subject: The Economic Value Of Facebook Fans [print this page] Facebook has definitely revolutionized the way people connect on the internet. Its features also make it easy to meet people, share information, and receive news updates within your network. For marketers, the same popularity that makes Facebook attractive also poses a big challenge. The main question they want answered is, "How much value can they expect from engaging in Facebook marketing?" A recent study conducted by Vitrue attempts to place a monetary value on each of the fans you receive on the website.
They concluded that each Facebook fan is worth around $3, based on their research.60 on average. Obviously, there are companies that were despicable upon learning the small estimate. It is easy to expect more since Facebook is one of the mostly visited websites on the internet, rivaled only by Google.com. There are several claims that the formula used to arrive at the $3.60 average is flawed. Having financial figures will always help web owners determine how much finances they need to set aside for a social media marketing strategy in whatever case.
It will provide a more accurate idea of the expected return on investment (ROI). Yet, it is vital to note that it is really not viable to perfectly identify the real worth of a Facebook fan because of different trends ofcustomer behavior. They can easily change their minds from one second to the next. Privacy concerns is also an issue that marketers faces from optimizing the full use of Facebook. While users are generally open to the idea to divulging basic information to register, they want their data to stay secure.
Page Impressions
A popular way to calculate fan value is to know the amount of page impressions it receives. While there are many other aspects that needs to be looked into, this remains a basic consideration that experts agree on. The calculation provided below will hopefully clear some questions:
* 1M Page Impressions x 30 Days x 2 Posts = 60M Page Impressions
* 60M Page Impressions/ 1000 x $5 CPM = $300,000 * $300,000 x 12 months = $3.6 Million
* $3.6 Million / 1 Million Fans = $3.60/Fan
Aside from the number of fans though, probably a more important factor is the frequency of their posting. For example, Coca-Cola has 5.3 million fans from all over the world yet it receives around 15 posts on any average month. Taking a look at the NBA fan page, with 2.1 million fans worldwide, it is easy to recognize that these members are more active than Coca-Cola's. During play-offs, they post around 100+ times in a month, sometimes a lot more. It's now the right time to start creating a fan page if you don't have one yet.
