Making a Good Overall Impression on Facebook

We’ve all heard the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Now, before you panic, this blog post will not regress into a litany of clichés. And you have Facebook and Nielson to thank for that. In a study examining the reach and effectiveness of Facebook impressions, Nielson determined that users of the social networking site were more prone to notice ads and purchase brands if they featured earned media and social advocacy. Alas, good impressions that incorporate positive word of mouth win out.

Nielson’s research involved analyzing three forms of Facebook impressions: Homepage ads, Social impressions and Organic impressions. Essentially, Nielson was evaluating the strength of paid and earned media, the former referring to advertising publicity and the latter alluding to publicity gained through favorable opinion. A “Become a Fan” ad created solely to engage the user with a brand is a homepage ad, an example of paid media. A “Become a Fan” ad that also lists the names of other fans in the user’s friend network is a social impression, a blending of earned and paid media. Lastly, an organic impression is a promotional tool that appears on a page belonging to the user’s friend. This impression announces that the friend is a fan of a brand, a type of earned media.

Nielson concluded that social advocacy in Facebook ads doubled awareness among users. More importantly, it resulted in a 4x increase in buyer intent. The lead generation significance in the wake of these findings is palpable. Performance marketers should incorporate the Nielson study into their CPM pitch. The message to advertisers shouldn’t be about making a good first impression. The message should focus on making three – creating a compelling home page to foster organic impressions, stressing the importance of social impressions by investing in paid media and giving due consideration to each impression category for premium campaign effectiveness.