Healthcare Matters

Healthcare and social media are figuring it out. But it would help matters immeasurably if a more tangible ROI angle would emerge –of the type that even a healthcare finance executive could love. Amidst all of the negative publicity suffered by Facebook since its IPO, what follows had to be welcomed news at HQ. The fact that the value of online advertising via social media –specifically Facebook–  made a solidly positive statement during the Olympics is a good thing for the industry.

Kenshoo Social promotes itself as a leader in digital marketing software. The company provides solutions for measuring the effectiveness of social network-based advertising campaigns –a timely service to say the least. Kenshoo wasted not time publishing a new report entitled “2012 Social Media Advertizing Global Games.” The report came out today and evaluates the performance of nearly 65 billion Facebook ad impressions across eleven countries deemed to have reached critical mass, in terms of users.

“While Facebook boasts one of the most expansive communities worldwide, its advertising opportunities have become among the most targeted ever,” says Sivan Metzger, general manager of Kenshoo Social. “Each individual country delivers different social media performance, and understanding the key metrics and variances by location and vertical can help brands develop successful Facebook advertising strategies.”

Key highlights of the report and associated recommendations for advertisers include:

• Countries with high Facebook penetration represent great opportunity for advertisers. Mexico and Turkey have as many Facebook users as broadband subscribers, indicating Facebook is used heavily via mobile devices in those countries. Savvy marketers can reach these connected populations through targeted mobile ads and take advantage of efficient Facebook cost-per-thousand (CPM) rates.

• Facebook advertising is extremely popular in the United States and United Kingdom. These countries have the highest CPM and cost-per-click (CPC) rates, reflecting increased attention and bid competition from marketers. The U.S. and U.K. also had the lowest exposure rates, meaning it’s more difficult for brands to reach their targets in these countries. For advertisers to effectively compete, they must use advanced targeting techniques and sophisticated bid algorithms and refresh creative assets often.

• Italy is a diamond in the rough, winning the most medals of any European country. A high click-through-rate (CTR) indicates that Italians are willing to interact with Facebook ads. Italy also has a low max recommended bid from Facebook; so ads can be placed relatively inexpensively. Advertisers that want to test Pan-European campaigns can find Italy a good point of entry.

The study analyzed aggregated global data across a wide range of brands whose Facebook ad campaigns are managed through the Kenshoo Social platform. The dataset included more than one hundred countries, but those selected for the study reached a statistical significance of at least 100 million impressions from ads that were uniquely targeted to each country.

Source: PRnewswire.

—Tom Finn