Nielsen recently released a report entitled ‘Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression’, which provides measurable standards on how brands can effectively advertise in social networking sites, specifically Facebook. The research was a result of six months of research and a survey of more than 800,000 Facebook users. It examined 125 Facebook campaigns from 70 brands—all made possible by the partnership of Nielsen and Facebook.
The report distinguishes between paid media and earned media in Facebook. Earned media comprise the impressions formed when a Facebook user engages an ad. When a Facebook friend of yours decides to become a fan of a brand page and appears in your wall, this is earned media. On the other hand, brands on the side bar, for example, inviting you to become a fan of its page is paid media.
Homepage ads, social impression, and organic impression fall under either or both types of media. Homepage ads and social impression are paid media. Social impression and organic media, on the other hand, are earned media. And yes, social impressions are under the two categories. The image below represents the three:
Homepage Ad, Social Impression, and Organic Impression
According to the research, people who saw ads with social context, which means that friends of theirs chose to be fans of a certain brand, they are more likely to recall a brand. In contrast, people who saw ads without social context are less likely to recall the brands. This means that brand recall is more achievable with social impression and organic impression—when the brands are associated with the Facebook friends of a certain user.
The brand, or the Facebook fan page, may also appear in the newsfeed of a person when a friend has just become a brand. This is an organic impression and, according to the research, it is three times more likely to be remembered than a homepage ad that has no social context. Aside from ad recall, the awareness and purchase intent of a Facebook user who just viewed an organic impression increased as well.
What does it all mean?
Obviously, Nielsen is pointing toward the fact that earned media is stronger in terms of ad recall, awareness and purchase intent of a brand’s product. However, earned media cannot be achieved without jumping into paid media first. For that reason, homepage ads are just as important as the organic impressions and social impressions.
Below is the published report of Nielsen:
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