IAB Social Media Booklet

Social Media Buyer’s Guide
Released February 2010

This Social Media Buyer’s Guide has been developed by the IAB Social
Media Committee.
About the IAB’s Social Media Committee:

The Social Media Committee of the IAB is comprised of more than 150 member
companies dedicated to helping develop and expand the social media space
as a viable advertising platform. The committee works to educate marketers
and agencies on the strength of social media as a marketing vehicle. A full list of
Committee member companies can be found at:
http://www.iab.net/social_media_committee
This document can be found on the IAB website at:

http://www.iab.net/sm_buyers_guide
IAB Contact Information:

Gina Kim
Director of Industry Services, IAB
212-380-4728
gina.kim@iab.net
IAB Social Media Buyer's Guide
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 2
Planning 4
Social Media Platforms 8
Social Media Production 11
Pricing Models 16
Success Metrics 19
Appendix: Sample Social Media RFP 24
Appendix: Engagement 25
Appendix: Case Studies 26
© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 1

Executive Summary
Social Media is an increasingly important marketing tool. A survey of 133

CMO’s found that nearly two-thirds plan to increase social media budgets in
2010.1 With those gures continuing to rise, the IAB Social Media Committee
has created this resource to guide marketers and agencies through the
social media buying process.
The IAB Social Media Buyer’s Guide is a valuable resource regardless of

your prior experience with social media, however, those who have some
familiarity with interactive advertising will benet most.
The Guide addresses key elements that should be considered during the
social media planning and purchase process. After reading this Guide, you
will have a better understanding of social media and will be able to answer
the following questions:
Planning
• What steps are involved in planning a social marketing effort?
• Why should I plan for ongoing efforts, even for a short-term social
media campaign?
Platforms
• What social media platforms are available?
• Which platform(s) is best for achieving my objectives?
Production
• What are the production considerations for a social program?
Pricing
• What are the common pricing models for social media?
• What are the pros and cons of each?
Success Metrics
• What metrics should I use to evaluate the success of my social media effort?
• What are the available sources of data on which these metrics are built?
_____________________
1
MediaPost, "Survey: Most CMOs to Boost Social Media Budgets in 2010 (And It Had Better
Pay Off)," December 9, 2009
2 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

The IAB Social Media Buyer’s Guide builds upon a solid foundation of
guidance previously released by the IAB Social Media Committee, which
includes:
User-Generated Content & Social Media Platform Status Report

http://www.iab.net/ugcplatform
Social Advertising Best Practices

http://www.iab.net/socialads
Social Media Ad Metrics

http://www.iab.net/socialmetrics

Planning
Your target audience is already engaging with your brand in social media
environments. The opportunity to connect with them and leverage the
power of social media, where messages pass from person to person on a
one-to-one or one-to-many basis, is now. Social Media planning differs
from traditional online media planning in several key ways:
• While traditional online campaigns are typically limited to nite

dates with set viewership goals, social media campaigns can be
more exible; they may be limited to nite campaign dates or may
extend well beyond
• Social campaigns can have owned, paid, and/or signicant earned
media gols, the delivery of which is not guaranteed as it is based on
user action
• Purchasing models include cost per thousand (CPM) impressions,
cost per action or other models that align with campaign goals
So how do you plan a social media campaign or program? The process

begins with four main steps:

Setting Marketing Objectives & Strategies
The foundation of any

successful media plan,
whether it is ofine or Ra ise bra n d a wa reness
Improve favorable perception of a
online, begins by setting bra n d / pro d uct/ serv ice
the marketing or business I ncrea se c u stomer a c q u i s it io n
objectives. Your social Ma i nta i n c u sto mer lo y a lty
media program can Create u ser a d v o cacy a n d / o r a dv o cates
achieve one or more broad Ga t her n o n-sc ienti f ic / i n f o rma l research
marketing objectives such Develo p new i n s i g hts o n ta rget ma rket

Develop/Create Word-of-Mouth and Viral opportunities
as building brand awareness
Create b uzz o n bra n de d e x p erie nce
or generating consumer B u i l d i ncrementa l reach
loyalty, as well as more I ncrea se ma rketi ng R OI
tactical objectives such I ncrea se co ns u mer co nv ersatio n s a bo ut bra n d
as driving site trafc or Drive qualified registrations (new sletter, contests, etc)
increasing consumer S u p p o rt a new pro d uct l a u nc h
conversations. Some Drive site traffic

I ncrea se sa les
common social media
objectives, from strategic
to tactical are included in
the chart to the right:
A framework for determining the benchmarks appropriate for measuring

performance against your objective is found in the Success Metrics section
of this document.

Understanding Your Audience
Like any campaign, you need to understand the goals, perceptions,

motivations and behaviors of your target audience in order to develop a
compelling campaign. For social media campaigns, a great rst step in
building this understanding is to pose these key questions and listen:
Since your audience is already immersed in social communities and

activities, there are tools that can help build a better understanding of
their social media behaviors. One useful research tool is social media
monitoring. A growing number of research and analytics vendors offer
tools and services that provide a view into the conversations people are
having about any given subject area. Conversation content falls into many
categories ranging from interests such as gaming, running, nutrition, etc,
to a brand or product, or even a concept/issue such as sustainability or
the economy. Most of these tools provide some measure of audience
sentiment, whether it trends positive, negative or neutral, and allows a
marketer to dig deeper into specic questions, such as:

By understanding how your audience is using social media, you can begin
to apply your creative strategy. You may choose to develop new creative.
Often, the creative that exists on your site or from current/past advertising
campaigns will translate well into social media, provided it is engaging and
potentially shareable. Well-designed social media creative should take into
account both traditional and digital platforms to create a comprehensive
social media program.

