Has Facebook got the X-Factor?

Social Media, and Facebook in particular, has been hailed as the marketing tool of the decade - but does it live up to the hype?

There is no doubt Social Media is a popular marketing tool - this blog is social media - but there seems to be a lack of objective statistics in the UK on its ROI. In 2010, the X-Factor TV show achieved one of the highest viewing figures in recent times, so we examined audience engagement with its Facebook page.

The X-Factor Final
On Sunday 12 December, 2010 over 17m people watched Matt Cardle win the final. Its Facebook page was heavily promoted during the show.

The busiest section on The X-Factor Facebook page was the Wall. Here the admin posted questions and supporters could ‘Like’ or ‘Comment’ on the posts.

In total, the admin posted 32 questions between 11.18am and 9.22pm, and the peak time of activity was 7.33 - 9.22pm when the show was live (13 questions posted).

The X-Factor Facebook page was one of the most popular at the time with over 2.5m ‘Likes’.

The results
The table below shows the Likes/Comments that viewers posted on the Wall during the whole of Sunday and when the show was broadcast. Approximately 66% of Likes/Comments were made when the show was live, with a marked drop in participation when the show finished.

We’ve also shown the number of Likes/Comments expressed as a percentage of the show’s TV audience. We view this percentage as the ‘response’ Facebook achieved (if SCi achieved that sort of response using any other marketing tool we would be disappointed).

To examine the level of engagement people had with Facebook we analysed further a question posted at 8.22pm during the middle of the show.

• 1.42% of the Comments were adverts for other products and Facebook pages.
• 22.57% of the Comments contained just 3 words or less.
• Only 6% of people made more than 1 Comment.

Conclusion

The X-Factor is a subject that generates divided opinions, as such we would have expected the Facebook page to have more participation.

While it’s true the page is popular, it managed less than 0.5% engagement with it’s TV audience; and only 1.99% of the 2.5m people who Like the page made a Comment.

If most of the ‘viewers’ of the Facebook page are inactive spectators it could be argued that its real potential is not being exploited - it’s not that much different from passively watching a TV commercial.

The fault may not be Facebook’s, perhaps The X-Factor’s use of the page is the problem. Two months after the show has finished and there are still adverts for other products and pages in the Comments, which suggests poor housekeeping. Also some questions from participants remained unanswered.

But even when people do participate their level of engagement is not deep. Just 22.57% of the Comments contained 3 words or less, many with simple  ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers; and only 6% of people Commented more than once.

How would the X-Factor judges mark Facebook's performance?