Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 1
Netimperative Sector
Seminar: Engagement
through Social Media
Sponsors of today’s event are:

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 2
Netimperative Sector Seminar: Engagement through Social Media
With Social Networks becoming the day to day norm and a way to communicate to your networks both through work and
personally. We talk today about how we can harness the power of the social networks to promote and advertise our
businesses. How communicating with your customers day to day can achieve a higher return on investment, trust, generate
great ideas and place you at the top of your game .
2:00pm – 2:30pm Registration
2:30pm – 2:35pm Chair‟s Introduction & Overview
Andrew Gerrard, Consultant, D-marketing
2:35pm – 2.55 pm How to advertise using Social Media
Simon Podd, Head of Sales UK & Ireland, Bebo
2.55pm – 3:15pm Case Study: Targeted Advertising Campaigns through Social Media
Oisin Lunny, Country Manager, UK & Ireland, Sulake Corporation & Emily
Knee, Senior Digital Account Manager, NSPCC
3:15pm – 3:35pm Successfully tracked results for your Social Media Campaigns
Paul Taylor, Managing Director and Matthew Brazil, CEO, 6 Consulting
3:35pm – 3:55pm Your customers are your best sales channel: How to use social media to build
reputation and advocacy
Ivan Croxford, General Manager, BT Tradespace
3.55pm – 4.15pm Coffee & Networking
4:15pm – 4:40pm Reach is now irrelevant and engagement is key to brand value
Katy Howell, CEO, immediate future
4.40pm – 5.00pm Case Study: Yomego works with Eircom to create a new home for Irish
Soccer
Steve Richards, Business Director, Yomego
5.00pm – 5:25pm Panel Debate: Do social media ads work or just wind users up?
Andrew Gerrard, Consultant, D-marketing
Simon Podd, Head of Sales UK & Ireland, Bebo
Oisin Lunny, Country Manager, UK & Ireland, Sulake Corporation
Emily Knee, Senior Digital Account Manager, NSPCC
Paul Taylor, Managing Director, 6 Consulting
Ivan Croxford, General Manager, BT Tradespace
Katy Howell, CEO, immediate future
Steve Richards, Business Director, Yomego
5:25pm- 5.30pm Chairman‟s Closing Remarks
5.30pm – 6.00pm Wine Reception & Networking

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 3
Speaker Biographies
Andrew Gerrard, Social and Digital Media Consultant Oisin Lunny, Country Manager, UK & Ireland, Sulake
Corporation
Andrew Gerrard is a Social and Digital Media Consultant,
As UK Country Manager of Habbo UK, Oisin combines 19 years of
helping clients understand how to take part in the
experience in the media, music and technology industries to lead the
conversations that their audiences are having, and
growth of the UK site. In addition to the day-to-day running of Habbo
converting them through social and digital channels into
UK Oisin oversees the deployment of strategic marketing and
mutually profitable long-term customer relationships. With integrated advertising campaigns to encourage site visitors and user
nearly 20 years of unparalleled experience in the digital, activity. Prior to Habbo Oisin was Global Product Manager, Online
online and social media industries, Andrew provides his Distribution and Media Services for Interoute Communications
clients with a wealth of strategic and tactical knowledge that Limited, owners and operators of Europe's most advanced voice and
data network. Their products and services include bandwidth, virtual
lead to effective and practical business activities that create
private networks, high speed internet access and transit, managed
opportunies and produce measurable results. With a strong
hosting, communications services and media streaming. Oisin is a
background in technology and the internet, and a career that
successful musician in his own right, having worked as a
spans senior marketing roles with Microsoft,
professional DJ and producer, and continues to explore his passion
CompuServe/AOL and DoubleClick, Andrew was also for music in his spare time.
responsible for launching LunarStorm, a
major social network for young people, and has advised
numerous clients on how to adopt and integrate social media
into their day-to-day business and company culture. He is
currently working on a project using social and digital media
to drive and effect a measurable and sustainable real-world
behaviour change within local communities.
Emily Knee, Senior Digital Account Manager, NSPCC - National
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Emily joined the Digital Communications team at the NSPCC in
Simon Podd, Bebo, Head of Sales UK & Ireland
February 2007. A key part of her role is reaching and engaging with
children and young people through digital channels in order to raise
Simon took up the role of Head of UK Sales. Simon joined Bebo at awareness of ChildLine and educate about issues of abuse. Prior to
the launch of its commercial operations in January 2007 as a UK joining the NSPCC she was Programmes Manager at the Internet
Sales Manager. In his position, Simon is responsible for working Advertising Bureau (IAB) where she ran their programme of industry
with clients and advertising agencies alike through sponsorship of working groups.
Bebo's engagement marketing solutions and original commissions
while managing the UK sales team and UK revenue. During his first
year at Bebo Simon secured large scale 'media first' sponsorships
with multinational brands including Disney, Cadbury and Toyota.
Bebo‟s first, and the Internet‟s most successful serialized drama,
KateModern was nominated for two BAFTA (the British Oscars)
awards and generated over 70 million views. KateModern was
followed by Sofia’s Diary, the first online show to cross over to TV in
the UK, The Gap Year, the most successful reality show not on TV
and The Secret World of Sam King, the first co-production between
Universal Music and a social network. Podd previously worked at the
London Evening Standard as Head of Agency Sales, in a
challenging and demanding market. Simon was responsible for
creating and managing excellent and ongoing client relationships
while overseeing the entire agency sales process. More recently,
Simon worked on the launch of News International‟s first ever
newspaper launch in the UK with the London Paper and was part of
the management team responsible for devising, planning and
shaping the commercial launch proposition.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 4
Ivan Croxford, General Manager, BT Tradespace
Ivan Croxford is the Head of BT Tradespace
http://www.bttradespace.com, a place for small businesses to
promote themselves using social media and business networking
tools. Ivan has seen BT Tradespace grow from the spark of an idea
to a flourishing community of over 350,000 members and rising.
Prior to joining BT Ivan worked in the wireless and broadband
services business in both the UK and France. A keen (though
somewhat irregular) blogger [link http://www.fumoir.com] he can also
be found on Twitter - http://twitter.com/croxy
Katy Howell, Managing Director, immediate future
With over 20 years‟ industry experience, Katy is renowned for her
insight and knowledge of online PR and social media. Highly-
respected in her field, she manages the online PR diploma module
for the Institute of Direct Marketing and the Institute for Sales
Promotion. She is an active member of the social media council at
the Internet Advertising Bureau and is invited to speak at many
conferences including Marketing Week and CIPR. immediate future‟s
client experience includes; Sony Europe, BT, Diageo, PSP, NSPCC,
BBC, Cancer Research, Boxed up, Kinder Bueno, CW Jobs, Mirror
Group, Hotel Chocolat, Sara Lee, bmibaby
www.twitter.com/katyhowell www.linkedin.com/in/katyhowell
Paul Taylor, Managing Director, 6 Consulting
Managing Director of 6Consulting, Paul Taylor has a process
improvement management consultancy background. Paul
has extensive experience working with a number of
marketing, brand, digital and PR agencies as well as leading
corporate organisations implementing applied social media
monitoring campaigns
Steve Richards, MD, Yomego
Steve Richards is managing director of social media agency
Yomego; a position he took up in July 2008 to drive the growth of the
company‟s work across virtual worlds, user generated content
platforms and social networks. Steve began his career client-side
with HSBC before moving on to sales promotion agency, IMC. In
1998, he co-founded award-winning London agency, Swordfish,
working with clients including BBC, Channel 4, First Direct, Reckitt
Benckiser, Sony and Warner Bros. Over 50% of Swordfish‟s output
was across digital media. Since joining Yomego, he has overseen
the development of groundbreaking community sites including
Ruumz, Soccer Republic and the soon to be launched virtual world
Matthew Brazil, CEO, 6 Consulting
dPals.
Matthew has over 18 year‟s commercial experience and is a
respected consultant who has led a number of software as a
service (SaaS) projects. Matthew regularly works with a
number of major marketing agencies to shape the digital
offering. His understanding of the processes and
methodologies behind social media are frequently used by
agencies across a range of clients from different sectors.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 6
Introduction
Welcome to Netimperative‟s Sector Report on Social Media 2009. With social networking and user generated
content an established part of the digital landscape, rules for marketers have well and truly changed.
In this report, you'll find an overview of the social media sector as it stands, supported by trends from recent months
and some future predictions. Next, we have commentary from number of industry experts offering their views on the
pitfalls and opportunities of social media. We have also included a comprehensive arsenal of data to help decipher
some key trends from the early part of 2009, before concluding with some case studies from recent social media
campaigns to get your creative juices flowing.
We’d like to thank our co-sponsors, Yomego and BT Tradespace for their help in putting this report together.
Social media and Web 2.0 is fast becoming crucial to
Yomego is a social media agency working with brands
every business's marketing strategy. And tools such
to build, retain and monetise digital communities. It
as blogs, podcasts and videos play a critical part in
works closely with broadcasters, brand and media
building trust online and getting that all important sale.
owners and their agencies to design and build social
Understanding what Web 2.0 is and how you can
networks, UGC platforms, virtual worlds and other
make the most of the tools on offer to help promote
bespoke digital applications that engage audiences.
and grow your business is essential. BT Tradespace
Yomego‟s client list includes MTV, Eircom, Durex,
is one of them: a thriving online community for SMEs
Entertainment Rights, Five, GMTV, Ladbrokes and
to meet like-minded people - whether you're buying,
ITV. To find out more about Yomego visit
selling or just networking. If you're looking for an
www.yomego.com or contact Steve Richards on 0141
opportunity to get your business noticed - this is it,
582 0600 or steve@yomego.com.
www.bttradespace.com. To find out more contact
team@bttradespace.com