Social Media Platforms
For the purpose of the IAB Social Media Buyer’s Guide, “Platform” is dened
as any social media environment, content or feature that can be purchased
or used to facilitate relevant consumer social actions and metrics. Examples
include playing games, sending messages, tracking the number of
conversation-relevant posts on the site, and installing applications. For a
complete list of relevant consumer social actions and social metrics, please
refer to the IAB Social Media Ad Metrics document:
http://www.iab.net/socialmetrics
With the power and breadth of consumers’ social media connections,

including Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc., consumers can reach
and inuence other consumers online resulting in a far greater social reach.
Marketing activities that are executed within a social media platform vs.
traditional ofine media drive higher consumer interaction and have a far
greater social reach. For real-world examples of campaigns executed on
these social media platforms, please see the case studies in the appendix.
Types of Platforms & Denitions
Blogs: Blog platforms are used to

publish and manage personal and/or
branded blogs, i.e. advertiser content. It
is recommended that blogs be regularly
updated, written in a human voice and
be dialogue oriented to encourage
conversations between consumers.
Blogs can also include microblogging
platforms such as Twitter.
Social Networks: Social networking sites are made up of

individuals who are connected by one or more specic types
of interdependency, such as friendship, personal/business
relationships, interests and the like.
Widgets and Social Applications: Widgets are mini

web applications that are used to distribute or share
content throughout the social Web, downloaded to a
mobile device or desktop, or accessed on a Website
or blog. Content within a widget can be branded or
user-generated, or can be in the form of games or
other interactive content. Widgets can also provide
sponsorship, branding or other promotional calls to
action for consumers.

Mobile: Social activities can take

place on mobile devices, of which
there are multiple channels for
mobile advertising. They include
mobile Websites, downloadable
applications, mobile messaging and
mobile video. Mobile ecosystem
advertising opportunities are listed
to the right. For more information on
mobile advertising, please refer to
the IAB Mobile Buyer’s Guide:
http://www.iab.net/mobile_buyers_guide
Gaming: There are games developed specically for social platforms as

well as games that have social components where for example users can
create and upload content to social networks. Video games are played
across three key hardware platforms: on consoles, on PCs, and on portable
devices. For a guide to online gaming, please refer to the IAB Game
Advertising Platform Status Report:
http://www.iab.net/gamesplatform
Cross Social: A cross-social platform combines several of the platforms

listed here and allows a single social media program to cross several
platforms across the social Web.
Social Advertising: Social Advertising includes all standard IAB and non-
IAB display advertising occurring within social media environments such as
social networks, social networking applications, fan pages, blogs, mobile
environments, video sites, and other destinations with sharing functionality.
This also can include new social ad units such as Facebook engagement ads.
Social Advertising also includes emerging social media and content

distribution functionality within the ad unit itself, and can be targeted in
many ways including contextual, demographic, psychographic, etc. The
best advertising within social media environments leverages native social
functionality in some way.
Social Advertising can include, but is not limited to the following:

• Blog advertising
• Social Network advertising
• Social Networking Application advertising
• Mobile advertising
• Video advertising
• Co-branded advertising
• Social advertising (refer to the “Production” section for more detail)

Sponsored Platforms: Sponsored platforms in social media are based upon

underwritten or created content. They showcase features or functionality
within social media environments such as social networks, social networking
applications, fan pages, blogs, mobile environments, and video sites.
Sponsorship can also include the aggregation, creation and monitoring

of user-generated content and social media activities within a branded
environment. These environments can exist within a brand’s Website, a
standalone micro site, or integrated into other interactive marketing initiatives.
Sponsorship associates a brand with marketing elements, such as the following:

• Content creation sponsored sections and modules
• Fan pages and Group pages
• Mobile applications
• Branded Interaction
• Contests/Sweepstakes
• Promotions
• Games
• Podcasts
• Polls/Surveys (see The Wall Street Journal example below)
• Web applications
• Trivia
Other social media platforms and methodologies continue to emerge and evolve.

Social Media Production
For the purpose of the IAB Social Media Buyer’s Guide, “Production” is
dened as any type of custom development or content creation that can be
purchased or sponsored.
Content can be produced by tapping internal resources, contracting

vendors for custom content creation, and enabling consumers to create
their own content for a brand’s use. The key to success across all
production methods, especially when it comes to user content, is for brands
to be transparent in how they source and ultimately plan to leverage users’
content. The types of production listed below can be used to create,
source or co-opt interactive media – whether it’s video, text, audio or social
– as a means to drive increased engagement and brand afnity.
Fees: Costs vary widely from minimal to expensive depending upon the
scenario. Hiring an in-house writer or community manager can be done on a
full-time or hourly basis. Ask your media vendor what production elements
they may cover, as well as recommendations on other outsourcing options
for production.
Some guiding questions to consider for either outsourced or internal initiatives:

