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[iamlost]

In which I parse the stats mentioned in an article, This Data On How Amazon Is Failing On Facebook Is Absolutely Brutal and show that they are NOT saying what the author thought they were.

First: the author is using Expion data from an analysis of top retailers this past Christmas.
Second: the author quotes Expion on why Amazon 'is missing the mark' when it comes to 'social engagement'.
Third: the author misses the mark.

The data includes something called 'fan actions', i.e. likes, comments, shares, whether positive or negative - strike one. All of which are also extremely game-able, strike 2. But, all that noise aside, let's take the data at face value and run a different analysis.

1. Walmart:
Fans: 26,263,750
Fan actions per post: 18,903
* 'Engagement' rate (i.e. equivalent to CTR): 0.07 percent

2. Victoria's Secret:
Fans: 21,089,192
Fan actions per post: 24,970
* 'Engagement' rate (i.e. equivalent to CTR): 0.12 percent

...

10. GameStop:
Fans: 5,162,041
Fan actions per post: 6,982
* 'Engagement' rate (i.e. equivalent to CTR): 0.135 percent

Amazon:
Fans: 16,000,000 (Note: rounded up)
Fan actions per post: 4,622
* 'Engagement' rate (i.e. equivalent to CTR): 0.03 percent

Before I get into the 'missed' metric one can see that Amazon is definitely not as 'engaged' as the other businesses analysed. And the reason given by Expion:
* no engaging or conversational dialogue
* primarily just mentions of deals
Definitely missing all the usual SM best practices. However, before I'd dismiss Amazon as striking out on FB I'd want to know their FB ROI (not that they would share it). 'Engagement' is rainbows and unicorns, ROI is money in the bank.

Now to my main point: look at the engagement (CTR equivalent) rates (an iamlost added metric '*') above. Personally, when CTR drops below 2.0% I get concerned. Here we are - at best - less than 6% of that 'concern' threshold; yes, less than 6% of 2%. In sad fact that is almost the same rate that one sees from FB ads (on average).

But, whereas FB ads have the excuse of 'that's not why people come to FB...' oops. Make that an Oops with a capital 'O'.

And note that the number of fans does not correlate with the rather soggy metric of engagement rate, strike 3 on choice of primary ranking factor.

A mush of an article.
A mushy indictment of (standard) marketing on FB.
So much mush.
It is indeed brutal.