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 7
YouTube video showing Domino‟s employees
Social Media- A Sector Overview „tampering‟ with food).
So with this in mind, just how are marketers supposed
to target consumers in this new user-controlled
environment that can be very hostile to ads? With this
level of control, will consumers want any place for
adverts in their own media world?
Since the likes of Flickr, YouTube and Facebook
caught the public‟s imagination back in the mid- The social media landscape
noughties, social media has fast become a major
part of the online landscape, bringing with it new
Social media is now the forth most popular activity
challenges and opportunities for marketers.
online, following search, portals and PC software use,
and ahead of email (Nielsen Online, March 2009). In
Spurred on by the young and the geeky, the medium fact, the same research found that Brits typically
now touches upon nearly all aspects of modern life, spend one of every six of their minutes online visiting
from politics and business, to celebrity culture and a social media site. This growth trend is set to
breaking news. At the time of writing, a Facebook app continue. eMarketer estimates by 2013, the social
is mapping the swine-flu outbreak based on user networking population in the UK will reach 21.9 million
comments, Ashton Kutcher has just become the first and represent 50% of Internet users.
Twitterer to gain one million followers and Gordon
Brown is in trouble for opting to break his MP expense
So what are the most popular forms of social media in
reform plans on YouTube (he‟s just been forced to
the UK? The eMarketer poll, conducted in April 2009,
disable viewer comments due to abuse).
found that 37% of UK adult Internet users had visited
a social networking site in the previous month, while
The phrase „social media‟ means more than just 29% had viewed or contributed to an online forum,
online networks of friends and associates. The and 26% had visited or posted a comment on a
medium encompasses a range of platforms, including message board. Fewer than one in five had visited or
blogs, photo and video sharing sites, wikis and social added to a wiki (19%) or a blog (16%), or checked
bookmarking tools. All are linked by the concept of into a chat room (13%). One in ten (10%) said they
user participation helping to shape and distribute the had visited a business networking site.
content on display.
In terms of social networks, industry stalwart
The popularity of social media is at least one area of MySpace remains the most popular in global terms
growth that looks recession-proof, even if only in and goes toe-to-toe with Facebook in the US, buoyed
terms of scale rather than sterling. According to by its highly successful music platform. However,
Datamonitor, by 2012, 70% of online content will be Facebook currently leads the UK market in terms of
user-generated. Technorati estimates that there are users, along with much of Europe.
171 million blogs worldwide. In fact (and perhaps
most tellingly) Brits are now more likely to visit social
Looking at stats on Facebook‟s market leading status
networks than porn sites (Hitwise, October 2008).
in Blighty shows just how deeply entrenched social
media has become in the UK online sector. According
This surge in „people-power‟ has marked a to Hitwise, Facebook is not only the most popular UK
fundamental shift in the industry. The traditional media social network, it has also become the most searched
model of „one-to-many‟, where controlled editorial for brand in the UK, ahead of YouTube, eBay, Bebo
content is posted on a specific timescale, has mutated and the BBC, attracting 2.39% of all searches on
to a landscape where publishing becomes a Google (Hitwise, March 2009).
constantly evolving, „many-to-many‟ conversation.
The rules have changed, and consumers now expect
Facebook also accounts for one third of all social
this level of control as standard, be it online, via
networking in Europe (Comscore April 2009)
mobile devices, and even via TV as interactive
representing 1.1% all online time in Europe, and a
technology becomes more prevalent.
massive 4.1% of all time spent online in the UK. The
site also commands a lead in nearly all European
For marketers, this elevation of social media in the countries with the notable exceptions being Germany
th th
public consciousness has so far presented a double- (4 ) and Russia (7 ). In the UK, nearly 23 million
edged sword. The medium offers unprecedented people visit Facebook a month, representing more
insight into consumer attitudes and behaviour, while than a third of the country‟s population, according to
at the same time leaving brands more vulnerable than comScore.
ever to bad publicity (as exemplified in the recent

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 8
The rise of the Twitterati those ads (63%) were integrated as part of a wider
campaign. The majority of those interviewed forecast
their social media marketing budgets to grow and take
While Facebook remains top, Twiiter has undoubtedly
between 20- 40% of their total online marketing
been the social media success story of 2009 so far.
budget in 2009.
The micro-blogging site has been bubbling under the
mainstream since its inception in 2006, yet recent
celebrity endorsements have boosted its popularity to Outside of social networking ads, media sharing sites
over 5 million users worldwide (comScore, April (such as YouTube and Flickr) were the most popular
2009). If it‟s good enough for Stephen Fry, it seems, form of social media-based advertising (62%). This
it‟s good enough for the rest of us. was very closely followed by micro-blogs (such as
Twitter) with 60% of votes, and corporate and
campaign blogs (59%).
Crucially, the site has found its own niche within the
social media sector, straddling both the personal
space offered by Facebook and the professional So what are the typical UK marketing budgets for
space offered by business-based social networks social media? A recent eConsultancy report found
such as LinkedIn, Xing and BT Tradespace. As such, that budgets for social media remain relatively small.
the site arguably lends itself more towards marketers‟ 55% of company respondents are spending less than
goals, being more of a „lean forward‟ medium than the £5,000 per year, while just 4% were spending more
online hang-outs of Facebook and Bebo. than £50,000 in this area.
Indeed, the rapid growth of Twitter is reflected in the The metric currency by which success of these new
attention paid to it in companies' marketing strategies. solutions is measured is also changing, with the role
of a Technorati-style „buzz‟metric to gauge a brands
According to a recent eConsultancy poll of agencies,
49% said they were including the site in their social status in the blogosphere is growing in popularity.
media marketing during 2009, compared with just 3% Companies are also wising up to the power of
last year. This placed it as the second most popular negative mentions in community sites, countering with
proactive online campaigns centred around the „word
social media platform behind Facebook for marketing
of mouse‟ power of social media.
campaigns.
Emerging platforms- the next step?
While the signs indicate that marketers should ignore
Twitter at their own peril, new data from Nielsen
Online shows that Twitter's audience retention rate is Emerging platforms can take advantage of social
just 40%. This means just two in five users that networking technologies in ways that the internet can‟t
„twittered‟ in March went on to make another micro- match. The advent of Smartphones such as Apple‟s
blog entry in April. Nielsen said Twitter‟s average iPhone mean mobile social networks and blogging
retention rate for the year has been 30%, far below communities are gaining momentum, especially
the likes of Facebook and MySpace. Time will tell if among teenagers and early-adopters who are more
the site will meet its potential as a mainstream likely to spend time on their mobiles than PCs.
communication platform to rival texting, but for the
time being at least, it remains a cost-effective way of
Meanwhile, as IPTV bridges the gap between the
reaching potential customers.
Internet and TV further, to what extent will social
networks be integrated into this convergence? Are TV
The UGC video ad conundrum schedules going to make way for programme or
genre-based streaming video channels, with social
As user generated video becomes more prevalent, networks built-in for fans? And if so, where would
advertising fit into this mix?
more pressure is being placed on video sharing sites
such as YouTube to generate revenues to
compensate for massive bandwidth requirements. But Social networking has come a long way since the
this has not been without its own problems for early days, and its potential, both culturally and
marketers. Can brands face the possibility of being commercially is now huge. Those that can
associated with harmful or inappropriate content? For successfully predict and harness the latest
example, can a sports brand be seen advertising in a innovations and trends in social media are those most
clip of a skateboarder wearing a rival brand‟s t-shirt? likely to emerge as winners, as the industry reaches
its next critical phase.
How are marketers using social media?
A February 2009 study of UK marketers conducted by
Sapient found that over half had run a campaign on a
social networking site in the past 12 months. Most of