Types of Production & Denitions
Community Creation/Moderation: the role of a brand representative in

helping to establish, build and sustain an online community of customers,
partners, inuencers or fans. Typically, it is designed to strengthen
relationships with key audiences and online communities, and often
generates user content via posts, comments and links. A brand serves
as the “host” or moderator in this environment, listening, learning from
and guiding conversations, as well as paying attention to how the user-
generated content (UGC) created can potentially fuel other brand programs.
Conversation and Content Aggregation: syndicated tools

such as Really Simply Syndication (RSS) provide the ability to
collect UGC in one place, making it easy to analyze, manage
and leverage data from a marketing perspective.
Custom Content: brand sources and subsidizes the creation of UGC on a

project or campaign basis. This can include asking users to create content
relevant to a brand, or tapping experts or industry bloggers to participate in
podcasts and webinars. Another model, Sponsored Post, enables marketers
to contribute relevant commercial content to an organic editorial discussion
occurring on blogs or other platforms, but doing so in a transparent and
clearly marked way as to make the marketing agenda clear. In either case,
as the lines between advertising and editorial continue to blur online, it’s
important that any advertiser-driven engagement that takes place with a
blogger be publicly disclosed as such, as mandated by the FTC:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005endorsementguidesfnnotice.pdf
For additional legal guidance on social media, please refer to Reed Smith’s
“A Legal Guide to the Commercial Risks and Rewards of the Social Media
Phenomenon:”
http://www.reedsmith.com/_db/_documents/social_media_e-version.pdf
Content Association: brands can identify and aggregate relevant existing

organic UGC (via blogs and other sources) and, with permission from the
author(s), leverage this content to build credibility and reach new audiences.
Examples include: building a micro site or “hub” around a topic that
audiences care about, and including trusted UGC as part of the editorial;
integrating blog posts from users in an ad unit or widget/application; or,
featuring a user’s blog on a corporate blog or site.

Brand Conversation Hubs/Social Media Micro-Site: branded conversation

hubs are also referred to as micro-sites and are branded environments
designed to facilitate social activities such as commenting, posting and
sharing. The content can be topical and informative, or associated with a
specic campaign, product or service. The common thread is that organic
conversational content – Twitter streams, Facebook updates or blog feeds –
is incorporated into the user experience. Advertisers benet by being able to
associate their brands with credible, trusted content that provides a useful
purpose – without being intrusive or controlling of the contributors’ points of view.
Microblogging: Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows users to

send and read brief messages. These messages can contain external links
and as well as other media such as photos and audio clips. For example,
Twitter enables its users to send and read messages
known as “tweets.” Tweets are text-based posts of up
to 140 characters displayed on the author’s prole page
and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as “followers.”
Tweets are exchanged via the Twitter site, short message service (SMS), or
external applications such as smart phones.
Mobile: There are multiple channels for mobile advertising. They include
mobile Websites, downloadable applications, mobile messaging and mobile
video. For more information, please refer to IAB Mobile Buyer’s Guide:
http://www.iab.net/mobile_buyers_guide

Virtual World: a computer-based simulated environment intended for its

users to inhabit and interact via avatars. These avatars are usually textual,
two-dimensional, or three-dimensional graphical representations of the
user. Some, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users. Virtual
worlds present perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate
elements of this modeled world, crafting it into whatever they’d like.
Communication between users in the model world ranges from text,
graphical icons, visual gesture and sound, and rarely, forms using touch
and voice command are incorporated.
Virtual Goods: non-physical objects that are purchased and exchanged

on the internet. Virtual goods don’t have any intrinsic value in the physical
or real world and are by denition intangible. Shared between people
via the internet, simple virtual goods can be shared through a virtual
community such as a social network Website or instant messenger. More
complex and expensive 3D goods and property can be exchanged in
massive multiplayer online games within virtual economies.
Widgets: applications that can function on any site that accepts external
content, including social networks, blog platforms, start pages, desktop
platforms, or personal Web pages. Widgets can be built to function
differently on each platform, delivering varying degrees of integration with
a social network, from accessing and using social data to not interacting
with the platform at all. These applications encourage connectivity, self-
expression or collaboration, often through games, productivity tools or
interactive content.
Online Polls: surveys in which participants

communicate their responses via the
internet, typically by completing a
questionnaire presented in a Web page.
Websites host services that enable users to
both create and participate in customized
polls on an array of subjects. Each can vary
in the number of questions. Upon taking
and creating these polls, users can email
them, plug them into their Web sites, blogs
or social networking proles, or submit
them to public directories.

