Wildfire study reveals best type of social campaign

On Wednesday General Motors announced they were pulling their ad dollars from Facebook citing the ineffectiveness of the social network as an ad partner. Some experts have chimed in in agreement, saying Facebook needs to re-think how ads can be targeted and campaigns developed to become a big advertising player.

New data from Wildfire could be an indicator that in addition to an ad upgrade from Facebook advertisers need to determine what they want from a social ad before signing on to a social network to provide advertising to potential customers. According to their data campaigns generating the most earned media - shares - aren't necessarily the most entered campaigns.

According to the report:

• 82% of socnet users who click on friend's posts about quizzes take the quiz themselves
• Coupons/giveaways get the most entries
• Pick-your-favorite/quizzes/trivia get the most shares
• The biggest earned media payoff comes from campaigns asking for users opinions/tastes

The key here is 'earned media' - extending the reach of a campaign because of a socnet user's sharing of the campaign. For example, User A votes in a poll and allows that poll to be shared on his or her wall; their friends can then take part, share in their wall and the campaign continues to be used, shared and to grow in numbers.

The biggest hitters in the earned media category according to the study were Pick Your Favorite (39% rate of shares), Quizzes (32% sharing rate) and Trivia Contests (29% sharing rate). Sweepstakes and Essay Contests were also in the top five. That earned media rate is also improving engagement.

In addition to the 82% of socnet users who also take quizzes, 74% engage with coupons shared on friend's walls and 74% also take part in giveaways.

A webcast of the entire study can be viewed here.

Tags: Facebook advertising, Facebook IPO, Facebook tips, social marketing, social marketing tips, social marketing trends, Wildfire