Determine Facebook Fan Page $$$ Value
Posted on | July 30, 2010 | 1 Comment
FINALLY!
(I’m adopting this post from an email I sent this morning to upper management, editors, and other co-workers)
Before I get too far, I’d like to thank @thePRguycom for posting a link to THIS ARTICLE.
When I saw the Tweet, I clicked the link because I’ve found the #1 barrier to entry/question/complaint when getting into social media from customers and coworkers is, “tell me how much $ I’m going to get in return.” To which my usual reply has never had any hard $ figures.
Now, it seems a company – Vitrue – has developed a pretty neat Facebook page evaluator that at the very least provides consistent numbers. They take into account the volume of recent posts because those matter over posts made months or years ago, the volume of responses from users recently because recent conversations matter more than old ones, and the gross number of people that follow/like the page. They then put a # value on each one and do a little math to calculate a total value. The actual #’s they use for each variable in their algorithm are irrelevant because they use them consistently – you’re comparing apples to apples – and it should be noted that their tool is not for individual pages but for group/fan pages.
They’ve even built in some very helpful customization to the calculator – on the bottom left you can slide the Earned Media Value so you can use the $ amount you determine for a user. For instance, the more narrow the target market, a higher the Earned Media Value should be used because of the increased value on the touch point to a specific audience.
I work for a publishing company and used 3 FB pages associated with 3 publications – in the interest of professional privacy, I’m not listing the publication names. We’ll go with letters instead…
The values and metrics for each using the default $5 Media Value:
| Publication | Post Count | Interactions | Fans/Followers | $ Value |
| Pub A | 9 | 14 | 155 | $251 |
| Pub B | 0 | 1 | 80 | $14 |
| Pub C | 46 | 42 | 643 | $5,324 (HOLY!!!!) |
The article makes a great point, that you can literally increase the value of your FB page from a media value perspective by interacting and engaging an audience. You can post more articles to add value while getting people to comment and leave messages adds value as well. You can also overcome fewer fans than a competitor by simply engaging the audience more than the competition – if your audience is talking to you and theirs isn’t, there is greater value in the work you’re doing with your group of followers.
There are some customers that advertise across multiple publications where I doubt they’re sole focus is tying sales to a specific ad, they’re simply trying to brand their name and product to their audience which again has a very real value. Now, with this tool, we can get a ballpark figure as to the value of the branding that occurs on a Facebook page, an arena where 500,000,000 people now frequent. We can also see a tangible value of efforts, we can measure successes of campaigns, see the effect of popular posts, etc.
I’ll be using this tool as I roll out some new social media strategies in the coming weeks. I think this really helps visualize the value of engaging an audience as well.
(…thus ends my edited email excerpts.)
Dear Google – The new Google Images Search Is AWESOME!
Posted on | July 22, 2010 | No Comments
Just sayin’
In case you haven’t seen Google’s new image search results, go to http://images.google.com right now and do a search. The results are about 4,000 times more helpful and user friendly than they used to be. Not that I think anything has changed in terms of Google’s image search algorithm, they’re simply displaying the results in a MUUUUUUCH cooler and more engaging manner.
If you don’t really care about image searches, do it anyway – it is that cool of a new tool.
Go On Vacation, You’ll Feel Old
Posted on | July 18, 2010 | No Comments
I had a startling revelation recently. Something dawned on me that sort of shocked me, put me right on my heels, stopped me cold in my tracks.
I’m officially getting older.
That’s the startling revelation, the shocking realization I came to while sitting under an umbrella one sunny day at the beach last week. “I am not as young as I was, once upon a time,” said self. Sure we all get older, but just how often does it hit you? Work too hard in the yard, you’re sore the next day in ways you didn’t know possible. Play a pick-up game of basketball and realize you’re THAT guy trying to play with guys that haven’t graduated high school yet when you graduated over a decade ago. The guy ringing you up says “sir” and he means it.
For this “ah-ha” moment I was thoroughly enjoying a vacation with the wife down in Seagrove Beach, FL. (If you’ve never been there, make plans – absolutely gorgeous place) The sun was shining, the salty breeze was blowing, no rain in the forecast, the shade of the umbrella provided relief to my stinging skin, sunglasses were on (as always if I’m outside), cooler chilling, gorgeous woman beside me – suffice it to say that it was a great setting.