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 9
The vast majority of the highest ranking teams in the
The Monetisation of Social Media:
online game are now fully kitted out in Adidas wear. In
Digital‟s Holy Grail the minds of players it creates an unconscious link
between the brand and high performance, both within
the game and in the real world.
But beyond this, embrace a community and they will
often make quick, reliable and cost-effective product-
testers. Critical considerations such as which colours
or designs are likely to be a hit can be assessed with
online fans in a much more collaborative way and at a
fraction of the offline cost. Win over this community
Marketers have spent fortunes
and you‟ll recruit an impassioned army of well-
trying to target “the right demographics”. But just
connected brand ambassadors.
when they were getting good at it, along comes
social media. Steve Richards, Managing Director
at Yomego, looks at the key challenges facing Eighteen months ago, major NFL American football
marketers in this new web 2.0 world. team, the Indianapolis Colts, were one of the first
sports brands to launch their own dedicated social
network for fans (http://www.mycolts.net). Four weeks
One billion consumers regularly use social networks.
after the site‟s launch, it already had a loyal online
Here, people happily give personal – even intimate –
audience in excess of 10,000. It has now become an
details about themselves. But in these democratised
ideal platform to sell merchandise, update fans on
environments, people don‟t want to be overtly sold to.
special events and most importantly to get instant and
In fact, they‟re actively against it. Often adopting
direct input from fans about the future of the franchise.
radically different personas simultaneously on
different networks, users are also extremely difficult to
pigeon-hole. In fact, the opportunity to develop a direct relationship
with an online community united by a common
interest is open to all brands through the creation of a
It‟s a beguiling challenge, then: how to tap into the
unique social network.
commercial potential of such vast numbers of people
expressing personal preferences, without them
Some universal marketing principles apply –the space
turning against you? Very few brands have worked it
out and the majority of operators are yet to make their has to look good, the content needs to be compelling
social networks pay (just ask the accountants at and refreshed regularly. When creating your own
Facebook). social network as opposed to joining others, the
creative control over your site and the quality and
uniqueness of content you can provide is a massive
But progress is being made and there are now
advantage. The site also needs to present a clear
examples of online brand building which are
proposition or purpose that the audience can buy into.
producing astonishing results over traditional
And online, expectations tend to be higher, so any
advertising.
brand entering this world needs to do so with
complete conviction.
The world of sport is leading the way.
Yomego has been working with Irish telecoms
Sports fans form some of the most passionate groups provider, eircom. As sponsors of the Republic of
of people and social media can easily re-create online Ireland national football team it was looking for a way
what they do naturally offline – by providing a virtual to recruit, engage, empower and enlighten a digital
gathering place that‟s open all day, every day. community of fans. In its first few weeks of going live,
soccerRepublic.ie had attracted over 100,000 unique
Adidas has created an application for Chinese visits. Thousands of fans now use the site as a
website Xiaonei.com‟s hugely popular game knowledge source, sounding board, swap-shop and
„Basketball superstars‟, which already boasts 150,000 destination to get behind-the-scenes access to the
dedicated basketball fans. The game allows players to players and backroom staff. eircom promises to shape
create their own virtual basketball team to play the future of the site directly in tune with what the fans
against other users. Adidas has added virtual branded want.
gear including trainers and clothing to the game,
which players can then purchase using virtual credits. But what does eircom get out of it commercially? In
The more Adidas equipment a team wears, the higher short, lots.
its stats go, in turn improving the team‟s chances of
winning.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 10
For a start, on a specially catered site of this type, Monetising Social Media- Join the
display advertising can work much more successfully
Conversation
than has so far proved to be the case on generic
social media networks. Provided the selected brands
fit the site‟s overall editorial profile and the advertising
is not over-intrusive, users will tolerate it much more
than they would on the likes of Facebook or Myspace,
where attempts to target advertising according to a
user‟s profile have been viewed as in invasion of
privacy.
Meanwhile, partnerships are proving to be a
How can brands make money
particularly productive way of raising brand
through social media? By Mark Redgrave, CEO of
awareness. The success or failure of these tailored
Amplify, argues that to engage customers, you
sites hangs entirely on the added value of the content.
By adding real value to the community – via an offer, must first understand the conversation before you
join it.
competition prize, game or other relevant and
engaging feature – the community‟s enthusiasm ` for
the site continues to be reinforced. Ultimately, this is Social networks are here to stay, that much we know.
what will keep them coming back. Human beings are „social‟ creatures that want to
share their ideas, plans, intentions and emotions.
People want to connect and engage with other people
Positive brand engagement, however, is the most
obvious benefit – existing and potential customers are and social networks create powerful environments for
this to happen. But one of the biggest challenges
entering into meaningful dialogues and interactions in
facing brands today is how to effectively monetise
an environment built and facilitated by eircom. The
these social properties.
value of such interaction for the brand and the reward
for the consumer is huge.
According to the latest figures from Hitwise (Feb
2009), Facebook is the second most popular website
Whilst no one has yet developed a definitive metric to
in the UK behind Google, with 17.6 million unique
quantify the benefits of this new model of social
users in the UK. Access to the huge audience and
marketing, widespread brand advocacy is every
marketer‟s dream and fan-based networks can deliver rich user data that social networks offer makes them
very appealing to brands, but how can firms unlock
short term boosts and long-term sustainable sales
growth. this potential? The key to monetising social networks
lies in engagement. Not some sort of superficial
„brand‟ engagement, but in deep, personal
Then there‟s one final factor – what would be the cost
engagement through real dialogue with users. Brands
if you‟d sat back and watched your nearest
need to be joining the conversation – but to do that,
competitors get socially networked instead?
they first need to understand the conversation. They
need to understand what is being discussed, where,
By Steve Richards when and how.
Managing Director
Yomego
Sophisticated understanding
www.Yomego.com
Easy to say, not so easy to do. Publishers have been
looking at advertising as a means of monetising social
networks for some time now, but high-profiled bungled
attempts such as Facebook's Beacon highlight the
challenges they face. A key barrier is the way users
think about social networks - people see their online
space as something quite private and this, coupled
with a lot of media attention around online privacy,
has led people to have an emotional reaction towards
advertising on social media networks which is both
immediate and negative.
This is an understandable, and yet unreasonable
reaction - social networks are ultimately providing a
service that needs to be paid for. Just like TV. Just
like radio.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 11
The trick lies in understanding the conversation that is assessing brand safety based on samples of content.
raging and engaging the user with highly relevant, Move to Natural Language Processing and
targeted advertising that actually enhances the user computational linguistic technologies that are
experience. Understanding the conversation is not available today and which can surface the significant
about identifying keywords. It has to be much more topics, attitudes and pending decisions within any text
sophisticated than that. If someone is talking to remove the guesswork from brand safety and
enthusiastically about going skiing in France in March, targeting decisions and enable social networks to
realise their financial potential.
they will react positively to skiing advertising and
specific ski travel offers. If, however, they are talking
about how they hate the cold weather and just don‟t By Mark Redgrave
understand why their friends spend money on skiing CEO
and winter holidays, those same skiing ads will have Amplify
the opposite effect. This creates an experience that is
bad for the user and bad for the advertiser. That‟s why
www.openamplify.com/
the technology used to understand the conversation
and to serve the ad must be sophisticated. Just
latching onto the keyword „skiing‟ is not sufficient. And
that‟s why current efforts are falling short.
Fear of the unknown
The sheer volume of largely unregulated content
makes it very challenging for publishers to monetise
social networks. Brands want to participate, but they
simply can't afford to take the risk of exposure next to
offensive or inappropriate user generated content.
What‟s the solution? Once again, understand the
conversation. If you can really understand what‟s
being discussed – dynamically, as the content is
actually being created and as the conversation is
actually evolving – then you can make instantaneous
decisions whether or not to serve an ad at all – and, if
so, which ads, which creative and which promotion to
serve.
The opportunity presented by social networks is too
large for brands to ignore. They want and need to
participate. To make this happen, publishers must
provide advertisers with insights into the meaning of
all the content on their site. Only by having a true
understanding of content can brands engage users
with relevant and useful ads that enhance – not
detract – from the user experience. Amplify is the only
technology available today that can understand the
meaning of content in real time, and provide ad
servers with the information they need to ensure
highly relevant, premium ads are served to users
based on their own expressed interests, desires and
intentions.
Top tips for publishers
The key to monetising social media from a publisher‟s
perspective is to understand your content! Arm online
advertisers with a full appreciation of the meaning of
text – so go beyond existing tools that rely on
categorising content according to keywords or

