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The Science of 
Social Media 
@DanZarrella
Free
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
70% 
80% 
90% 
100% 
Without "free" 
With "free"
Metric to Improve
Metric to Improve 
Potential Change
Metric to Improve 
Potential Change 
Discard 
Implement
Metric to Improve 
Potential Change 
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Implement 
Potential Change 
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Implement
Metric to Improve 
Potential Change 
Discard 
Implement 
Potential Change 
Potential Change 
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Implement 
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Implement
Metric to Improve 
Potential Change 
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Implement 
Potential Change 
Potential Change 
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Focus: 
Timing
Hour of Day 
vs ReTweets 
0 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6
Day of the Week 
vs ReTweets 
0 
0.5 
1 
1.5 
2 
2.5 
3
Day of the Week 
vs Email Opens 
0% 
1% 
2% 
3% 
4% 
5% 
6% 
7% 
8% 
9% 
10% 
0.40% 
0.42% 
0.44% 
0.46% 
0.48% 
0.50% 
0.52% 
0.54% 
Unsubs 
Clicks
Day of Week vs 
Facebook Like Rate 
0.12% 
0.13% 
0.14% 
0.15% 
0.16% 
0.17% 
0.18%
Time of Day vs 
Facebook Like Rate 
0.00% 
0.02% 
0.04% 
0.06% 
0.08% 
0.10% 
0.12% 
0.14% 
0.16% 
0.18% 
0.20%
Takeaway: 
Experiment with contra-competitive timing.
Focus: 
Conversation
@Reply Percentage 
Vs Followers 
0.00% 
2.00% 
4.00% 
6.00% 
8.00% 
10.00% 
12.00% 
14.00% 
16.00% 
18.00% 
Over 1k 
Under 1k
@Reply Percentage 
Vs Followers 
0.00% 
2.00% 
4.00% 
6.00% 
8.00% 
10.00% 
12.00% 
14.00% 
16.00% 
Over 1M 
Under 1M
Non-@ Link Percentage 
vs Followers 
0 
0.05 
0.1 
0.15 
0.2 
0.25 
0.3 
0.35 
0.4 
0.45 
0.5 
Over 1k 
Under 1k
Links vs Followers 
0 
500 
1000 
1500 
2000 
2500 
3000 
3500 
4000 
1 
4 
7 
10 
13 
16 
19 
22 
25 
28 
31 
34 
37 
40 
43 
46 
49 
52 
55 
58 
61 
64 
67 
70 
73 
76 
79 
82 
85 
88 
91 
94 
97
Non-@ Link Percentage 
vs ReTweets 
0% 
2% 
4% 
6% 
8% 
10% 
12% 
14% 
16% 
18% 
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
70% 
80% 
90% 
100%
Reply Percentage 
vs ReTweets 
0% 
2% 
4% 
6% 
8% 
10% 
12% 
14% 
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
70% 
80% 
90% 
100%
Repin Correlation To 
Likes and Comments 
0 
0.1 
0.2 
0.3 
0.4 
0.5 
0.6 
0.7 
0.8 
0.9 
Likes 
Comments
Takeaway: 
Content is king, not conversation.
Focus: 
Social CTAs
Effect of SCTAs 
on Facebook Likes 
0.09% 
0.10% 
0.11% 
0.12% 
0.13% 
Without "Like" 
With "Like"
Effect of SCTAs 
on Facebook Comments 
0.000% 
0.002% 
0.004% 
0.006% 
0.008% 
0.010% 
0.012% 
0.014% 
0.016% 
0.018% 
Without "Comment" 
With "Comment"
Effect of SCTAs 
on Facebook Shares 
0.000% 
0.005% 
0.010% 
0.015% 
0.020% 
Without "Share" 
With "Share"
Effect of Questions 
on Facebook Comments 
0.00% 
0.01% 
0.02% 
0.03% 
With Questions 
Without Questions
Effect of “Share” 
on Blog Metrics 
-4.0% 
-2.0% 
0.0% 
2.0% 
4.0% 
6.0% 
Comments 
Links 
Views
Effect of “Link” 
on Blog Metrics 
-2.0% 
-1.0% 
0.0% 
1.0% 
2.0% 
Comments 
Links 
Views
Effect of “Comment” 
on Blog Metrics 
-3.0% 
-2.0% 
-1.0% 
0.0% 
1.0% 
2.0% 
Comments 
Links 
Views
The Word “Like” 
0 
0.1 
0.2 
0.3 
0.4 
0.5 
0.6 
0.7 
0.8 
0.9 
LpF 
0 
0.1 
0.2 
0.3 
0.4 
0.5 
0.6 
0.7 
CpF 
The Word “Comment”
Effect of SCTAs 
on ReTweets 
12% 
39% 
51% 
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
Neither 
Please RT 
Please ReTweet
Takeaway: 
Ask for the actions you want.