Social Ads: As the denition of

banner ads evolves, and banners
continue to become more interactive
and entertaining, production
requirements become more
signicant. A social banner ad is a
type of banner ad that incorporates
social or conversational functionality
within it. Some social ads
incorporate a person’s likeness
within the ad, acting as a brand
endorsement and leveraging one’s
social graph to target the ad. The user must connect via the unit to their
social network account to use any social functionality. Other ads may
incorporate conversational content, such as user-generated content from
tweets or blog RSS feeds, on a particular topic. Other social ads embed
sharing, voting, or commenting functionality built into the ad.
The key to success is for social banner ads to enable consumers to have
a real interactive experience within the unit, as opposed to just passively
viewing the content within the ad. For more detailed information, refer to
IAB Social Advertising Best Practices:
http://www.iab.net/socialads

Pricing Models
To aid in social media planning, there are new pricing models available
to purchase the media and new metrics used to track results. Pricing
models such as Cost per Install (CPI), Cost per Action (CPA) and Cost per
Engagement (CPE) are intended to facilitate the buying process by matching
your pricing model with the overall social media strategy. Socially-focused
metrics are subsequently used to track the desired social behaviors such
as sharing, rating or commenting on content. Monitoring and optimizing
performance is more important than ever to keep brands relevant online.
This can occur through the timely updating of content, whether it is adding to
blogs, managing contests, daily tweeting and texting, uploading photos and
video, or refreshing widgets and applications.
Pricing models used in social media include the familiar Cost per Thousand
Impressions (CPM) and Cost per Click (CPC) models, as well as newer models.
Social Actions
Cost per Install (CPI), Cost per Engagement (CPE), and Cost per Action
(CPA) represent a variety of different “Social Actions.” These models aid in
planning, purchasing, and measuring social media inventory by aligning with
your media strategy and assisting in the media selection process. These
new pricing models are performance-based models similar to the CPC
model in that you are billed based on the number of total actions.
Following are denitions of the pricing models (in no particular order) that
are tailored to social media:
Cost per Install (CPI): The cost of creating a unique install of a widget or
application that may be placed on a Web page such as social networks, start
pages or blog sites. An install may also be referred to as a “Post,” “Embed,”
or “Grab.” A CPI may include installs that are distributed across different
demographics, psychographics, or contextually relevant applications. The
actual CPI rate may vary depending on the following:
• Placement (run of site vs. a specic application or page)

• Demographic-targeting (age and gender)
• Distribution volume or total budget
• Geographic-targeting: Country, State, DMA, or Zip Code

CPI is recommended for guaranteeing distribution of widgets, applications,

videos or any other piece of content. This pricing method is effective for
quickly building a base of users who have agreed to post your content.
However, there are drawbacks to this pricing model as well. For example,
a CPI guarantees the install, but it does not guarantee interaction with
the content. Also, an install may be incentivized, and depending on your
objectives, you may nd users who have installed content without an
incentive to be more valuable.
Cost per Action (CPA): The cost of each user-dened action that takes
place in a given time period. These actions include (but are not limited to):
• Becoming a fan (fanning, friending, or following)

• Posting to prole
• Commenting
• Video Views (CPV)
• Any other user-dened social interactions
CPA is best when a specic single action is desired, for example “play
a game” or “view a video trailer.” While using a CPV (cost per view)
placement guarantees viewing, it does not guarantee the audience. The
views may be delivered to users who do not fall within the target audience.
It is recommended that brands are very clear on ad placements when
purchasing on a CPA basis.
Cost per Engagement (CPE): The cost of each user-dened engagement

that takes place over a given time period. These actions include (but are
not limited to) one or more of the following user interactions/engagements:
• Submission of branded user-generated content (BUGC)

• Engagement/interaction with branded content
• Entries
• Votes
• Social actions (I Like, I support, thumb up/down, etc.)
• Engaged views
• Reviews or Comments
• Ratings
• Engagement or interaction with rich media ad units
CPE is a good pricing model to use when you want to build a performance-
based campaign on the social web. It is recommended for social media
programs that are designed to drive one or more user interactions or
engagements on a single website or distributed interactions throughout the
social web. These programs are most often designed to engage users with
brand-focused activities.

Cost per Click (CPC): The cost of each click to a dened location, in a
given period of time. These locations may include but are not limited to:
• Application page
• Canvas page
• Fan page
CPC is suggested when the goal is to drive trafc. Because the quality of
trafc driven is critical, further metrics may be needed to validate the value
of trafc driven from different places within your media plan.
Fixed Fee/Sponsorship: The cost associated with the development of a

social media program that might guarantee a certain level of social activity
based on an amount of time (month/quarter/year). Though not performance-
based, sponsorships are often packaged with guaranteed impressions and
clicks so that other buying metrics can be calculated. When broken down,
xed fee buys can offer great economies of scale.
Summary
When considering which pricing model(s) to choose, keep in mind that
there are no hard and fast rules on when to use one over another. More
importantly, all of the pricing models can be used as metrics. For example,
even if the campaign is bought on a CPC basis, CPE can be a helpful metric
to determine campaign performance.

Success Metrics
Building on the IAB Social Media Ad Metrics document, which covers the
types of activity that can be measured in social media, Success Metrics
focuses on how to obtain these metrics, how to think about their relationship
to marketing objectives and pricing models, and how to apply them to
evaluate success.
Owned vs. Paid vs. Earned Media
Forrester Industry Analyst Sean Corcoran writes that all media can be
classied as owned, paid or earned as dened below (See Figure 1):2
• Owned Media: a message delivered from a company to

consumers through channels controlled by the company.
• Paid Media: a message delivered from a company to consumers
by paying to leverage a channel not controlled by the company.
• Earned Media: a message about a company passed between
consumers as a result of an experience with the brand.
_____________________
2
Forrester: "No Media Should Stand Alone" by Sean Corcoran, December 16, 2009

Using this same reasoning the IAB Social Media Committee has created the
following Roles of Owned, Paid and Earned Social Media (see Figure 2.):
It is accepted today that any effective social media campaign should

have an owned and paid media plan as its foundation in order to achieve
earned media objectives. Earned media may or may not have direct cost
associated with it, and it can include PR, outreach, and activities initiated by
users over and above any specied paid-for engagement such as word of
mouth (viral), pass along, repeat usage, etc. Depending on how a campaign
is purchased, a single type of user engagement may fall into both the paid
and earned categories. For example, a brand may buy video views as
paid media on a cost-per-view basis, but generate additional video views
as earned media through viral pass-along of the video player. Objectives
should be set for each.

