FS Whitepaper Twitter Contest Measurement

8/9/2019 FS Whitepaper Twitter Contest Measurement

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Measuring the Results of YourTwitter Contest/Swee stakes

a fanscape white pap

A Guide For Measurement


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Overview

With an estimated 100 million-plus users1, Twitter offers

companies and brands an opportunity to reach a large

and active audience. But as marketers are quickly

learning, a build it and they will come strategy only

wor s so ar n ga n ng an re a n ng o owers. n a

recent study commissioned by Razorfish, it was

determined that 43% of people following brands on

Twitter do so because of the exclusive deals or offers.

That tops interesting content (23%), current customers

an serv ce support .

Plain and simple, if you want to grow your Twitter

followers and keep them, you need to offer them

something. Marketers are utilizing Twitter to run

contests whether by asking followers to retweet a

message or by replying to a trivia question for a chance

to win a prize. These promotions create engagement

and expand the reach of the brands message beyond

just their immediate followers. The trick with Twitter

though, is to not just build a bigger group of followers

just to have numbers, but to actually activate and

engage the followers you have in order to generate

additional long-term involved followers.

Irrespective of the objective, measurement is vital todetermine the success of the promotion. The following

pages are an exploration into the various analytics tools

available to help you measure the results of your Twitter

.

1Twitter API via WebProNews, January


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Tweets

Measuring the Number of MentionsWhen running a Twitter contest, it is recommended you use a unique pre-defined

hashtag (identified using the hash symbol, #, immediately followed by a word or

words with no spaces) that your followers must use to participate. A hashtag is

similar to other web tags they help to identify and group tweets. Most importantly

for you, they help in the measurement of results.

Many paid social media monitoring tools such as Radian6, Social Radar, Sysomos,

TIP: If tracking thementions of a phrase,

remember to use

TIP: If tracking thementions of a phrase,

remember to use

unique phrase (e.g. YOURCOMPANYs Tweet-A-Day Contest). However, there

are also a number of free tools that can assist you. We recommend utilizing as

many tools as possible and comparing results. Most of the paid tools crawl Twitter

search results rather than utilize Twitters API, which the free tools are more likely to

do. The advantage to this is they are able to gather data beyond the maximum

search result limits of Twitters own search tool up to roughly seven days or 1,500

tweets, whichever comes first. The downside is they cannot guarantee to grab

quo a on mar s

around it to best

ensure the most

accurate results are

tracked.

Further, we suggest

trackin

quo a on mar s

around it to best

ensure the most

accurate results are

tracked.

Further, we suggest

trackin

every single mention.

SquawqSquawq (www.squawq.com) is a sophisticated Twitter analytics tool created by

Minneapolis-based advertising agency Colle+McVoy. With Squawq, you can create

a search query using your promotions hashtag or other relevant keywords to track

@PROFILENAMEmentions in addition

to your contest-

related keywords as

the spread of your

Twitter profile by your

followers can assist in

@PROFILENAMEmentions in addition

to your contest-

related keywords as

the spread of your

Twitter profile by your

followers can assist in. ,

well as the most vocal authors, popular keywords, hashtags, and urls associated

with your search. Full-data tracking is currently in limited beta-testing, but Squawq

does offer a real-time search utility for everyone, which enables immediate analysis

of the most recent 500 posts of any Twitter search term.

gan ng new o owers.gan ng new o owers.

Whats a good number of mentions? This is where its up to you to do your

homework. Have you seen other companies or brands run their own Twitter

contest? If so, you should be measuring their results in the same way you are

measuring yours. This will help you establish goals and benchmarks that will assist

you in determining where your promotion ranks. Also, make sure youre tracking

overall mentions of your brand or product. Did a lift in mentions occur during the

contest period?