Focus: 
Visual Content
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50% 
60% 
Without Media 
With Media 
Effect of Media 
on ReTweets
Facebook Post 
Types vs Likes 
-80 
-60 
-40 
-20 
0 
20 
40 
60 
80 
100 
Jan-10 
Mar-10 
May-10 
Jul-10 
Sep-10 
Nov-10 
Jan-11 
Mar-11 
May-11 
Jul-11 
Sep-11 
Nov-11 
Jan-12 
Mar-12 
May-12 
Jul-12 
Sep-12 
Nov-12 
Jan-13 
Mar-13 
May-13 
Jul-13 
Sep-13 
Nov-13 
Jan-14 
Mar-14 
May-14 
Jul-14 
Photos 
Links 
Status 
Videos
Tumbler Photo 
Post Percentage 
83%
Tumbler Post Types 
vs Notes 
-120% 
-100% 
-80% 
-60% 
-40% 
-20% 
0% 
20%
Takeaway: 
Visual, visual, visual, visual, visual.
Number of Tags vs Likes and Comments 
0 
0.02 
0.04 
0.06 
0.08 
0.1 
0.12 
0.14 
0.16 
0.18 
0 
0.5 
1 
1.5 
2 
2.5 
3 
0 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30
0 
0.05 
0.1 
0.15 
0.2 
0.25 
Without #NoFilter 
With #NoFilter 
Number of Tags vs Likes and Comments
#NoFilter Fakers 
28%
Effect of Filters on 
Likes-per-Follower 
0 
0.1 
0.2 
0.3 
0.4 
0.5 
0.6 
0.7 
0.8 
0.9 
1 
Normal 
Willow 
Valencia 
Sierra 
Walden 
Hudson 
Mayfair 
Amaro 
Rise 
Sutro 
Inkwell 
Unknown 
Toaster 
Brannan 
Hefe 
X-Pro II 
Lo-fi 
Nashville 
Earlybird 
1977 
Poprocket 
Kelvin 
Apollo 
Gotham
0 
0.1 
0.2 
0.3 
0.4 
0.5 
0.6 
With "face" 
Without "face" 
Effect of Faces on 
Likes-per-Follower
Saturation vs Likes 
and Comments 
0 
0.2 
0.4 
0.6 
0.8 
1 
1.2 
0 
0.01 
0.02 
0.03 
0.04 
0.05 
0.06 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11
Luminance vs Likes 
and Comments 
0 
0.2 
0.4 
0.6 
0.8 
1 
1.2 
1.4 
1.6 
1.8 
0 
0.01 
0.02 
0.03 
0.04 
0.05 
0.06 
0.07 
0.08 
0.09 
0.1 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10
#Selfies 
Everything
Focus: 
Relevance
One-to-One 
Sharing Motivations 
0% 
10% 
20% 
30% 
40% 
50%
One-to-Many 
Sharing Motivations 
0% 
10% 
20%
Zombies 
Marketing 
Me
Takeaway: 
Use combined 
relevance.
Focus: 
Text Content
Sentiment vs 
Twitter CTR 
0 
0.01 
0.02 
0.03 
0.04 
0.05 
-6 
-5 
-4 
-3 
-2 
-1 
0 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
6
Facebook Sharing 
By Linguistic Content 
-0.2 
0 
0.2 
0.4 
0.6 
0.8 
1
Takeaway: 
Don’t be a Debbie Downer.
Link Placement 
vs CTR
Tweet Length 
vs CTR 
0.00% 
2.00% 
4.00% 
6.00% 
8.00% 
10.00% 
12.00% 
20 
30 
40 
50 
60 
70 
80 
90 
100 
110 
120 
130 
140
Readability vs 
Likes and Comments 
0.00% 
0.02% 
0.04% 
0.06% 
0.08% 
0.10% 
0.12% 
0.14% 
0.16% 
0.18% 
0.20% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.00% 
0.01% 
0.01% 
0.01% 
0.01% 
0.01% 
0.02% 
0.02% 
0.02% 
1 
3 
5 
7 
9 
11 
13 
15 
17 
19 
Comment Rate 
Like Rate
Part-of-Speech 
vs Likes 
-0.04 
-0.03 
-0.02 
-0.01 
0 
0.01 
0.02 
0.03 
Adverb 
Adjective 
Noun 
Verb
Takeaway: 
Write simply 
and plainly.
Thank You!