• Paid Media Examples: Please refer to the Platforms & Production sections
• Earned Media Examples
° Individual engagement, dened as interaction with a brand
in a way that brand denes as meaningful. It may be dependent
upon creative, for example: video views, bookmarking, photo
uploads, or creation of user-generated content from brand
assets (B-UGC)
° Social engagement, dened as interaction with brand assets,
which has peer-to-peer(s) impact:
• Conversation contributions, size, density
• Comments, ratings and reviews, discussion boards, forum activity
• Content shared, status updates made
° Growth of followers (Twitter), fans, friends
° RSS subscribers
° Media attention/Press coverage/Buzz
° Trafc (link-backs from newsfeed items or status updates to brand pages)
° Search equity from links to a brand site sent by users into a social
environment (status update, blog post, comment)
° Insight into advertiser’s users or customers (demographics,
psychographics)

Determining Success Metrics
While there are now standard metrics, prioritizing them and setting benchmarks
to determine success must be done based on campaign objectives.
Forrester Industry Analyst Nate Elliot suggests that marketers fail because
they focus on the metrics that are most easily available, instead of the
metrics that best correspond to the objectives they are pursuing. He
recommends that marketers consider measurement during the planning
process using three steps:3
• Identify a marketing objective
• Choose measurement categories that match that objective
• Find a way to track those metrics in the social technologies they
are using
Performance analysis may need to cover quantitative metrics as discussed

in the IAB Social Media Ad Metrics document as well as qualitative metrics.
Some qualitative metrics include:
• Appropriateness of user content submitted
• Subject/content of positive or negative comments
• Impact on consumer sentiment as result of program
The following provides a framework for determining the benchmarks

appropriate for measuring performance against your objectives:
• Benchmark non-social efforts
ROI as compared to other ofine or non-social media, for
° example, driving sales, registrations, use of coupons, or
number of positive conversations
Engagement, or time spent with a widget or application
° creative as compared with traditional display ads
• Benchmark previous social efforts and set new goals and
objectives in the planning phase
Increase in performance, sentiment and/or quality of content
° on previous social campaign. This assumes similar marketing
objectives for the two efforts.
• Model goals and use % of goal reached
If campaigns pay for 10,000 video views, and external
° benchmarks suggest a 15% lift with earned video views, set
a minimum goal of 90% and a stretch goal of 110% for those
estimated 11,500 views
_____________________
3
Forrester: "Three Steps to Measuring Social Media Marketing" by Nate Elliot, October 29, 2009

• Set absolute goals

° Increase % of conversations around brand
° consumernumber
Increase of positive conversations and overall
sentiment from current levels
° interested incustomer
Identify the demographic segments who are most
a new product
Achieve specic number of fans for a brand on Facebook or
°
number of followers on Twitter
Data Sources
All social media programs should be able to provide a brand with data
and metrics so that the organization can measure the success of its social
initiative. There are three typical data sources for social media, not unlike
the sources for traditional media. These include:
• New Media Vendor: Vendors that run social media programs
typically provide advertisers with the relevant campaign statistics
collected directly through their own systems. For example, a vendor
that builds and distributes applications or widgets typically
provides clients with associated data on application installs and usage.
• New Metrics Vendor: Vendors focused exclusively on social media
monitoring, including listening platforms that monitor conversation
volume and type, can provide necessary data for evaluating
performance against some marketing objective.
• Technology Platform: Data may be captured by using existing
ad tracking technology, such as including pixels or tags from your
ad management platform.

Appendix: Sample Social Media RFP
A comprehensive RFP is the rst step in building a strong social media plan.
Similar to the RFP for traditional online media, the social media RFP sets
the parameters of the campaign, or ongoing program, and provides enough
creative guidance to generate strong responses from potential vendors. All
RFPs are structured differently. The following list of key RFP components
will help a sales representative or new-business manager prepare a proper
response.

Appendix: Engagement
What exactly does engagement mean?
In social media, “engagement” is most often used as an all-encompassing

term to represent a desired interaction with your brand. As opposed to
passively reading or watching, people are encouraged to engage in sharing,
connecting, and experiencing dynamic, real-time content. Successful social
media campaigns will meet this expectation and allow consumers to interact
with their brand, which may include personalizing, tagging or rating content,
sharing something new with friends, adding comments and so on. Selecting
the right kinds of engagement is achieved by “listening” to your audience’s
needs, behaviors and motivations.
There is more than one metric used to measure success of this engagement.
The value of engagement depends on your business goals. If your goal
is to build trust and credibility, then shifts in brand perception based
on engagement activities should be considered. If your goal is to build
consideration, then metrics such as registration, contributions and other
data are important to show how engagement is drawing the consumer
closer to the brand. In many cases, engagement can only be shown over
time as users nd value in the experience and deepen their relationship
through successive interactions.
This continued engagement can give a social media campaign a life of its
own. Even if you initially plan a short-term campaign based on a specic
event, for instance, you may have built up a relationship with your audience
by the end of the campaign. To get the most value of your investment, be
exible in maintaining the connection with your newly engaged audience.

