The document provides details about a two-day workshop held by a brand team at Facebook's offices to improve their Facebook marketing strategy. On the first day, the brand team did an in-depth analysis of their Facebook page data without their creative or media agencies. This uncovered insights like high agency servicing costs and opportunities to better target audiences. The workshop aimed to help the brand team better understand their audiences and optimize their Facebook content and advertising approaches.

1. A
blueprint
for
rocking
Facebook
marketing
Some
time
ago
I
worked
as
a
digital
marketing
consultant
at
a
large
FMCG
company
in
the
food
and
beverages
industry.
The
brand
with
which
I’m
involved
has
been
doing
great
things
with
the
largest
digital
platforms
in
recent
years.
However,
performance,
creativity
and
the
ROI
on
media
investments
have
decreased
in
the
past
few
months:
writing
the
same
type
of
Facebook
posts
without
a
clear
storyline
behind
them,
bidding
too
low
CPMs
for
our
core
target
audiences,
launching
mini-­‐websites
and
photo
contests
without
being
clear
which
brand
objectives
these
efforts
serve,
etc.
In
conclusion,
it
was
no
longer
doing
the
trick
as
our
digital-­‐savvy
consumer
was
being
bombarded
by
an
enormous
amount
of
other
brands
that
were
doing
likewise!
In
order
to
solve
the
communication
puzzle,
we’ve
put
our
heads
together
with
the
brand
team
and
have
decided
to
start
a
journey
to
‘reinvent’
ourselves.
Moreover
we’ve
set
ourselves
a
challenging
objective
for
2015:
pioneering
digital!
One
of
the
strategic
channels
we’ve
defined
for
connecting
with
our
consumer
is
Facebook.
A
couple
of
months
ago,
I
met
a
guy
working
at
Facebook
as
a
client
solutions
manager.
His
job
is
to
help
local
brand
marketers
do
better
things
with
their
platform
both
on
a
content
and
media
investment
level.
We’ve
got
into
contact
again
and
after
a
few
call
conferences
we
decided
to
have
a
“content
hack”
at
Facebook
offices
in
Dublin.
The
brand
team
has
been
invited
by
its
client
solutions
manager
to
take
a
deep
dive
into
its
Facebook
page
audience,
the
current
advertising
and
media
buying
strategy
and
its
content
approach.
We
decided
this
kind
of
gathering
was
not
only
interesting
for
the
brand
team
as
such,
but
also
for
our
creative
and
media
agency.
Therefore
we
invited
them
to
take
part
in
the
workshop
as
well.
So
what
is
the
ideal
format
for
deep
diving
into
your
Facebook
marketing
strategy?
Organize
a
two-­‐days
session
at
Facebook
offices!
DAY1:
Understand
your
audience
by
digging
into
your
data!
On
the
first
day,
you
get
a
tour
of
the
Facebook
offices,
meet
a
lot
of
interesting
people
working
on
a
bunch
of
new
technologies
with
which
Facebook
is
experimenting
and
you
make
a
five-­‐hour
deep
dive
into
your
current
Facebook
marketing
performance.
It’s
of
major
importance
that
you
do
so
without
your
creative
agency
and
even
without
your
media
agency.
As
such
you
can
evaluate
your
current
strategy
without
pointing
a
finger
at
one
of
your
partners
for
doing
a
lousy
job
in
some
respects.
During
this
deep
dive
session
on
our
page,
we’ve
acquired
several
insights
that
you
won’t
get
without
being
in
direct
contact
with
Facebook
professionals:
-­‐ Our
media
agency’s
servicing
cost
for
buying
Facebook
advertising
formats
was
considerable
different
from
the
industry’s
benchmark.
To
give
you
an
idea:
these
servicing
costs
can
vary
between
4%
and
25%
on
the
allocated
media
investment,
so
negotiation
is
key
in
order
to
boost
your
ROI.
-­‐ In
order
to
support
an
always-­‐on
strategy
towards
various
target
groups
you
should
make
smart
use
of
the
‘unpublished’
post
feature
(called
‘dark
posting’
before)
as
this
is
a
perfect
format
for
boosting
your
brand’s
spontaneous
awareness
without
irritating
your
broader
target
group.