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BackType Connect & TopsyBackType Connect (www.backtype.com/connect) and Topsy (www.topsy.com) are

free tools for identifying the number of Twitter results based on the use of a URL

instead of keywords. For example, if a tweet to your followers includes a link to a page

set up on your site for a contest and you ask said followers to retweet your message

or at least include the URL in their message, these tools will help you track how many

tweets are sent with the link to your site.

TIPIPTIP: Neither BackType Connect nTopsy is limited by Twitters search

API restrictions on time and result

Therefore, you can retrieve results

long after they disappear via Twitte

search.

TIP: Neither BackType Connect nTopsy is limited by Twitters search

API restrictions on time and result

Therefore, you can retrieve results

long after they disappear via Twitte

search.

Results from BackType Connect aalso available through the site

BackTweets (www.backtweets.co

which offers a slightly different

interface.

Results from BackType Connect aalso available through the site

BackTweets (www.backtweets.co

which offers a slightly different

interface.

Theres a key distinction between the two. With BackType Connect, you are

prompted to enter a specified URL to search for. Tweets associated with the URL are

then displayed as is the number of results. Topsy, on the other hand, requires you to

search for a keyword, hashtag or phrase and displays the most tweeted links

associated with those tweets. Tweets are grouped by each URL and the number of

associated tweets is displayed. You can view results for all time or over the last

month, week, day, and hour. Further, drill-down features allow the filtering of tweets

.

Results from BackType Connect are also available through the site BackTweets

(www.backtweets.com) which offers a slightly different interface.

TweetcloudTweetcloud (www.tweetcloud.com) is another free tool that answers the question

whats being said in the form of a keyword cloud. Use the keyword search form to

input your brand/company name, hashtag or phrase. The most frequently mentioned

keywords associated with the search term are displayed. Tweetcloud also allows you

to click on those keywords and displays the related tweets below.


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Measuring Your Potential ReachReach refers to the total number or percentage of individuals exposed, at least once, to a marketing message dur

a given period of time. Its a valuable metric to track for your promotion as it allows for an understanding of how fa

your name or message may have spread across Twitter.

IceRocketIceRocket (www.icerocket.com/?tab=twitter) is a free real-time search engine. The organization has built its

reputation as one of the top blog search engines and has recently expanded and developed its tool to include Twisearch results. The results from IceRocket are the same as those youd find via Twitters search tool since they ut

the companys API. But theres one powerful distinction between the two in addition to the standard tweet resu

IceRocket shows you each persons follower count right next to their tweet.

Why is this significant? One reason is that it allows you to add up the follower counts from the results whileeliminating the added step of clicking to each users profile, thus calculating the potential reach of your promotion

more quickly. As mentioned previously, however, Twitters search API and consequently, IceRockets Twitter

search is limited in results up to roughly seven days or 1,500 tweets, whichever comes first. Therefore, if your

promotion lasts more than a week or has more than 1,500 results, you will need to keep track of the results from

IceRocket on a regular basis. Another benefit of seeing the follower counts in the search results is the ability to

quickly identify the most popular members and potential influencers among the participants.

TweettronicsTweettronics (www.tweettronics.com) is a comprehensive Twitter

analytics tool currently in alpha testing and available to

marketers and PR professionals for a 30-day free trial period andan affordable monthly or yearly subscription plan. Tweettronics

offers trend graphs measuring the volume and sentiment for your

,

related URLs, automated updates/alerts, and a keyword cloud.

Tweettronics begins collecting data when you create the search

and with the subscription plan, data is available for up to 60 days.

One key distinction for Tweettronics from other tools is a reach

estimation automatically calculated from the number of followers

for all of the participating speakers. Further, it multiplies the

follower count by the number of tweets each speaker has made

mentioning your search term to calculate their impact essentially serving as an impressions count and also a gauge for

your loudest advocates.

Keep in mind that calculating your potential reach using either of the methods above does not mean that X amoun

of people saw your message. They only had the opportunity to see your message. And since the majority of twee

are public, the potential reach could be even higher.