Appendix: Case Studies
The case studies included illustrate successful social media campaigns

submitted by members of the IAB Social Media Committee. They are real-
world examples from marketers and agencies collaborating with social
media partners to plan, buy, execute, and measure social media campaigns.
They are meant to bring the lessons from this buying guide to life. Use them
as inspiration for your next social media campaign.

Campaign: The Organic Trade Association:

Discovering New Buyers via Blog Conversations
Using social intelligence to target a display campaign to blog sites/audiences
Social Media Platform: Blogs

Goals
• Reach “almost new” organic users by tapping specically into blog
sites/audiences
• Build awareness around organic food with moms and college-age adults
• Increase site trafc
Approach
• OTA chose to work with BuzzLogic to identify where the most
inuential and trusted blog chatter was taking place around key topics.
• BuzzLogic’s platform identied and targeted conversations in four

key areas: parenting, novice organic interests, healthy living,
beauty and popular culture.
• Its proprietary algorithm looked at multiple factors, such as the
credibility and topical expertise of authors, site-to-site connections
(or, social graphs) around content and site audience/demographic
data to maximize ROI for the OTA campaign.

Results
• Outperformed traditional ad network buys by more than 2x.
• Outperformed ad buys on a social networking site dedicated to
moms–one of the OTA’s most important constituents–by more than 4x.
• Uncovered new audiences by focusing
on unexpected conversations: for
example, audiences engaged with
tness/pop culture conversations showed
a strong afnity for the OTA’s message
and produced the highest response rate
for the ad.
Campaign: JC Penny AZ Jeans Holiday 2008

Social Media Platform: Widgets and Social Applications
Situation
• Brand interaction and purchase intent need to work in unison
• The audience is greatly inuenced by their social environment and
friends opinions
• Young adults react well to and support brands who engage them
intelligently
• The target is looking for opportunities to show independence
Strategy
• Utilize tools that open the door for
users to express their digital personality
• Efciently utilize existing assets and
brand awareness
Rationale
• Used existing “Stuck on You” concept
and wigetized to engage the audience
• Gigya brought the experience and
reach in the social widget world.
• Cost per install model gave a level
of guarantee in our execution
° =2.9average
Million customization starts
of 31 customization
starts per install

Insights
• Teen demo responds to brand interactions that allow a social and
creative outlet
• Increased functionality -> increases virality
• CPI model is optimal for this type of execution
• Need a “Kill Switch” for admins in order to monitor content
• The successes and engagement these executions have brought to the
table have solidied their place in our media strategy moving forward.
Results
• Brand Engagement
° Interaction
Over 43
rate
clicks per install
°
• User-endorsed Brand Engagement
° Average of 22 friends reached in addition to original install

Campaign: Coach Launches “Are You a Poppy Girl?”

Cross-Social Marketing Program with Bricksh
Using a cross-social media platform to introduce a new product line to a younger

demographic to learn more about its consumers’ tastes and points of view.
Social Media Platform: Cross Social: Blogs, Mobile, Social Networks,

Widgets and Social Applications, Sponsored Platforms
Goals
• Introduce a new product line on many social media channels at
the same time
• Build and reach a new target audience
• Learn about new target audiences’ tastes and points of view
• Drive increased awareness for new product, as well as the brand
Approach
• Launch the “Are You a Poppy Girl?” program to engage
consumers by asking them to create one-of-a-kind Poppy scrapbook
pages, which displayed their own unique styles and points of view
• Entrants used a customized version of the Entry Editor, which
provided them with Poppy Girl logos, bags, and Poppy Girl
personalities from which to choose
• Products that were utilized and promoted in each of the Poppy
scrapbook entries were listed below the entries with short
descriptions of the items, price points, and links for purchase
• Introduce participants to the new Poppy line while also allowing

Coach to gain insight into the product lines target demographics’

sense of style
• The program offered unique and compelling prizing
Testimonial: “The ‘Are You a Poppy Girl?’ campaign is yet another great
example of how the power of online consumer engagement, coupled with
an interactive social media platform and Bricksh’s expertise as one of
the industry’s most innovative social media marketing teams can ignite
huge results,” said David Duplantis, SVP Global Web & Digital Media for
Coach. “This campaign allowed us to build awareness through consumer to
consumer sharing and give Coach Poppy a foothold in the ever increasing
social media sphere.”
Results
• Using Bricksh’s patent-pending viral share tools, 68% of entries
were shared across the internet to sites such as Facebook, Twitter,
MySpace and more.
• More than 3,000 unique Poppy scrapbook pages were created
• The program received more than 1 million consumer social engagements
• Each program participant spent an average of 14 minutes with the brand
• The program reached more than 2,300 unique URLs cross-socially
on the Web

Campaign: The Jeep Experience:

Branded Social Media from Organic
Social Media Platform: Cross Social: Widgets and Social Applications,