However, that perfect moment was ruined by a 10 year old kid having the time of his life. He wasn’t making a scene, he wasn’t pitching a fit, he wasn’t being obnoxious in any way at all – he was doing what I used to do when I was 10. He was in the water, back out of the water, throwing sand, rolling in the sand, showing shells to his mom, wrestling with his dad – he was literally care free and having an awesome time about 20 yards away from our stake.
This isn’t the exact youngin’ but you get the idea. Not a care in the world, covered in sunscreen, laughing, yelling, running, basically doing anything and everything he wanted to do no matter where the sand got. He played with reckless abandon, the kind of childhood innocence where you still believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny.
While he is making memories he’ll never forget I remembered something I’d like to forget: “I used to love to play in the sand at the beach, run in and out of the water, yell and scream and look for shells when I was his age,” said self.
We have just lost cabin pressure.
No longer could I envision a day at the beach getting covered in sand while being THAT rambunctious. Now a days, I like to sit in a chair, in the shade, sunglasses on (as always if I’m outside), cooler beside me. I even put my sunscreen on and wait 30 minutes for it to soak in before I go out (partially because I was a beach attendant and don’t want skin cancer, but primarily because I don’t want to get sunburned), I prefer to stay out of the sun between 11-2:00 during the day.
Since when did I get so old acting? Since when did I prefer sitting and doing nothing on the beach, as opposed to having a righteous memorable time? Since when did doing nothing in the shade make for a “good time?” About 13-14 years ago by my estimation.
Heaven.
So what is next for me and my beach travels, black socks and sandals? (you know you’ve seen some snow-birds with dark socks and sandals)
Fail.
What I envision for me one day goes like this: stay on the balcony and never get sand between my toes. Now when I have the realization of “man, I used to go out on the beach” I hope and pray comes a long, long time from now. For now, I’ll settle for some shade and salty warm air – minus the sand stuck in every nook and cranny – and hold on to my desire to sit on the beach and simply enjoy the breeze and listen to the waves.
Man, I’m getting old…
WHOA, Google is REALLY fast!!!
Posted on | July 6, 2010 | No Comments
I just published my post about inbound links being equivalent to SEO steroids. Literally, minutes ago.
Then, I do a search for my name (who hasn’t?) and my post has already been cached by Google!
Picking jaw up off floor…
Minutes people, minutes.
Either Googlebot and my blog have something sexy going on, I timed my publishing perfectly, or Googlebot is in fact really able to find and add new content to the web in a real-time fashion. Nicely done Google, nicely done and thanks for the quick update – my Google Analytics appreciate it.
I wonder what my site sees in this guy?
Inbound Links: SEO Steroids
Posted on | July 6, 2010 | No Comments
Recently, the folks over at SEOmoz had a Whiteboard Friday blog post where they documented the strength a few inbound links might have for a website.
While being an avid SEOmoz schmoozer (I don’t post on their blog, I don’t leave comments either, and I use the free tools) I do however follow SEOmoz and their founder/sail hoister Rand Fishkin on Twitter so as to stay up to date on what they’re doing and their perceptions of the ever changing world-wide-web.
They published the aforementioned Whiteboard Friday post with a very handy and informative video. In it they document the Google rankings of a website for a specific/particular search term before any inbound links have been acquired and then compare the rankings after an inbound link or two has been purchased.
The results, quite expectedly, proved the value of inbound links to a website’s success in terms of search rankings: the site went from literal search engine alienation to ranking ~30-40 within days of the link acquisition(s).
Now, SEOmoz is not an advocate of buying links, nor am I, and they quickly removed the purchased link(s) for this experiment after getting the results documented. Google‘s Matt Cutts most assuredly points out that buying links is like playing search ranking Russian roulette with a howitzer. If you buy links and get caught, it is very much a death sentence in terms of a website being found in Google. There are a wide array of debates as to how Google can determine sites that purchase links from those that earn them naturally, but no matter which side of the argument you’re on, the penalty for buying links is very, very steep and long-lasting. Google has gone so far as to penalize its own (Google Japan), check this out. Suffice it to say, I don’t and won’t buy links.
But Rand’s video really got me thinking, could I see similar results so quickly on a project at work? Is Google’s real-time search really, real-time? Could a handful of inbound links really trigger a meteoric rise through organic search results just as Rand suggested?
Simply put: yes. Absolutely. Without question.