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 12
Likewise the Labour party recently unveiled its social
The Power of Social Media
networking site Labourspace.com, which along with
the existing LabourList.org, invites individuals to bring
issues to the attention of Labour politicians. Members
can upload their own campaign ideas and
communicate with the Labour Party on why they think
these ideas should be implemented. This helps the
Government to understand exactly what the general
public really want from them and what issues they feel
2009 has seen the power of most strongly about.
social media reach an all-time high with many of
us dedicating our precious time daily to blogs,
However, the power that social media invites means it
chat forums and popular social networking sites
has to be handled responsibly. Marcus comments
such as Facebook and Twitter. Rob Marcus,
“Government campaigns in particular can generate
director at Chat Moderators believes that social
some heated opinions, as such they must be careful
media is a great and powerful marketing tool, but
to strike the perfect balance between allowing their
also believes that with great power comes great
audience to express their opinions and make
responsibility…
suggestions while ensuring that they are taking a
responsible attitude to moderation. Taking
As the popularity of social networking, blogging and responsibility for what information appears is the only
web chat continues to rise, it is no secret that those way to create a safe place for users to interact and a
brands who fail to embrace such concepts will find place that they will want to visit again.”
themselves lagging behind competitors and possibly
losing out altogether on what is an extremely powerful
Back in November 2008 a Spanish website generated
method of customer engagement and
some media attention as it was found to be displaying
communication.
some racist comments directed at Lewis Hamilton
after he won the Brazilian Grand Prix. At the time,
Although there are possible risks for any business this website was not being moderated and the
involved with a social networking initiative, the inappropriate comments had gone undetected. Such
rewards and positive impact on brand identity can be situations can be avoided if a stringent moderation
substantial. Social media allows businesses to process is put in place, whether that is in-house or via
connect with audiences in new ways and unlike some third party moderation.
traditional marketing tactics, paves the way for an
interactive two-way conversation.
Marcus explains “Despite this starting off as a
seemingly innocent website around motor sport, it
Marcus comments “Brands are beginning to quickly escalated into a community for racist abuse.
understand the potential of social media in cementing Allowing comments like this to go undetected can
ongoing relationships with their key target audiences. severely damage the brand of the business in
Interestingly, it is not just commercial brands that question and in some cases the damage can be
have been getting in on the act; from Barack Obama beyond repair.”
to the Labour government a wide spectrum of
organisations have begun to harness and build on the
The dark side of social media
effects that social media can have on their marketing
campaigns.”
Cyber bullying is another example of the dark side of
social media. Google has recently been taken to court
Jumping on the bandwagon
by a Canadian model claiming that an anonymous
blogger has been trying to defame her. The model
In particular, Barack Obama‟s presidential campaign wants Google to identify the blogger and have the
now has presence on no fewer than 16 social media website shut down. “Being associated with this type
sites including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Not of negative publicity it is damaging for Google‟s
only is Obama able to reach the general public on reputation even though the comments were made by
these popular social networks, he is also connected a third party. Brands need to realise that being
with specific ethnic groups online such as, associated with any negative story is enough to ruin a
BlackPlanet for the African-American population. reputation, regardless of whether they were actually
Obama has fully embraced social media throughout involved in making the comments,” remarks Marcus.
his campaign and has continued to do so since the
election by updating his Twitter regularly and
“I have seen various examples of social networks
engaging in discussions on forums with the public on
which are bringing positive benefits such as one by
issues that are important to them.
the health sector which is encouraging people to stop
smoking and one by a charity which is giving the

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 13
public access to free advice and information. A survey be as a result of a number of factors. Marcus
concludes “As long as a responsible attitude is taken
highlighted in eMarketer found that 85 per cent of
marketing executives have cited customer along with regular, targeted moderation, social media
engagement as the main benefit of using social can bring great power to any organisation. It can also
media. As well as this, 51 per cent found the low cost mean the difference of reaching a global audience,
of social media initiatives appealing and 48 per cent motivating user interaction and establishing a lasting
dialogue with customers. Whether it‟s a product,
found it useful for building their brand awareness,”
said Marcus. brand or campaign, done well, it is possible to
positively steer your brand into the spotlight”.
Into the spotlight…
www.chatmoderators.com
Observing the results that social media has already
achieved for organisations can really help a brand
decide what route they would like to take themselves.
However, with every success story there are a
number which have gone horribly wrong and this can

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 14
1. Get on there! Get involved! There‟s no better
Top Five Twitter Tips for Brands
place to start than with yourself. Sign up for an
account, follow some people - you can start with
me: www.twitter.com/tomgriffola, I talk about digital
marketing, rugby and music - and get tweeting a little.
Find some people or brands in your sector and watch
what they‟re doing. You can gain a lot from interacting
and watching before you reveal a brand presence.
How can brands get the most
2. See what people are saying about your brand
out of Twitter? Tom Griffiths, Business
using http://search.twitter.com - grab the feed and
Development Manager at CheezeDMG, offers
watch it for a while. Is the conversation positive or
some tips to generate conversions through
negative? This will help you define what your
conversations.
presence on Twitter needs to be. It may also help you
quickly find brand ambassadors who can amplify your
Twitter‟s here. You can't visit a website or turn a page, presence. Don't forget the detractors - connecting with
digital or otherwise, without reading about it. Whether them on Twitter and helping them may create a rapid
it‟s Jonathan Ross‟ banter or breaking news stories - turnaround in their opinion.
Sky has a Twitter correspondent and CNN has one of
the largest followings of any user ; yet it‟s the user 3. Work out what you‟re going to say, and who‟s
who‟s breaking news before the news agencies - the going to manage it. In some cases an agency can
plane dumping in the Hudson River being the most help get you off the ground and hand over the running
high profile example. once you‟re familiar with the process. You can stick to
a content theme, or a reason as to why you‟re on
Twitter‟s being used as a news channel, an Twitter, but don‟t use it as a broadcast channel. All
information hub, but the user has more power than tweeting and no listening will lose you credibility - very
ever. Of course brands are keen to follow this trend quickly!
and harness it to their own benefit. So how can
brands make their voices heard in a world where the 4. Get your brand onto Twitter. Grab a name -
user, your potential customer, doesn‟t have to listen? ideally www.twitter.com/yourbrandname, set up your
It‟s a level playing field, so your brand has to operate logo and a template design and start twittering. If you
at the consumer‟s level; don‟t simply broadcast offers can reference your brand on your own corporate page
and „news‟ - become part of the conversation. Some that will help establish credibility for the brand on
brands have been active for a while - smaller ones Twitter. At this time there are no regulations or checks
like eSpares are doing a great job of harnessing the - it‟s up to you to manage your brand on Twitter.
channel, larger brands like Canterbury of New Connect it to your other channels - you can feed your
Zealand are just starting; and then you‟ve got huge Twitter stream into a Facebook Fan Page or your own
global brands like Dell that have already seen over website.
$1m of revenue from the channel.
5. Start talking - follow people you find interesting,
Charities are at it too - Dogstrust are doing a fantastic have a conversation. If you‟re sending links to your
job engaging with their „followers‟, and PDSA are site, think about adding tracking tags. URL etiquette in
starting to get involved off the back of their Facebook Twitter‟s 140 character dialogue is to use a shortened
success. All these brands are seeing success through URL via tinyurl or similar, so add your tracking in
engagement – involve yourself, provide advice, before converting the url. This can help you
respond to questions, „react‟ to your customers, and understand what value this channel is delivering for
the proactive nature of marketing becomes flipped. you, over and above interaction, enabling you to track
However, the effectiveness of building brand traffic from conversation through to conversion.
advocates, raising awareness and ultimately
promoting your products and services by „stealth‟ is By Tom Griffiths
huge – subtle branding, who would have thought it? Business Development Manager, CheezeDMG
Set to grow even further, Twitter may also spin out
www.twitter.com/tomgriffola
with the associated growth of similar 'tools' like
www.Identi.ca, www.plurk.com and www.jaiku.com -
www.twitter.com/CheezeDMG
owned by Google. Having a presence on Twitter now
will help you understand the medium and benefit your
brand and the consumer. So, if you‟re looking to
harness Twitter, where to start? Here are five tips to
get you going:

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 15
Monitor forums and review sites
How to Manage your Reputation
Online
Google Alerts are an excellent way of monitoring what
is being written about on the web. These will flag up
any instances of specified keywords (such as your
company name), ensuring that anything negative can
be counteracted and positive stories or postings can
be optimised. By making sure that any positive pages
are well optimised, these will appear higher up in the
search engine rankings, therefore pushing anything
Brands that ignore social that is negative further down the listings.
media do so at their own peril. Darren Jamieson,
Senior Creative Developer at Just Search, looks at
Embrace social media
the growing importance of managing your brand‟s
reputation online.
Aside from social networking sites, there are a
number of other social media that can be used to help
With the huge rise in user-generated content and
boost your web profile. Social bookmarking is a way
freedom of the web, Internet users have much more
to store and share web pages, so links to these sites
control and power than ever before. This means that
are saved on the public Internet, meaning web
all the hard work that goes into search engine
crawlers can find them easily. Use sites like
optimisation, PR and marketing activities can be
del.ici.ous, StumbleUpon and Digg.com.
undone with a single negative forum thread or blog
post. With online reputation management, there are
Write a blog and keep it updated
several easy ways that marketers and businesses can
ensure Google and the other search engines display
positive content. Blogging provides a channel for reaching a wider
audience. Blogs that are regularly updated with
interesting and relevant content will be placed higher
Make the most of social networking
in the rankings. Search engine spiders place more
importance on blogs with fresh content, which helps
Many companies will not see the value in using social
to manage online reputation by ensuring that a blog is
networking in the business environment, however
ranked highly over any other potentially negative
these sites can be a useful marketing tool. Creating a
content. Blogging also provides the opportunity to
profile on sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook can
increase incoming links and build relationships with
help reach a wider audience and increase visibility.
other key bloggers.
Niche social networking sites are often overlooked.
Find sites that are relevant to your industry or
By Darren Jamieson
community as this will help build up relevant
relationships and increase the number of links coming
into the site. Senior Creative Developer, Just Search
Boost positive pages through SEO www.justsearch.co.uk
By optimising positive reviews, posting media
coverage on a website and having a well-optimised
blog you can help ensure that Google displays the
content that you want people to see. These practices
should be adhered to regularly, not just as a reactive
measure to negative online content.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 16
without even reading the content, as long as the
How to Drive Traffic on the Cheap with
headline is engaging.
Social Media
2. Keep the content concise and to the point. In a
nutshell, the attention span of social media surfers is
very short. In fact it would barely fill a nutshell.
Quickly fulfil the promises made in the headline in a
timely and concise manner. Lists work really well.
Most people when landing on a web page, don‟t read
How can brands unlock the it, they scan it for relevant information. Give them
potential of social media sites? William Peebles, what they want quickly, then they‟ll give you what you
SEO Executive at Top Click Media, offers five tips want quickly - a vote!
to get the most out of social media campaigns.
3. Choose your topic wisely. Different network sites
are disposed to different types of subjects. For
Companies and SEMs who can harness the various
example, articles about technology or left wing politics
social media platforms, such as Digg or Stumble, can
tend to score well on Digg. Take your time to research
drive vast quantities of traffic to their sites,
what types of articles feature well on your chosen site.
dramatically extending their company brands and
Articles that comment on topical events often score
even improving their search engine rankings.
well. If you can respond quickly to an event that
On such sites content is dictated by users rather than
everyone is familiar with people will read and vote for
editors. If users submit a story, and if other site
it.
members like it, they vote for it. The more votes a
piece gets, the more prominently the site will feature
4. Get your article submitted by a powerful
it. Stories with enough votes can end up on the front
digger/stumbler. Social network sites are
page. Because these sites are so popular, the sites
communities. As in all communities, some members
containing these stories can receive server-busting
hold more sway than others. Individuals who have
levels of traffic (50,000 visitors in a day is not
strong track records in making submissions, which
unusual). The attraction then for businesses to garner
such levels of traffic is clear. What‟s even more have bought in numerous votes, will be highlighted on
most sites as high profile submitters, so it will figure
appealing, however, is that it can cost very little to do
more prominently. If you don‟t know such a high
so.
power digger there are companies with high profile
accounts who will submit your site for a fee – just
Whereas SEO is becoming increasingly expensive,
don‟t get caught!
with large corporations splashing vast amounts of
cash to cement page one positions, social media is,
5. Make your article as easy to share as
for the most part, about content. If the content
possible. In order for an article to score well,
submitted, in the form of articles, videos, etc., is
obviously it needs votes, and many of them.
suitably engaging and tailored to the preferences of a
Therefore make it as painless as possible for
particular social networking site, then a company can
someone to vote for your content. Place submission
prosper without busting the bank. For the social
options directly below the article. Also give readers
media spendthrift, article submissions are certainly
the facility to email your article to a friend. The code
the way to go. They require very little but some
required is very simple and will go a long way.
creativity and the following killers tips:
And that is basically it: A bit of creativity, patience,
study and smarts can go a long way in this
1. Use a tasty headline. Headlines are certainly a
burgeoning universe. What‟s great about these sites
major factor in scoring big in the social media sites.
is that their algorithms are set up to enhance the
People will click on your article based on the headline,
community. If you can create something that adds
so it must be as appealing as possible. Keep it brief,
value to the community then you can certainly prosper
as time is of the essence. The social media surfer has
without digging (excuse the pun) deep into your
a serious case of ADD. They want to be engaged 3
pockets.
seconds ago. Describe in as few words as possible
what your article is offering and how the next five
By William Peebles
minutes of reading will improve their lives, or at least
SEO Executive, Top Click Media
entertain them.
www.topclickmedia.co.uk
„How to‟ headlines and articles are great. For some
reason, as long as the subject matter is sufficiently
interesting and people can find out how to achieve
something important, they will generally read on.
Sometimes diggers or reddites will vote for your site

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 17
individual profile, but the number of followers they
How to Find and Engage with the
interact with and how often their messages are
Influencers Online passed on are also key. On Twitter the ratio of
followers vs following can also indicate influence, with
the more people following, the more influential that
person us. There are also tools like
www.twinfluence.com which aim to deliver a picture of
reach and authority on Twitter.
Simon Quance at You can get a more managed and detailed picture of
HyperlaunchDMG looks at the difference between influence by using a range of services and tools that
popularity and influence in social media circles... help to organise and rank social media users using
combinations of many of the above processes. These
include paid-for services such as Brandwatch,
As consumers continue to flock to social platforms like
Buzzmetrics and Onalytica, who will analyse data and
Twitter to communicate with friends, meet people,
produce results for you, identifying a picture of who is
gather news, research products and services and
influencing conversation. Services like Radian 6 and
generally fulfil their information needs, they leave a
Sysomos provide a more DIY approach, enabling you
'digital trail' of who they are across the web - what
to analyse conversation yourself.
they like, what they don't, what's important to them,
what's not; and it invariably highlights their preferred
(or not so preferred) brands and services. With all these measures it's important to consider the
difference between popularity and influence. Simply
defined, popularity delivers basic impressions on a
This digital trail creates opportunities for businesses
campaign, but influence un-locks the far greater
to engage with consumers - from simply answering
potential of engagement in peer networks, and this is
questions at a point of need, to building sophisticated
a direct catalyst for word-of-mouth activity.
advocacy programmes - brands and companies can
talk to people about what they really want to talk
Engagement effort also varies per channel. In forums
about. So, how can marketers identify and engage
and message boards registration on the board and
with the influencers of social media platforms? What
constitutes „influence‟ and how is it measured? then a private message to the moderator is most likely
to illicit a response. In blogs a simple email to the blog
owner is often the only option, although a considered
In the \"us spaces\" - groups, forums and message
comment can also create dialogue and an opportunity
boards - the community moderators and
to engage.
administrators are often the most influential. They‟re
seen as the guardians of the community and are often
As Twitter is inherently \"opt-in\", personal outreach is
the most knowledgeable on a topic too, but can be a
limited to those users \"following\" you back. The key
challenging group to create an engagement with. Be
here is to create a channel that is regularly updated,
mindful that you're trying to participate in someone
else's conversation. Don‟t butt in. relevant to your product or service and its customers,
and ideally reflects your personality or creates one for
the business.
In the \"me spaces\" - social network profiles and blogs
etc, the likes of specialist search engine Technorati
After you‟ve indentified the influencer, all engagement
produce a measure of authority for all the blogs it
searches, using the inbound links to an individual blog needs to be carefully targeted, considered and
personalised to any channel. Relevance is critical.
to generate a measure of its influence.
The increasing adoption and use of social channels
For social networks, simple measures like the number
by mainstream consumers means that all brands
of friends an individual has on their profile can help to
should know what is being said about them in social
define influence, but this can also be a measure of an
media, even if it's just from a monitoring and PR
individual's popularity, which is not the same as
perspective.
influence. There are also emerging tools like
www.facebookgrader.com that try to calculate an
individual's authority and influence using some of the By Simon Quance
application metrics available on Facebook. Head of Digital PR and Engagement
HyperlaunchDMG
Finally in the \"muse spaces\" (conversational channels
combining parts of the 'me' and 'us' spaces) - virtual www.hyperlaunch.com
worlds and micro-blogs like Twitter - influence can
again be measured in terms of basic followers of an