Social Networks
Situation
“The brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.”
— Marty Neumeier, Acclaimed Brand Strategist
The Jeep brand has always had community element around it. Jeep owners
have a history of gathering and sharing their experiences ofine. In early
2007, we saw a lot of online activity as well. A general search of the word
“jeep” revealed:
• Over 160,000 photos on
Flickr “tagged” Jeep
• 31,000 videos on YouTube
featuring Jeep 4x4s
• 500 Jeep-related groups on
Facebook
• 1,316 Yahoo! Groups for Jeep
enthusiasts
Organic and Jeep decided it was time

to formally engage the online Jeep
community.
Approach
• Strengthen the Jeep brand by casting it in the light of its owner and
enthusiast community
• Promote fan content and enable content sharing between fans and
brand intenders
• Join and contribute to the conversation already in progress
• Become the authoritative and authentic voice of Jeep on branded
properties as well as existing groups and forums

Solution
Organic designed and developed “Jeep Experience,” an aggregated
showcase on Jeep.com featuring the best conversations and content
taking place on social networks, as well as an interchangeable social media
“portfolio” from which we pulled content for Jeep Experience. The social
media portfolio that feeds Jeep Experience consists of branded proles on
YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and MySpace. This created a very large, very
active social media footprint where user-generated content and branded
content live together seamlessly.
Jeep Experience was developed and categorized by the Jeep brand passion points:
• Community – the landing page showcases the best of Jeep UGC and
promotes the various branded social media proles and branded content
• News - a place for both ofcial Jeep news plus lifestyle news (want to
know where to buy a recycled sleeping bag for your next camping trip?).
• Events – want to experience the 10+ different Jeep sponsored events
are like? Get a preview of them all via video footage shot by attendees.
• Action Sports – see pro athletes such as Tony Hawk and Sean White
at Jeep Winter X Games and other sponsored events
• Legacy – a catalog of all Jeep 4x4s from 1941 to present day.
• Swag and Games –Jeep brand merchandise, downloadable
wallpapers, and Jeep branded games
Organic designed Jeep Experience to pull in new content via RSS feeds,
Flickr photos, and YouTube videos from its branded social networking
proles and groups. We folded in new and pre-existing content. A custom-
coded Refeed/Reblog system serves as a holding tank for dynamic content
moderation, which is important for timely publishing workow. API pulls
bring in the content from Flickr, YouTube, and RSS Feeds – allowing for
quick Legal and Product review and fast content refresh.
The Jeep Experience Site

www.jeep.com/experience
The Branded Social Media Portfolio

www.facebook.com/jeep
www.youtube.com/thejeepchannel
http://www.ickr.com/groups/jeepexperience/
http://www.myspace.com/jeep

Results
Even with no paid media, Jeep Experience metrics signicantly
outperformed expectations. Engaged visitors spent close to 15 minutes on
Jeep Experience. Many of these visitors continued to build their relationship
with the brand on the branded social media proles, most notably
Facebook, with approximately 350,000 active fans. Jeep Experience visitors
also outperform jeep.com visitors – not only in the expected engagement
categories, but in lower funnel activities (these activities are directly
correlated to new vehicle sales).
• Average Time on Site: 14:53

• 17% Compare Vehicles vs. 7% on jeep.com
• 12% Search Inventory vs. 9% on jeep.com
• 15% Locate a Dealer vs. 11% on jeep.com

Campaign: Microsoft’s ExecTweets
Social Media Platform: Cross Social: Blogs, Widgets and Social

Applications, Mobile
Goal
ExecTweets, a groundbreaking, rst-of-its kind marketing program,
leverages the Twitter platform to accomplish brand goals. It does this by
enhancing the Twitter experience and providing a service to the business
community. The high-level campaign objective was to improve the
perception and preference for Microsoft’s brand, products and services
among the business community.
Approach
Federated Media, Microsoft and McCann Worldgroup created a Website
called ExecTweets and a twitter account (@exectweets). ExecTweets is a
platform that aggregates the tweets of top business execs and empowers
the community to surface the most insightful, business-related tweets.
• The centerpiece of the site is an aggregated Twitter feed of all tweets
from a select group of leading business executives. This feed has
voting functionality, so the community can vote up or down their
favorite tweets. It can also belted by “Featured,” “Most Popular” and
“All Tweets.”
• Users can the follow the @ExecTweets feed and receive the best tweets
from the leaders in the American economy on a regular basis.
• Twitter users can nominate people they’d like to see featured in the
ExecTweets site.
• There is a “Community Tweets” section in which anybody can feed
their Tweets into the site by replying to the @exectweets Twitter alias.
• For those that are as yet unfamiliar with the Twitter service, the site
features a Twitter 101 section.
• ExecTweets also has an accompanying iPhone application.
The Website relies heavily on organic Twitter trafc to drive people to the
site, but Microsoft also used banner media as well as a key promotional
placement on the Twitter homepage. The combination of the three efforts
resulted in trafc and engagement that exceeded all expectations.

Results
ExecTweets exceeded all expectations in terms of results and ROI. The
campaign enhanced preference and improved perception of the Microsoft’s
brand, products and services with over 1,000,000 Twitter followers, 800,000
page views and 15,000 iPhone application installs in the rst 9 months of
the campaign.