2. -­‐ You
discover
affinities
that
your
fans
have
with
other
brands,
music
channels,
artists,
etc.
This
can
be
great
input
for
developing
a
social
partnership
strategy
and
thus
for
increasing
the
relevancy
for
your
target
audience.
-­‐ For
some
brands
it
might
be
an
option
to
have
limited
paid
advertising
on
Facebook
because
its
organic
reach
is
considerably
high.
However,
if
you’re
trying
to
connect
with
a
very
popular
target
group
(e.g.
18-­‐24
year
olds)
there’s
no
other
option
than
making
considerable
media
investments.
The
reason
is
obvious:
their
newsfeed
is
so
busy
and
thus
so
dominated
that
only
the
high
(or
smart)
investment
brands
will
show
on
top.
-­‐ We
were
not
using
the
Facebook
bidding
system’s
potential
to
its
fullest.
In
Belgium,
an
average
Facebook
user
has
200
friends
and
likes
60
(brand)
pages.
If
you’re
reaching
out
to
18-­‐24
year
olds,
it’s
a
completely
different
story.
They
have
around
400
friends
and
like
about
200
pages.
In
the
first
case,
around
1500
stories
are
produced
in
these
people’s
newsfeeds
every
day.
In
the
latter
case,
more
than
3000
stories
are
created.
And
that’s
the
reason
why
there
is
so
much
competition
in
some
target
audience
newsfeeds,
immediately
explaining
a
higher
CPM
for
these
profiles
as
well.
In
conclusion:
if
you
want
to
interact
with
highly
qualitative
profiles,
you
should
bid
higher
CPMs.
If
you
don’t,
you’ll
end
up
in
less
qualitative
newsfeeds
and
you
will
be
reaching
a
high
number
of
people
(high
number
of
impressions),
but
the
quality
of
these
impressions
will
be
close
to
zero.
The
reasoning
behind
this
is
that
ads
to
cheaper
profiles
(read:
less
active)
are
delivered
first.
-­‐ Facebook
is
aiming
to
become
an
unavoidable
addendum
to
traditional
media
channels.
Therefore
it’s
a
strategic
choice
to
introduce
‘reach
and
frequency
blocks’
for
buying
ads.
Even
traditional
marketers
should
comprehend
this
approach
as
it
closely
resembles
GRP
buying.
On
top
of
this,
one
should
remember
that
Facebook
offers
the
additional
potential
of
actually
interacting
and
engaging
with
your
audience.
Even
on
a
one-­‐to-­‐one
basis,
in
its
most
extreme
format.
DAY
2:
Translating
your
brand
purpose
into
storylines
and
content
themes
during
a
creative
content
hack
After
taking
the
brand
team
for
a
deep
dive
into
the
current
situation
in
day
one,
the
second
day
offers
many
opportunities
as
well.
The
first
part
of
our
program
was
to
share
the
highlights
of
these
newly
acquired
insights
with
our
creative
agency
and
our
media
agency.
It’s
important
to
foresee
enough
time
for
them
to
ask
critical
questions
to
these
Facebook
professionals.
Interesting
discussions
on
optimized
bidding
and
effective
targeting
can
arise
as
opinions
of
traditional
media
agencies
are
often
completely
the
contrary
of
what
the
new
media
gurus
preach.
During
the
second
part
of
the
day,
we
met
with
the
EU
creative
director
for
a
“creative
content
hack”
session.
As
mentioned
above,
we
were
doing
random
stuff
with
the
brand
on
social
and
we
weren’t
being
at
all
innovative.
Moreover,
the
time
of
‘putting
a
cat
on
your
content
to
boost
its
success’
is
long
gone
and
the
urge
to
reinvent
ourselves
was
never
bigger.
The
core
question
that
we
were
trying
to
answer
in
this
session
was
“How
does
my
brand
fit
into
the
consumer’s
newsfeed?”

3. Let’s
first
take
a
step
back.
A
newsfeed
should
be
some
kind
of
personalized
newspaper
with
many
interesting
stories
in
it
that
ultimately
are
appreciated
by
the
reader
of
this
newsfeed.
