses of users who have seen the ads with those of people who haven’t. This comparison will give marketers insight into the value of advertising on the social network.
It’s quite similar to Dynamic Logic in some respects, which is no bad thing. However, I would question whether the slightly ‘touch feely’ measurement of Brand Lift will be good enough to resist the cuts of Marketing and Financial directors when online, in their minds, is synonymous with definitive ROI. What’s probably needed is a meeting in the middle with further development of tools like Brand Lift, and education on non-ROI softer metrics.