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Twitter Profile

Measuring Followers / Influence / EngagementOne of the important metrics for any marketer on Twitter is the growth (or wear-out) rate of their followers. If you

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,

growth in the amount of your followers is a good way. Manually keeping track of the count is one option.

However, there are a few tools that can automatically do it for you, as well as others that can provide you addition

metrics such as influence, impact and engagement.

TwitterCounterTwitterCounter (www.twittercounter.com) is a free graphing tool for your daily follower count (it also allows you to

graph how many people you follow and the number of tweets you send). TwitterCounter does not automatically

track historical data and will only begin collecting data when set up so make sure to start tracking your profile as

soon as possible.

Why is the historical data so important? For starters, it allows you to establish a benchmark to compare against

the growth during the campaign period. For example, say you ran a four-week Twitter contest during which you

gained 5,000 new followers. Utilizing TwitterCounter will allow you to calculate how many followers were gained

during the previous four-week period. If this period during which no other promotions were run resulted in 2,500

new followers then ou can re ort that our follower rowth DOUBLED as a result of the Twitter romotion! A

daily count also allows you to see what day(s) had the highest growth to help you determine what content/tweetmay have contributed the most.

TwitterCounter also offers the ability to compare your followers with other accounts. We recommend using this t

measure yourself against your competitors whos growing at a faster rate?

TweetLevelTweetLevel (www.tweetlevel.com) is a free tool developed by Edelman that measures your importance on Twitter

by scoring (on a scale of 100) your influence, popularity, engagement, and trust. Although currently in beta and s

being fine-tuned, we feel this tool can provide you with a good snapshot for a before and after comparison, as w

as ranking yourself versus your competitors and other top profiles.

TwitalyzerTwitalyzer (www.twitalyzer.com) is yet another free tool that analyzes a Twitter profile and provides metrics such a

clout, influence, engagement, and impact. Similar to TweetLevel, Twitalyzer is best used as a measurement over

time or to compare your profile with your others.

Wh should these metrics matter? Besides measurin the size of our followers several of these metrics are

based on what those followers do with your tweets whether retweeting your message, replying or telling their

followers to follow you. After all, a successful promotion requires participation from your followers. If the number

arent moving or are even going down, its time to regroup.

With TwitterCounter, you currently have the option of viewing data for the last week, month and 3 months. If


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Conclusion

Several of the Twitter analytics tools identified in this white paper did not

exist a year ago and theres always the possibility that a newer and

better tool will come along tomorrow. Stay current on updates and

spend a few minutes each week to make sure you are using the most

appropr ate measurements. n suc a ast-pace env ronment,consistent attention to these details and changes is what differentiates

the leaders from the laggards. The whole idea is to gather followers, not

to be one.

Start measuring right now. Find out what people are saying about you

and respond to them accordingly. With more than 50 million tweets

being made each day, you must make sure not to get lost in the clutter.

STAND OUT. Confirm this by measuring yourself against your

competitors and digging as deeply into their data as you do your own.

Dont worry, they will never know. Just dont tweet about it.

Best tweetings!


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anscape s e ea ng oc a e a ar e ng gency w more

than a decade of experience helping clients reach and activate

consumers to foster targeted and engaging marketing through online

and emerging media. Fanscapes online influencer marketing experts

have in-depth understanding of niche audiences and consumer

behaviors across the Web.

We provide highly measurable, earned media strategies for major

corporations and leading entertainment, technology and mobile

companies. Our mission is to lead the field of Digital Word of Mouth

Marketing, keep developing innovative and creative methods of

inspiring WOM conversations, foster positive sentiment for our

clients, provide detailed measurement and analysis, generate the

highest Return on Investment (ROI) possible and to listen, educate

and activate consumers. This results in for in trusted relationshi s

between our clients and their customers.

For additional information, visit www.fanscape.com, our blog

www.digitallyapproved.com and follow us on Twitter @Fanscape.

Documents

FS Whitepaper Twitter Contest Measurement