An
average
Facebook
user
is
estimated
to
receive
1500
different
stories
in
his
or
her
newsfeed
on
a
daily
basis.
If
you’re
in
the
18-­‐24
age
group,
this
number
even
rises
to
3000
different
stories
per
day.
However,
only
a
limited
number
(about
20%
of
them)
actually
make
it
to
a
noteworthy
place
in
the
newsfeed.
The
battle
for
‘the
sweet
spot
in
users
newsfeeds’
is
what
experts
call
‘storybumping’.
The
priority
of
these
stories
is
determined
by
Facebook’s
well-­‐known
(but
very
secret)
edgerank
algorithm.
The
reason
why
this
algorithm
has
been
called
this
is
clear
and
summarized
in
“Zuck’s
law”.
Content
gets
created
at
a
very
rapid
pace.
However,
our
ability
to
consume
this
content
is
following
the
law
of
marginal
decreasing
returns
and
thus
a
prioritization
should
be
made
in
order
for
you
to
consume
the
most
interesting
content
first.
Additionally
the
type
of
content
is
fairly
important
for
winning
your
place
in
the
newsfeed.
Research
has
shown
that
users
are
22
times
more
likely
to
remember
stories
than
commercial
facts
and
messages.
In
short,
we
need
a
brand
story
that’s
adapted
to
this
highly
competitive
channel.
And
that’s
exactly
the
purpose
of
this
content
hack
workshop.
The
quality
of
the
preparative
work
determines
the
success
of
this
workshop’s
output.
Brand
teams
must
be
willing
to
share
brand
books,
brand
plans
and
strategic
plans
for
the
period
to
come
in
order
for
the
Facebook
creative
people
to
be
able
to
understand
your
brand
to
the
fullest
extent.
After
discussing
some
great
brand
story
building
examples
such
as
Red
Bull,
Oreo,
Budweiser,
Nike
and
Dove,
we
analysed
the
TED
talk
of
Simon
Sinek
on
the
WHY,
HOW
and
WHAT
(i.e.
the
golden
circle)
of
your
brand.
So
actually
we
were
first
bringing
the
content
discussion
to
a
higher
level.
The
objective
is
to
go
back
to
the
basics
and
find
out
what
your
brand
purpose
is
all
about
and
how
you
should
start
translating
that
inside-­‐out
communication
into
brand
stories
that
fit
with
the
brand,
but
also
fit
in
the
user’s
newsfeed.
A
pragmatic
way
to
guide
you
through
this
journey
is
using
the
framework
below
and
completing
it
for
other
aspiring
brands
first.
This
framework
guides
you
through
the
brainstorming
process
with
your
creative
agency.
BRAND
PURPOSE
Why
does
your
brand
exist?
Nike
wants
to
enable
each
one’s
inner
athlete.
CORE
BELIEF
What
is
your
brand’s
role
to
play?
What
is
the
underlying
belief
for
bringing
this
brand
purpose
to
life?
Nike
believes
that
if
you
have
a
body,
you
can
be
an
athlete.
SETTING
THE
MOOD
Imagery
says
it
all
and
its
power
on
the
social
media
is
huge.
So
developing
a
proper
‘mood’
is
already
concretizing
your
core
beliefs.
Light,
sporty,
energetic,
powerful
imagery
fits
Nike
best.
Also
faces
of
many
different
people
could
go
on
the
board.

4. VOICE
OF
THE
BRAND
Define
a
set
of
4
to
5
keywords
that
best
describe
your
tone
of
voice.
Imagine
your
brand
is
a
person
or
a
mix
of
personalities.
Who’s
voice
would
it
resemble?
Nike
could
be
represented
by
a
mixture
of
many
endorsers,
e.g.
Michael
Jordan.
CONNECTION
MOMENTS
Analyze
your
customer’s
life
cycle
and
map
the
moments
in
which
these
people
can
encounter
your
brand.
Define
the
key
connection
moments
in
which
your
brand
could
fit
in
their
lives
and
add
value
in
this
manner.
Nike
can
fit
in
on
different
connection
moments
depending
on
the
type
of
consumer
to
whom
they
are
trying
to
bring
their
message.
E.g.
