Business
Business Buzz: How much is a “like’ worth?

PHUKET: A ‘like’ is a measure on Facebook of how popular a page or a post is with other Facebook users.
Someone recently asked me what a ‘like’ on Facebook was worth to a business. It started me thinking, could an actual value be placed on a ‘like’? The answer of course is yes, but for each business this value would be different.
The first thing to appreciate is that any legitimate ‘like’ or ‘share’ will have a positive value and impact on your business. This is because people place more value on positive peer recommendations than advertising, and Facebook does this very well by showing us who in our circle of influence also likes a particular post, page or newsfeed item.
Secondly, to be able to determine useful information a business must know the statistics and values at each step of its sales and marketing process. Every business should already know these numbers if they take their marketing seriously.
Now, to actually measure the value of a ‘like’ or ‘share’ would be determined by each individual business, their sales and marketing funnel, capture methods, conversion rates and, of course, the actual unit revenues and profit margins for their product or service.
So the value of a ‘like’ would be the revenue (or profit) generated by the sales from the relevant post or page, divided by the number of ‘likes’.
If we represent this concept in terms of a simple formula it would look like this:
Value of a Like (v) = number of sales (n) x $ profit per item sold (r) / number of Likes (l).
The important factor is that the net profit from the increase in sales per ‘like’ is more than the cost of attracting a new ‘like’ (note that we are looking at profit here, not revenue), otherwise all we are doing is just undertaking a very expensive branding exercise.
Let’s use a live example. Recently we designed a post for a client and boosted it for 500 baht. The ad generated 610 ‘likes’, 8 ‘shares’ and 75,000 baht in revenue.
In our example v = 75,000 / 610 or 122 baht per ‘like’. Our cost of a ‘like’ was 500 / 610 which was 0.85 baht per’ like’.
Each ‘like’ was costing less than a baht and generating 122 baht in profit. Overall this was an incredibly profitable campaign.
And the same formula would apply to any business.
There are other benefits too. A ‘like’ or ‘share’ immediately has a positive impact on perception. Our friends see it and trust our opinion and experience. It also means that Facebook users know that the content is popular, and in return they reward the content by sharing it with more people. If people are engaging in their posts, Facebook rewards them with more impressions and cheaper rates.
Remember, most people follow trends as opposed to starting them, so this has a very positive benefit.
So if your post leads to a positive interaction, respondents will move into your sales funnel, generate interest, then a sale.
Once there, we can accurately measure the sales value that results. Knowing these figures, we can then see if our Facebook advertising is working. If we are not getting a positive return then we need to look at the ads or posts we are using, and how that links with our sales funnel in generating sales.
If we analyze each marketing process, we can soon see where we have a weakness and improve it.
The end result – we can make our ‘likes’ worth even more, and that means more money in the bank.
Simon Wetherell is a social media expert and lawyer. He trains businesses and individuals on how to profit from the social media industry. For more information visit PhuketOnlineMarketing
School.com or call 095-085 3355.
— Simon Wetherell
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Business
Governments & old media versus social media – who will win? | VIDEO

We look at the recent changes made by the Australian and Indian governments to except control over the world’s biggest social media platforms. India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social. There is now an open battle between the rise of social media platforms and the governments and ‘old’ media that have been able to maintain a certain level of control over the ‘message’ for the last century. Who will win?
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told. The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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Business
The social media giants in battle with ‘old’ media and world governments | VIDEO

“The rules signal greater willingness by countries around the world to rein in big tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Twitter that the governments fear have become too powerful with little accountability.”
India has issued strict new rules for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms just weeks after the Indian government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down social media accounts it deemed, well, anti social.
The rules require any social media company to create three roles within India… a “compliance officer” who ensures they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” who addresses complaints from Indian social media users; and a “contact person” who can actually be contacted by lawyers and other aggrieved Indian parties… 24/7.
The companies are also being made to publish a compliance report each month with details about how many complaints they’ve received and the action they took.
They’ll also be required to remove ‘some’ types of content including “full or partial nudity,” any “sexual act” or “impersonations including morphed images”
The democratisation of the news model, with social media as its catalyst, will continue to baffle traditional media and governments who used to enjoy a level of control over what stories get told.
The battles of Google and Facebook, with the governments of India and Australia will be followed in plenty of other countries as well.
At the root of all discussions will be the difference between what governments THINK social media is all about and the reality about how quickly the media landscape has changed. You’ll get to read about it first, on a social media platform… probably on the screen you’re watching this news story right now.
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Never miss out on future posts by following The Thaiger.
Business
Turbulence ahead for Thailand’s aviation industry | VIDEO

When the airlines, in particular, were asking the government to put their hands in their pockets for some relief funding in August last year, it was genuinely thought that international tourists would be coming back for the high season in December and January. At the very least local tourists and expats would head back to the skies over the traditional holiday break. And surely the Chinese would be back for Chinese New Year?
As we know now, none of that happened. A resurge in cases started just south of Bangkok on December 20 last year, just before Christmas, kicking off another round of restrictions, pretty much killing off any possibility of a high season ‘bump’ for the tourist industry. Airlines slashed flights from their schedule, and hotels, which had dusted off their reception desks for the surge of tourists, shut their doors again.
Domestically, the hotel business saw 6 million room nights in the government’s latest stimulus campaign fully redeemed. But the air ticket quota of 2 million seats still has over 1.3 million seats unused. Local tourists mostly skipped flights and opted for destinations within driving distance of their homes.
As for international tourism… well that still seems months or years away, even now.
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