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 18
make purchases over the Internet – the largest
Using Social Media for Product
percentage of online shoppers and sharers in the
Development world, according to a Pew survey last year.
Nip it in the bud - Engaging influential social media
commentators in product focus groups offers a way of
involving vocal taste makers early on in product
inception. Since these are the people who will be
talking about you online, it only makes sense to
engage them from the beginning.
Are social media surveys the Future Advocates - There is also the dual benefit of
new market research panels? Graham Lee, joint relationships being built that continue on when the
Managing Director at onlinefire looks at ways product is released. If an influential blogger has been
online communities can be used to shape product personally involved in the product conception stage,
development. they are far more likely to view it positively and report
online accordingly. The social media commentators
Social media has made real steps of late to becoming themselves become loyal advocates for the product or
more integrated into marketing activity. But there is service
still one area where we have not even begun to
realise the potential presented by consumer- Forward Planning - Incorporating social media
generated media: product development. movers and shakers can help develop future
marketing campaigns.
For years, product development groups have been
conducted behind closed doors or with carefully At onlinefire, we recently completed a campaign for
selected focus groups - but as other disciplines of Panasonic called the Next Generation Talent
marketing have advanced, product development competition, which asked UK students to design the
seems remarkably stagnant. There are a few reasons next ad for the Panasonic Viera Home Hub
for this: television. The student-submitted entries were judged
by a social media panel of tech, advertising and
marketing bloggers, with the winning ad shown on
Awareness - Even though most agencies have some
Channel 4. This resulted in over 10 pieces of
degree of digital capability, there is still a general lack
coverage, including a 6-page spread that would have
of understanding of all the different ways social media
never been seen without prior involvement in the
can be used to a marketer‟s advantage.
planning stages of the competition.
Control - Many companies still exhibit an
Social media-based focus groups will never and
unwillingness to let go of even the smallest amount of
should never replace 100 percent traditional
control. The idea of opening up product development
controlled focus groups, but marketers need to realise
to online influencers falsely implies that all power is
that to fully understand their audiences, they have to
lost.
know how those audiences interact online. Working
with bloggers and social media gurus helps give an
Trust – For the uninitiated, there is a lack of trust that insight into the early-adopting public who quite often
comes with working online – together with the general make or break products in theses fast-moving times.
understanding that information spreads quickly To ignore them not only cuts off invaluable insight, but
online. For companies interested in keeping product hinders the inevitable benefits of positive word-of-
information tight-lipped, this can be a nerve-wracking mouth and buzz you should be receiving.
thought. But like most misconceptions of social
media, the points above are nothing to worry about. In
By Graham Lee
fact, the benefits of incorporating social media into
Joint Managing Director, Onlinefire
product development far outweigh any negatives.
www.onlinefire.co.uk
A new perspective – So much of today‟s information
is shared online – to shut off involvement with the
online community when developing your product is
tantamount to crossing the road wearing a blindfold.
If you‟re not engaging online, you could be excluding
as much as 96 per cent of online UK population who

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 19
others, especially if they are directed at individual
Top Tips on Moderating Social Media
employees. An in-house moderation team must
Initiatives In-House quickly identify undesirable comments, without
becoming a censor, whilst understanding that
justifiable criticism of their brand must be allowed.
Otherwise the integrity of the whole initiative can be
compromised.
A sophisticated set of rules for in-house
Social media continues to be a growing trend for
moderators is needed before social media is
businesses that are keen to maximise brand
introduced
exposure within existing customer communities
as well as entice new prospects.
It is essential that before a social media initiative is
set up a stringent set of rules are agreed by the
Done well, social media initiatives can open up many
organisation and the moderators. Even though the
new opportunities for businesses but done badly, it
moderators may be existing employees, it is not a
can leave them wide open to brand damage beyond
given that they will understand exactly what the brand
their control.
finds acceptable when it comes to content on their
website. This will allow the moderators to make
Such possibilities shouldn‟t discourage businesses judgements which are fair and consistent and most
from instigating new social media initiatives as they importantly in line with the brands message. The
can be very lucrative. What is important is that moderation policy should be a written document,
businesses approach such initiatives cautiously, signed by all parties, illustrating the rules with
carefully and with serious thought. examples of acceptable and unacceptable comments.
The most effective way to minimise the possibility of Taking no interest post-launch is a dangerous
brand damage is to take some initial steps to control game
and moderate your social media initiative. This can be
done on a basic level in-house if the resource is
After all of the hard work which has gone in to
available or by bringing in an outside expert
planning and executing the new social media initiative
moderation company. In the current climate
you must stay close to it. The early days of any new
businesses are likely to be worried about the
venture are important and the same goes with social
additional cost implications of outsourcing a
media. It is important that cliques of troublesome
moderation company to monitor a relatively cheap
users are not allowed to develop and keeping on top
new scheme.
of submissions from the beginning can help. It is easy
to get distracted after the initial launch but it is in the
However, this is not a good enough reason to leave organisations interest to keep the momentum going in
submissions unchecked. This is why in-house order to reap the real benefits of social media and
moderating can be a good option for many avoid associated problems.
businesses who are either embarking on social media
for the first time or do not have the budget to
Once an in-house team has been decided they
outsource moderation at this stage. As your social
must keep their mind on the job
media initiative grows in success so does your
requirement for expert moderation to maintain it.
It is very easy to look at moderating in-house as an
easier and cheaper alternative to bringing in a
Outlined below are few basic tips that businesses
specialist moderation company. To ensure a
should consider when embarking on in-house
successful in-house moderation process a permanent
moderation:
team must be put in place. Moderation must be their
priority, not simply their part time job to look over
Be aware that any skeletons in your brand submissions if and when they get the chance.
cupboard won‟t stay undiscovered for long Moderation must be consistent and therefore have a
team on board who are dedicated to moderating the
submissions.
Even when your brand is doing everything right there
will always be the odd person wanting to poke fun at
it. This can quickly turn from a few light hearted
comments to abusive and brand damaging
comments. This can encourage brands to shy away
from introducing social media as it can be deemed too
risky. Although engaging in social media does not
mean having to publish the unrestrained rants of

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 20
How are Brits using the Internet?
eMarketer estimates that 39% of UK Internet users, more than 15.4 million people, will use social networks at
least once per month in 2009.
The research, conducted in April 2009, broke-down UK internet use as follows:
The April 2009 report, UK Social Media: Joining the Conversation was commissioned by eMarketer and conducted by TNS.
The report is available at www.eMarketer.com

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 21
Facebook dominates European social networking market
Facebook has catapulted to the number 6 ranked Web property worldwide with 275 million visitors in
February, a 175% increase versus year ago, according to April 2009 research from Comscore.
One of the global regions that best illustrates Facebook‟s growth is Europe, where the site has seen a 314-percent
increase to nearly 100 million visitors.
Not only does Facebook have a growing audience, it is also a highly engaged audience with the average user
spending three hours per month on the site. One year ago, Facebook usage accounted for 1.1% of all minutes spent
online in Europe, but by February 2009 that number had increased to 4.1% of all minutes. Facebook also accounts
for a full 30.4% of minutes spent in the social networking category, up from 12.3% a year earlier.
The site‟s audience is largest in the U.K. with 22.7 million visitors (up 75 percent versus year ago), followed by
France with 13.7 million visitors (up 518 percent) and Turkey with 12.4 million visitors (year ago data not available).
Most recently, Facebook captured the top spot in the Spanish market in February with 5.7 million visitors,
representing a dramatic tenfold increase versus year ago. It has also soared in Italy, growing more than 2,700
percent to 10.8 million visitors.
The only countries in which Facebook does not hold the #1 or #2 position in the social networking category are
Germany, where it ranks fourth, Russia (#7) and Portugal (#3).
Facebook Growth in Europe, February 2009 vs. February 2008
Total Europe, Age 15+ - Home and Work Locations
Source: comScore World Metrix
Unique Visitors (000)
Rank in
Social
Facebook.com Percent
Feb-08 Feb-09 Networking
Change
Category
in Feb-09
Europe 24,118 99,776 314% 1
United Kingdom 12,957 22,656 75% 1
France 2,217 13,698 518% 1
Turkey* N/A 12,377 N/A 1
Italy 382 10,764 2721% 1
Spain 515 5,662 999% 1
Germany 680 3,433 405% 4
Belgium 327 2,308 607% 1
Sweden 1,211 2,298 90% 1
Denmark 533 2,022 279% 1
Switzerland 282 1,690 499% 1
Norway 819 1,479 81% 1
Finland 555 1,341 142% 1
Netherlands 236 1,031 337% 2
Austria 112 663 491% 2
Ireland 203 512 153% 2
Russia 117 478 309% 7
Portugal 72 193 169% 3
Source:
*Turkey is a newly reported individual country in comScore World Metrix; year ago data not available
www.comscore.com