We recently launched a new project that is very, very specific in target audience and likewise very targeted in content and search phrases. The on-site optimization was performed as the site was built and subsequently launched with a PPC campaign to immediately establish traffic for advertisers (not Google AdWords).
I placed a few inbound links to this new website on some related sites we manage that same Friday after watching Rand’s video. The website had zero inbound links and zero organic search rankings at the time, surviving on PPC only to-date.
Today, I checked the Google search rankings for 3 of the targeted search terms (ones used as anchor text in the inbound links I added) and for 2 of them, the site ranks 24 and 34 respectively. The 3rd term is much more competitive (based on Google’s handy tool) but the site ranks 107.
This proves what many in the SEO community have experienced and known for quite some while, that inbound links from related/relevant resources are essential for search rankings. Simply having great content and relevant content on your website is rudimentary, having great content and relevant content that people will link to is what is required for search rankings.
While I’ve known this for years, I have never been able to test a case where I had a brand new project that was 100% unknown to any search engine and study some fundamental metrics like this.
All of this is to say that SEOmoz’s video was 100% accurate: a few inbound links will act like search ranking steroids, only if you buy your links you essentially get the steroid-like side-effects.
I’m THIS serious about being a Bama fan
Posted on | June 24, 2010 | 1 Comment
Sometimes you have to go into enemy territory. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t necessarily like to do, because it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to put up with those from whom you might otherwise want to disassociate yourself. And sometimes you flat out have to tolerate people you really, and I mean REALLY can’t stand.
Not saying I’d like to push the to-be mentioned individual down some stairs, but in the event he was out of gas on the side of the highway on a triple digit Alabama summer day, I’d probably honk at him and yell “ROLL TIDE!”
Flashback to the 1st Saturday in October, 2009. That weekend was the Friday night a good buddy of mine – Diamond Charlie – was set to have a “bachelor party” type evening. Nothing scandalous, just some guys getting together to watch football and then go out. Me, being the married guy with a wife in town for this debauchery filled weekend – mental note for future weekends, send the wife to the beach 
– so I could not stay out too late lest I feel the wrath of what certainly would have been a scorned woman. This means I’m a designated driver for some of the guys, no big deal, somebody’s gotta get us out and back safe.
The part where me being the die-hard fan comes in like this:
Diamond Charlie is a fellow die-hard Bama fan, however he’s the ONLY Bama fan in his entire family. He grew up living a life I described at the beginning of this post. He’s lived with the enemy. He’s related to the enemy. He had to tolerate misery the likes of which words cannot do justice. He’s also from a town that is dominated by fans of none other than the despicable auburn University (lower case intentional) to go along with a family that chooses to cheer for a school formerly named Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama.
So this Saturday night I was surrounded, and with only 1 fellow believer in the idea/truth that the University of Alabama is a superior institution of higher learning and collegiate athletics. And on this particular Saturday night, auburn was playing tennessee (again, case intentional). Rather than pray for Al Qaeda to strike and scourge the earth of orange clad heathens, I had to be polite and support my comrade. It was me and Diamond Charlie taking the beach and I simply had to fight this one out. Surrender was not an option.
Throughout the entire game, one of Diamond Charlie’s life-long friends screamed at the television. While dawning a football jersey that only an infidel would wear as well as his “lucky hat,” he claimed that his team could easily win 10 games and should have a shot at getting to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game. Rather than correct him with logic and facts (his team went 5-7 the previous year, had less than 65 scholarship football players on the roster, had a brand new coaching staff, and they had just lost to a mediocre LSU team the week before, etc.) I simply let him prove my point that the vast majority of auburn fans are delusional . I’m not talking the kind of delusion where you get drunk and feel like you can beat up George St. Pierre, I’m talking the kind of craziness where people end up getting put in padded rooms and drink through a straw for the rest of their lives. I mean this kid was out in left field without a glove, off his rocker, outhouse rat type CRAY-ZEE.
Again, it was me and Diamond Charlie against the masses and we were in survival mode. I felt it was best to keep a low profile and not make too many waves because my team, my beloved Crimson Tide would do all the talking come November. Which, they did.
So after a few hours of hell on earth and listening to drunken claims of grandeur, we all load up and head out. Again, I was the DD and I had Diamond Charlie riding shotgun and of course the loud-mouth claimer rode with us. I could not drive fast enough. I had to work to keep from jerking my car into on-coming traffic. I had to put off thoughts of homicide and suicide at the same time.