6AM
in
the
morning
before
breakfast
inducing
people
to
go
for
a
morning
run.
CAMPAIGN
IDEA
Based
on
the
above
steps
come
up
with
a
campaign
idea
that
serves
a
specific
objective.
#Riskeverything
campaign
STORY
THEME(s)
Based
on
your
overall
campaign
idea,
you
should
identify
ongoing
themes
with
consistent
signatures
that
are
extendable
for
future
actions.
“The
time
and
place
is
here
and
now”
was
a
very
prominent
story
theme
during
and
after
the
World
Cup
period.
After
setting
our
brand
performance
targets,
crafting
an
action
plan
and
running
through
these
steps
for
our
own
brand,
we
drafted
a
3-­‐month
content
plan.
This
step
is
crucial
as
you
immediately
produce
highly
tangible
results
and
future
action
plans.
In
order
to
be
as
productive
as
possible,
we
advise
you
to
invite
a
hands-­‐on
creative
person
to
the
session
to
draw
mock-­‐ups
and
write
rough
copy.
Finally,
we
put
our
heads
together
with
Facebook
media
planning
specialists
and
our
digital
media
agency
in
order
to
draft
two
budget
versions.
The
first
budget
included
an
‘ideal’
scenario
based
on
the
marketing
goals
that
we’ve
set
for
our
campaign.
We
mainly
focused
on
reach
and
frequency,
thereby
complementing
our
radio
campaign
that
was
on
air
at
that
time.
The
second
budget
adapted
the
ideal
scenario
to
a
more
realistic
plan.
The
secret
of
writing
effective
Facebook
media
plans
is
in
the
art
of
fragmenting
your
content
over
your
total
target
audience
and
therefore
applying
some
highly
logical
reasoning:
-­‐ Your
‘fans’
are
your
brand
ambassadors
and
are
intrinsically
more
interested
in
what
your
brand
has
to
offer
than
any
other
group
on
Facebook
so
the
frequency
on
this
group
can
be
higher.
We’ve
opted
to
reach
these
people
about
8

5. times
during
a
4
week
campaign.
The
CPM
is
typically
lower
than
for
any
other
target
group.
-­‐ The
friends
of
your
fans
typically
contain
many
similar
profiles
to
your
friends.
Therefore
you
can
assume
that
this
group
is
more
interested
in
your
content
than
non-­‐fans,
but
less
interested
than
fans.
Therefore
we
opted
to
reach
these
people
about
4
times
during
the
4-­‐week
campaign
period.
Typically
the
CPM
will
be
at
the
same
level
as
you
were
targeting
for
non-­‐fans.
-­‐ Non-­‐fans
(the
largest
category)
can
be
targeted
in
various
ways.
One
approach
is
to
aim
very
large
and
include
for
example
all
profiles
in
a
certain
country
(e.g.
Belgium)
within
a
specific
age
group
(e.g.
18-­‐24).
Other
demographic
parameters
can
be
included
based
on
the
information
you
already
have
on
your
target
group.
You
can
even
target
on
‘fans
of
competitors’,
people
experiencing
a
certain
occasion
(e.g.
becoming
a
father,
changing
jobs,
etc.)
in
their
lives,
etc.
Another
approach
is
defining
lookalike
audiences.
These
profiles
resemble
existing
profiles
to
a
high
degree.
A
prerequisite
for
applying
this
technique
is
an
existing,
high-­‐quality
database
(i.e.
installing
a
‘custom
audience’).
In
general,
this
group
of
people
contains
a
mixture
between
highly
interested
people
and
profiles
who
are
not
in
the
target
at
all.
Therefore
we
adopted
a
‘seeding
approach’,
i.e.
reaching
out
to
a
potential
target
audience
with
a
highly
mainstream,
but
very
attractive
and
twisted
message.
This
message
installs
a
trigger
with
the
interested
profiles
and
does
not
cause
any
harm
to
your
‘waste
audience’.
In
practice,
we
reached
these
people
twice
during
the
campaign
period.
If
you
would
like
to
learn
more
about
writing
efficient
Facebook
media
plans
for
your
target
audience,
stay
tuned
to
our
blog
because
we
will
be
releasing
more
info
soon!