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 22
But these barriers are surprising considering that 50%
How are marketers using social
of the respondents feel that 2009 will be the year of
media? social networking for marketers. It is encouraging that
in the past six months, 54% of respondents to Sapient
Interactive‟s survey had run a social networking
Almost half of UK marketers (41%) have stated
“lack of understanding” as the top reason campaign.
preventing them from investing in social networks
for their marketing campaigns, according to However, of these campaigns, 63% were as part of a
February 2009 research from Sapient Interactive. wider marketing campaign rather than a standalone
campaign, which highlights the cautious approach
that UK marketers are taking to social networking.
The survey quizzed the views of UK marketers and
directors. Sapient Interactive argues that such
barriers need to be overcome because one in every Outside of social networking campaigns, the most
11 minutes spent online is now on social networks like leveraged social media by marketers is media sharing
Facebook and LinkedIn (Neilsen Online, 2009). sites like YouTube and Flickr (62%), followed closely
by micro-blogs such as Twitter (59.8%) and
corporate/campaign blogs (59%).
The survey revealed that the other barriers to
investment in social networking behind “lack of
understanding” were “no clear measurement/ROI” Source: www.sapient.com
(19%), the fact that social networking is still in an
experimentation phase so is “not proven yet” (17%)
and markerters “don‟t know where to start (there‟s too
much out there)” (14%).
The proportion of traffic that online retailers receive
Social media driving traffic to
from social networking websites - such as Facebook,
retailers as search rates decline Twitter, MySpace and YouTube - increased from
5.2% in March 2008 to 7.1% in March 2009. A year
Brits are spending less of their online time ago online retailers received a similar amount of traffic
shopping, but are clicking-through to online from both social networks and webmail services (such
retailers from social networks at an increasing as Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and GoogleMail), but social
rate, according to April 2009 Hitwise research. networks now account for 58.3% more traffic than
webmail providers. The retail categories that received
most traffic from social networks during March 2009
The research also indicates that paid search rates
were Auctions, Fashion and Department Stores.
have declined for online retailers and UK websites in
Together they accounted for over half of all
general. UK Internet users are spending less of their
downstream visits from social networks to an online
online time shopping and more time browsing online
retailer.
media. During March 2009, 8.6% of all UK Internet
visits went to online retail websites and 9.8% to social
networking websites, according to Hitwise. A year Top 10 online retail websites receiving traffic from
ago, in March 2008, the figures were reversed: online social networks
retailers accounted for 9.7% of all UK Internet visits, (March 2009)
and social networks 8.2%.
1. eBay UK (1.94%)
2. Amazon UK (0.40%)
Over the same time period, the share of UK Internet
3. Play.com (0.19%)
visits attributed to Entertainment websites (11.4% in
4. ASOS (0.13%)
March 2008, 11.6% in March 2009) and News and
5. eBay (0.10%)
Media websites (5.0% in March 2008, 5.6% in March
6. Argos (0.09%)
2009) has also increased. Electronics retailers and
7. Gumtree.com (0.09%)
department stores have experienced the most
8. Amazon.com (0.08%)
significant declines in traffic since Christmas.
9. TopShop.com (0.08%)
10. HotUKDeals (0.08%)
The amount of traffic that online retailers receive from
paid search has fallen over the last 12 months. During
Source: www.hitwise.com
March 2009, 8.9% of all UK Internet visits to online
retailers came from a paid search listing, down from
10.1% in March 2008.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 23
Twitter traffic boosted by older users
Worldwide visitors to Twitter approached 10 million in February, up a massive 700% compared with a year
ago, according to new data.
The research, from comScore, follows a blog post from Reuters reporter Alexei Oreskovic that indicates that it is the
25-54 year old crowd that is actually driving this trend, rather than younger users that are traditionally associated with
social media audiences. February and March 2009 alone have seen worldwide visitors climb more than 5 million
visitors, according to comScore. US traffic growth has been just as dramatic, with Twitter reaching 4 million visitors in
February, up more than 1,000% from a year ago.
What Reuters reporter Alexei Oreskovic discovered was that 18-24 year olds, the traditional social media early
adopters, are actually 12 percent less likely than average to visit Twitter.
It is the 25-54 year old crowd that is actually driving this trend. More specifically, 45-54 year olds are 36 percent
more likely than average to visit Twitter, making them the highest indexing age group, followed by 25-34 year olds,
who are 30 percent more likely.comScore attributes this skew towards older visitors to the fact that so many
businesses using Twitter, along with the first generations of Internet users “growing up” and comfortable with
technology.
Source: www.comscore.com

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 24
Facebook now „most searched for
brand in the UK‟
10 most searched for brands by UK Internet users
Facebook is now the most searched-for brand by
(Ranked by market share of UK Internet searches,
UK Internet users, according to April 2009
12 weeks ending 3 January 2009):
research from Hitwise.
1. Facebook (2.39%)
The social network is already Britain's favourite social
2. YouTube (1.57%)
network and the second most visited website in the
3. eBay (1.25%)
UK after Google.According to new Hitwise data,
4. Bebo (0.96%)
during the 12 weeks ending 3 January 2009, 1 in
5. BBC (0.86%)
every 42 Internet searches in the UK included the
6. Amazon (0.47%)
term 'facebook'. Facebook received 52% more
7. Argos (0.44%)
searches than the second most popular brand,
8. Sky (0.27%)
YouTube.
9. Tesco (0.26%)
10. Yahoo! (0.26%)
The third most searched-for brand was the auction
site eBay, while British social networking site Bebo
Robin Goad, Research Director for Hitwise in the UK.
ranked fourth. The BBC rounded out the top 5, and
Said: \"Social networks now account for 1 in every 10
was also the most searched for 'offline' brand during
UK Internet visits and 1 in every 5 page views. Only
the 12 weeks ending 3 January 2009. Facebook's UK
search engines receive more UK Internet visits than
Internet traffic has more than doubled over the last
social networks. During February 2009, social
year and it is now the second most visited website in
networks received 13.1% more UK Internet visits than
the UK after google.co.uk. The social network
online retail websites, and 27.9% more than Adult
accounted for 1 in every 24 UK Internet visits during
websites, which they overtook in September 2008\".
the month of February and traffic to the site has
already increased by 18.6% during 2009.
Source: www.hitwise.com
Social networking and blogs „more one in every six minutes. The social network and
blogging audience is becoming more diverse in terms
popular than email‟ of age: the biggest increase in visitors during 2008 to
“Member Community” Web sites globally came from
Two thirds (67%) of Brits are now using „member the 35-49 year old age group (+11.3 million).
communities‟ (such as social networks and blogs,
boosted by growing mobile internet users, Mobile is playing an increasingly important role in
according to March 2009 research from Nielsen social networking. Nielsen found UK mobile Web
Online. users have the greatest propensity to visit a social
network through their handset, with 23 percent (2
„Member Communities‟ now make up the fourth most million people) doing so, compared to 19 percent in
popular category online – ahead of personal the US (10.6 million people). These numbers are a
big increase over last year – 249 percent in the UK
email. The top three online categories are search,
and 156 percent in the US.
portals, and PC software, according to Nielsen.
Among the markets Nielsen measured, penetration of
According to the Nielsen report, Facebook - the
world‟s most popular social network - is visited visits to social networks and blogs was highest in
Brazil, where 80 percent of the online audience visits
monthly by three in every 10 people online across the
such sites. The share of overall Internet time for which
nine markets in which Nielsen tracks social
social networks and blogs account is also highest in
networking use. Facebook has its greatest reach in
Brazil, where nearly one in four (23 percent) of
the UK market (47 percent). Orkut in Brazil has the
minutes spent online is spent on these sites.
largest domestic online reach (70 percent) of any
Following Brazil was the UK, where over one in six
social network in these markets.
minutes (17 percent) is spent on these sites.
Other key findings include: One in every 11 minutes
online globally is accounted for by social network and
Source: www.nielsen-online.com
blogging sites. In the UK, these sites now account for

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 25
Case Study: eircom and Yomego
A niche social network and fan site sponsored by Ireland‟s leading Telecoms company, eircom. Soccer
Republic brings Irish soccer supporters closer to their national team, its players, and each other.
The challenge Results
As lead sponsors of the Irish national soccer team, In just under two weeks, the site saw 1m page
eircom wanted to create a place where fans of the impressions and almost 100,000 unique visitors. The
Republic of Ireland football squad could get together Twitter feed is proving a great hit and YouTube
and support the team on its 2010 World Cup generated over 5,000 views of the tour video in the
campaign. eircom understood from day one that fans same time period. And, on the run up to and following
will only accept branded social media if it‟s on their the Italy match, visits to the fanzone increased by
terms - a far cry from „make my logo bigger‟ corporate 310%.
sponsorship.
It‟s still early days for Soccer Republic and as with
Yomego‟s response any social media project and any good relationship for
that matter, you‟ve got to keep working at it – and
that‟s exactly what we‟re doing. We‟ll keep you
The challenge was to position the client as the
„facilitator‟, and present a raft of exclusive benefits for posted.
eircom customers. The hook was eircom‟s exclusive
behind-the-scenes access to the team‟s players, Michael Kennedy, Marketing Director at eircom, said
“Soccer Republic has all the bells and whistles of a
management and backroom staff (Two seats on the
Irish team to the away game in Italy, anyone?). contemporary social network. It gives fans the
The front-end content of the site features news that opportunity to be part of a vibrant and engaging digital
fans can‟t readily access from other sources – it is the community, with a host of exclusive benefits.”
It‟s important that the momentum is kept going, as
inside story from within the squad. The site is also
careful to provide a fans‟ perspective on the main Michael Kennedy, marketing director at Eircom
stories – even down to analysis of items in the foreign explains: “We‟re actively encouraging users to give us
media. open and honest feedback on what they like and
dislike about the site. Future development of the site
Then, in the „Fanzone‟, bespoke social networking will be democratised, and we‟re determined to stay
functionality is provided for fans so they can meet, true to the original plan; to develop a site for the fans,
by the fans.”
upload and share content, comment, rate content,
chat and join groups. To drive traffic, Soccer Republic
Steve Richards, MD at Yomego: “In sponsoring this
is featured on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, bebo,
YouTube and various blogs. kind of destination; by creating a place dedicated to a
„passion‟; by inviting fans to take control of the site
An online ad campaign was also created by Yomego, and become stakeholders in its future development,
as well as a viral game involving video clips and an eircom has firmly understood the principles of social
intriguing „What Happens Next‟ mechanic. media and between us, we‟ve started something big.”

