Make my dissy into a video – Tom Rouse

Posted 2 August 2012

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A final year student at Harper Adams University College has found the key to successful marketing campaigns on social networking sites.

Tom Rouse from Diss in Norfolk, recently completed a dissertation that looks at the financial and non-financial values of marketing on Facebook, using his placement year employer as a case study.

The 22-year-old worked for holiday company, Action Outdoors in Chamonix, France, as part of his BSc (Hons) degree in Adventure Recreation at the University College in Shropshire.

He is hoping to have his report published since discovering that he achieved a first class grading for his degree.
The former Diss Sixth Form student, said: “I collected the data whilst I was on placement and then analysed it when I returned to Harper Adams for my final year.

“I calculated a return on investment (ROI) figure of 168-881%, meaning that for every pound the company spent on Facebook marketing, they had £1.68- 8.81 back.

“I also looked at non-financial values, so trying to put a figure on brand awareness and customer retention.

“To do this, I compared the bookings from two different seasons with the people that had ‘liked’ the company page on Facebook. So if people booked in one season, then joined us on Facebook, how many of those went on to make a repeat booking.”

Tom found that people who followed the Action Outdoors page on Facebook were 5.5% more likely to book a second holiday.
He also initiated a series of fan-boosting activities and competitions during the campaign.

Tom added: “The cost of running the competitions on Facebook didn’t really equate for the number of people that then booked a holiday, so fan-boosting activities should be kept to a minimum.

"The important thing is customer retention, good quality posts less often are much better than many uninteresting ones.

“During the research I also looked at assessing how many people actually see what is posted.  I found that you can’t really put a figure on it, so it’s important to encourage people to ‘like’ and ‘share’ the information posted.

“My top tip for businesses using Facebook as a marketing tool is to assess the clients’ needs and target what they are interested in, in relation to your product.”