Campaign: Public Enemies

Blu-ray™ and DVD Release Integration in Zynga’s Maa Wars
through appssavvy
Social Media Platform: Widgets and Social Applications, Gaming
Goal
Generate buzz for the release of Public Enemies while bringing value to the
game’s user experience.
Approach
• Celebrated the home entertainment release of Public Enemies by
launching this rst-of-its-kind integration reaching millions of consumers
• During “Public Enemies Week” on Maa Wars, players completed
various jobs in order to unlock Public Enemies “Loot” – items such as
John Dillinger’s wooden gun, prison stripes, and Public Enemy #1
Newspaper, among others
• Additionally, special Public Enemies -featured jobs were offered for a
limited time. After completing jobs (playing the game), players were
able to view clips from the movie and read John Dtillinger factoids

Testimonials
• “Even John Dillinger would be impressed with the scope and success of
this effort,” said Mike Wokosin, Vice President, Digital Marketing,
Universal Studios Home Entertainment. “Maa Wars was an incredibly
dynamic environment to seamlessly integrate our property and to
effectively engage a signicant and relevant audience.”
• “The opportunities for marketers to engage with people in social media
are vast but they have to be done in ways that are relevant to consumers
as the Public Enemies campaign demonstrated,” said Scott
Koenigsberg, General Manager of Maa Wars. “The metrics were off
the charts in every KPI (Key Performance Indicator) exemplifying not only
the relevance, but the success of adding value to the Maa War game
experience. We are excited about exploring more opportunities as we
look ahead to enhance Zynga games through advertising partnerships.”
Results
• Public Enemies Loot garnered nearly 55 million interactions during the campaign
• Public Enemies’ featured job, or “Crime Spree” was completed more
than 44.5 million times by nearly 19 million unique game players
• Outside of Loot interacted with and Jobs completed, the integration
was a viral success. Loot and Job interactions were posted to
players’ Facebook Newsfeed more than 7.6 million times delivering
nearly a billion viral impressions
• Meanwhile the campaign generated nearly 25,000 ‘Likes’ and more
than 26,000 comments on the Maa Wars Facebook fan page
• Overall, over delivered by a multiple of 13, which ultimately supported
the lm’s break-out during the busy holiday season

IAB Social Media Booklet

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Social Media Buyer’s Guide

Released February 2010

About the IAB’s Social Media Committee:

This document can be found on the IAB website at:

IAB Contact Information:

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 1

Social Media is an increasingly important marketing tool. A survey of 133

The IAB Social Media Buyer’s Guide is a valuable resource regardless of

2 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

User-Generated Content & Social Media Platform Status Report

Social Advertising Best Practices

Social Media Ad Metrics

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 3

• While traditional online campaigns are typically limited to nite

So how do you plan a social media campaign or program? The process

4 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

Setting Marketing Objectives & Strategies

The foundation of any

achieve one or more broad Ga t her n o n-sc ienti f ic / i n f o rma l research

marketing objectives such Develo p new i n s i g hts o n ta rget ma rket

increasing consumer S u p p o rt a new pro d uct l a u nc h

conversations. Some Drive site traffic

A framework for determining the benchmarks appropriate for measuring

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 5

Understanding Your Audience

Like any campaign, you need to understand the goals, perceptions,

Since your audience is already immersed in social communities and

6 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 7

Social Media Platforms

With the power and breadth of consumers’ social media connections,

Types of Platforms & Denitions

Blogs: Blog platforms are used to

Social Networks: Social networking sites are made up of

Widgets and Social Applications: Widgets are mini

8 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

Mobile: Social activities can take

Gaming: There are games developed specically for social platforms as

Cross Social: A cross-social platform combines several of the platforms

Social Advertising also includes emerging social media and content

Social Advertising can include, but is not limited to the following:

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 9

Sponsored Platforms: Sponsored platforms in social media are based upon

Sponsorship can also include the aggregation, creation and monitoring

Sponsorship associates a brand with marketing elements, such as the following:

10 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

Social Media Production

Content can be produced by tapping internal resources, contracting

Some guiding questions to consider for either outsourced or internal initiatives:

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 11

Types of Production & Denitions

Community Creation/Moderation: the role of a brand representative in

Conversation and Content Aggregation: syndicated tools

Custom Content: brand sources and subsidizes the creation of UGC on a

Content Association: brands can identify and aggregate relevant existing

12 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

Brand Conversation Hubs/Social Media Micro-Site: branded conversation

Microblogging: Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows users to

© 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau 13

Virtual World: a computer-based simulated environment intended for its

Virtual Goods: non-physical objects that are purchased and exchanged

Online Polls: surveys in which participants

14 © 2010 Interactive Advertising Bureau

Social Ads: As the denition of

About the IAB’s Social Media Committee:

The IAB Social Media Buyer’s Guide is a valuable resource regardless of

• While traditional online campaigns are typically limited to nite

With the power and breadth of consumers’ social media connections,

• Placement (run of site vs. a specic application or page)

• Becoming a fan (fanning, friending, or following)

• Submission of branded user-generated content (BUGC)

• Owned Media: a message delivered from a company to

• Set absolute goals

In social media, “engagement” is most often used as an all-encompassing

• BuzzLogic’s platform identied and targeted conversations in four

Campaign: Coach Launches “Are You a Poppy Girl?”

Coach to gain insight into the product lines target demographics’

• Average Time on Site: 14:53

Campaign: Microsoft’s ExecTweets