Nielsen and Facebook just released a report on: Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression. 
The study surveyed over 800,000 Facebook users and their results show an increase in ad recall, brand awareness, and purchase intent when users see friends who have become fans of the brand in the ad. This is very compelling data that backs up the principle on why SocialMedia.com was founded, which is: social ads perform better because they are a more personal, useful, and trusted form of advertising. 
The research also showed the high impact of campaigns that leverage a combination of paid media and earned media (i.e. ads drive users to become Facebook fans, and in turn users who become fans drive their friends to become fans). This type of social ad strategy is great because the positive effects of the campaign can be felt months after the campaign is over.
Inside This Report:
- How social networking and consumer engagement have changed how brand marketing works
- An approach for understanding the value of earned and paid impressions in a social context
- How creating a Facebook fan base can drive social advocacy within paid media, thus increasing its effectiveness
- Data and insights that directly measure the effectiveness and reach of paid media, paid media with social advocacy, and earned media
About this Report:
- With the advent of social media, consumer conversations about and with a brand have become more measurable. Marketers are seeking to better understand this new form of engagement with their brand
- This engagement—also known as “earned media”—can be measured with the same metrics as traditional paid media: lifts in brand awareness, message awareness, and purchase intent
- New analysis from Nielsen and Facebook that directly measures the effectiveness and reach of paid versus earned media shows that the two are linked and complementary
- In a social media context, earned media is highly effective, but often has limited reach and can be highly variable between campaigns
- “Social ads” that contain social advocacy are a lightweight form of endorsement on ads, and can drive increased brand lift while delivering reach on a similar scale as paid campaigns
- These insights provide an understanding of the various components of value of a social media campaign (paid impressions, paid with social advocacy, and earned media