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 26
Case Study: The Blue Cross and Chat Moderators
The Blue Cross is a registered UK animal charity which aims to ensure the welfare of animals by providing
practical care and promoting a sense of respect and responsibility towards animals in the community.
The Challenge Results
As part of a mission to increase brand awareness and Chat Moderators moderate the forum every day of the
extend its charitable work and educational advice year and up to several hours per day. As an additional
service, it also undertakes „community management‟
further to a much wider audience, The Blue Cross
launched a social networking initiative; All About Pets. services, which involves answering queries and even
The initiative is operated as a separate website pro-actively helping people on behalf of The Blue
community but with links through to The Blue Cross Cross. This can be anything from ensuring that a
user‟s post is on the correct part of the site where
website. It encourages users to post and share
information and advice with other pet owners with the others are able to view it, to directing users to online
main objective being to promote responsible pet care. leaflets from the charity if their problem is quite
sophisticated.
Zak Akhimien, website editor of All About Pets
explains: “We wanted make people aware of the Zak explains: “While we are keen to encourage
positive work that The Blue Cross does as a charity, independent debate on All About Pets, we have a
but also to offer something additional to the animal responsibility to our members to make sure all
loving community. We felt the best way to do this was communication is clean and safe, particularly when
to create a social network where we can engage with some of them are children. The service we receive
users over a longer period, offering a range of useful from the Chat Moderators team has helped us
facilities and a safe place for them to meet other pet achieve this and as well as policing the forum, they
lovers.” offer us constructive guidance on how we can
improve the site based on patterns and trends they
Chat Moderator‟s Response have been noticing.”
Prior to the launch of the site, The Blue Cross realised The site has been running for ten months to date and
that if it was to create a stable and supportive in that time it has over 10,000 members, as well as
environment for all users to interact, the forum many more guests who visit the site on a daily basis
needed close moderation. As a result, Chat to access the forums and read the advice shared
Moderators was appointed when the site launched in between members. All About Pets continues to grow
March 2008. and develop more features and in the process it is
attracting a far wider audience to The Blue Cross,
The Chat Moderators team plays a key role in including a pet owner on a remote farm in South
ensuring that the All About Pets forum operates Africa who used the forum for emergency advice after
smoothly and within the policy rules. They moderate his dog had been bitten by a snake. Although The
the site to ensure that anything of concern is Blue Cross is a UK based charity, it is now able to
immediately highlighted to The Blue Cross in order for help pet owners all over the world.
them to act on it swiftly. This could involve a user
Zak concludes, “We are delighted with the success of
posting advice that could be potentially dangerous to
an animal in which case The Blue Cross would All About Pets and look forward to continuing our
approach its network of vets to seek the best advice. partnership with Chat Moderators as the site
Chat Moderators also ensures that any inappropriate continues to grow and improve. We have been so
language is taken down as quickly as possible in impressed with the moderation team - they are
accordance to the rules of the site. professional, prompt and efficient; without them we
simply wouldn‟t have the time or resource to make All
About Pets the huge success it is today.”

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 27
Case Study: Times Online and eModeration
The Times has relaunched its website with a „news plus views‟ editorial strategy in 2007, opening up parts of
the site to user comments and including features such as a web TV show on London neighbourhoods and a
blog for working mums.
The Challenge works 24/7/365, reacting to peaks in demand by
putting extra resources onto the project at very short
notice.
Soon after the creation of Times Online, the volume of
comments being posted began to outstrip our client‟s
Results
ability to handle them in-house, so outside
moderators were appointed.
Staffed by an international group of highly-skilled
eModeration‟s response professional moderators located in Europe, North and
South America and Australia, we cover all time-zones
and bring an educated, multi-cultural focus to the
Since the launch of their new website in February
work.
2007, the number of reader responses has soared: on
average the moderators are now processing around
3,000 comments a day, and in the last twelve months When controversy breaks out, we make sure our
we have dealt with just over one million comments. moderators understand the context so that they are in
a position to judge the comments.
Our job is to reject for publication anything which is
A spokesperson for Times Online said: “Ultimately,
libellous, defamatory, racist, abusive, obscene or
couched in intemperate language. eModeration gives us confidence and removes the
burden and worry associated with moderation. The
company fully understands our needs and has dealt
A good feedback loop with Times Online helps us
with them in a very efficient and professional
hone our instincts and ensures we are attuned to
manner.”
what should and should not be allowed through. The
team (closely managed by a UK-based team leader)

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 28
Case Study: Northcliffe Media and E3
Northcliffe Media is one of the UK‟s largest newspaper publishers, publishing 113 regional and local
newspapers. E3 were approached by Northcliffe‟s South West division to look at creating a re-usable
platform for presenting regional entertainment content online.
The Challenge: Results:
Historically entertainment content was published as a Core to the site is the rich content and functionality
weekly supplement to the newspaper. However this available to users which includes:
provided a number of challenges and opportunities.
Editorial content produced by the newspaper
Content was only published and distributed journalists covering news, interviews,
once a week reviews across: restaurants, pubs & bars,
clubbing, gigs, comedy, film, theatre, days
The audience was limited to existing local
out, community events and arts
newspaper readers
User generated ratings, reviews and
Little opportunity was available for consumer
comments
feedback and opinions
A myriad of search and browsing options
Advertising opportunities were limited within
including dynamic „tag cloud‟ navigation
the supplement
based on live user searches and dynamic
E3‟s response: listings based on user ratings
Google maps mash-up allowing users to
Through a series of collaborative workshops the view and search for everything from local
concept for a new entertainment portal was bars to events based on their location
developed to be the definitive entertainment guide for Offers engine allowing retailers to upload
the region. Key to the site would be a mix of the rich their offers at any time for users to download
editorial content produced by journalists and the vast
amount of archive content available, matched with To make the site easily updateable, the open-source
user generated content to give consumer views and community platform Drupal was used to deliver the
provide additional content. core site and content management functionality.
A new brand was developed by E3 for the portal and Significant additional development was then required
newspaper supplement with the retro name to provide integration with the newspaper publishing
„Crackerjack‟, based on the name of the long running platform, provide e-commerce facilities and integrate
Friday evening TV show. This matched the concept ad servers.
for the site which was hoped to be the destination for
consumers on a Friday night as they planned their Since the launch of the Bristol portal, Northcliffe
weekends and a name which would be nostalgic for Media has added Gloucestershire and there is the
the key audiences. ability to roll out into further regions.
The portal provides a wealth of new advertising and
promotional opportunities for businesses and not-for-
profit organisations. These range from user-generated
event listings through to „paid for‟ profiles for bars,
clubs and restaurants and standard banner ad
inventory.

Netimperative Sector Report: Social Media 2009 29
Case Study: Alison Yule Textiles and BT Tradespace
Alison Daykin, a 53-year-old textiles designer, has boosted her business and increased sales through BT
Tradespace, the online networking site for small businesses and individual sellers.
The challenge Results
Last October, Alison‟s book Creative Spinning was
Alison, from Willington, Derbyshire, has been weaving
since she was eight years old. Having completed an published. She now plans to use BT Tradespace to
HNC qualification in a Hand Woven Textiles course in promote the book in addition to her business.
Bradford five years ago, she set up Alison Yule
BT Tradespace is a unique platform that brings
Textiles.
businesses who want to focus on business promotion
In 2005, she developed her own website, realising the and individuals who are looking for products and
potential for publicity through promoting her business sevices together; making it easy for them do business
online. However, she felt she needed some online. BT Tradespace members can use social
assistance to promote her company – and last year, media tools such as blogs, photos, videos and
she received an email about BT Tradespace. podcasts to promote their business, products and
services.
Working with BT Tradespace
Alison concluded: “I have set up a page on Facebook,
“I thought BT Tradespace was a really good idea, and and it‟s great for keeping in touch with my friends –
a great marketing opportunity for a company like but I‟m not convinced it‟s as relevant to businesses as
mine,” said Alison. “It was really easy to set up my BT Tradespace!”
Tradespace page – much easier than developing my
other site.”
Alison has since found several other benefits of BT
Tradespace: “I now use the BT Tradespace blog to
stimulate more interest in my products – something
I‟ve never done before. I‟ve also used the site to link
to complementary businesses, so it‟s also helping me
build up a company network.”