After our arrival, I had a Sprite or two and called it a night. All of the guys were going to call cabs when they got done anyway so I headed home to my unscorned wife (note my wisdom in this situation guys, think long-term here, yeah, you know it, I’m right – right but boring – but still right).
The next day I was getting something out of my car and I noticed something in the back seat. I found something so wretched, so despicable, so disgusting I could hardly keep from vomiting while fainting while screaming. Suffice it to say, I was shocked at what I saw. The loudmouth had left his “oh so lucky” hat in my car. I’ve never been so offended in my life. I felt so dirty, so defiled, so impure, so violated and contaminated. How on earth could I rid my car, my home, my life of this evil?
There is only one way: gasoline, a lighter, and the empty lot across the street from my house. I burnt that kid’s hat to an ash over a fire ant bed. My car, home, and life have since been cleansed. The demons have been exercised. I’ve been set free, free indeed.
Don't screw with me
If you are the guy that left your hat in my car, get yourself a new hat. So much for your hat being lucky, Roll Tide SUCKER!!!
Feel free to link to / mention this post anywhere you think Bama fans might congregate.
Biggie, the pooch with a grill
Posted on | June 16, 2010 | No Comments
So the wife and I have a Yorkie. And not just any Yorkie, an 11lb one that is appropriately named Biggie (yes, as in “Biggie, Biggie, Biggie, can’t you see…”). He’s the Shaquille O’neal of his breed.
But he’s a cool little guy because he can do anything a Lab can do. I mean, anything. He’s not a little yip-yip dog by any means and I’m proud of how well his training has worked: sit, stay, lay down, fetch, force fetch, order him to his kennel, and he can relieve himself on command. I guess this post is turning into more of what I can do with the pooch, but whatever. The wife is sure enjoy this slideshow @laurajernigan
New York, New York
Posted on | June 14, 2010 | No Comments
My wife and I took a trip to NYC in December. Little did we know that we’d fall in love with the city (minus the extreme cold weather) but we can’t wait to go back. Visiting – yes. Living there – no way.
These are some of the pictures from our awesome adventures in The Big Apple:
Some people…
Posted on | June 7, 2010 | No Comments
I work for a company that has a number of specialized employment resources. On the actual employment application we ask a pretty simple Yes or No question – asking “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?” Then we ask the user to input the date of conviction so the potential employer can perform a background check as well as filter out contacts from applicants that have a felony conviction. Here are some of the responses to the DATE field:
- “volentary manslaughter i was really young and got into a fight and a man died and i am so sorry about”
- “Various convictions prior to my commitment to Honesty and Sobrity”
- “went to recover trk&load illegal aliens in trailer,went to trail & lost. Lost everything,company & truck”
- “This incident occured when I was twenty years old and should be exspunged.”
What in the world does “exspunged” mean in the #4 answer? Is it like he used to be a sponge and now he’s not? Maybe he was SpongeBob for Halloween and he grew up… Maybe not. But this post was authored simply for entertainment purposes that there are people out there that will write a phrase/sentence in a DATE field. Some people…
Anyway, these were all so humorous I had to immortalize them online. A Nice Find Shout Out goes to Mr. Doug MacLaurine for finding these.
FINALLY!!! MS Word 2007 Extra Paragraph Removal Solution
Posted on | April 29, 2010 | No Comments
If you’ve spent a measurable amount of time in MS Word 2007 you’ll notice that by default there is an extra space added to the end of a carriage return (hitting the enter key). The reason: the most popular formatting in the academic community is double spaced. If you write for this area or are in this profession and need this type of formatting to continue, click the Back button in your browser.
If you’re tired of the extra return at the end of a paragraph or after you hit the enter key, keep reading.
Follow these steps:
- Click the Home tab.
- Click Change Styles in the Styles group, point to Style Set, and then click the style set that you want to use.
To change the default formatting of your document, such as the line spacing and paragraph spacing, to the default formatting that is used in earlier versions of Word, click Word 2003.
- To set the style set as the default style set in Word 2007, click Change Styles in the Styles group, and then click Set as Default. This will REMOVE the extra paragraph default setting for all new MS Word documents.
- Voila, you’re done.
Kyle Jernigan
Husband, Believer, rabid Bama fan, immune to stress, trendsetter, smart risk taker, Director of Interactive Marketing, COD MW2 sultan of pain (bravetide).
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