7/27/2019 Facebook Case Study Rosetta Stone

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Facebook: Building Essential Connections

Rosetta Stone sees a 6X return on ad spend onFacebook, outperforming TV, based on a proprietarymedia mix modeling study of campaigns betweenJanuary 2011 and September 2012.

GoalsRosetta Stone wanted to determine the eectiveness o usingFacebook to:

• Drive sales o its unique language-learning sotware

• Raise brand awareness by reaching an audience o peoplewho want to stay updated on the brand’s oerings andunique content

Approach

Rosetta Stone made Facebook a key part o its marketingmix, using its Rosetta Stone Facebook Page , where it hadmore than 1.5 million ans as o January 2013, to update anson a daily basis. The company posts special oers, language-related tidbits, un photos designed to spark conversations—“in any language, what is this animal?”—and company news,such as product releases and participation in events.

Between January 2011 and September 2012, Rosetta Stone rannearly 300 media campaigns on Facebook, with the majorityocused on driving sales o the language-learning sotware.

The adspredominantly ran in all Facebook placements ,

including the right-hand side o Facebook. The ads were:

• Designed to generate leads and sales directly romRosettaStone.com

• Aimed at raising awareness o the brand and creativecampaigns around Facebook apps, videos or contest

• Targeted towards ans and those Facebook usersinterested broadly in topics like languages, travel,communication, brain ftness, and learning.

In the all o 2012, Rosetta Stone also ran several FacebookOffers campaigns promoting select Rosetta Stone language-learning packages during the back-to-school season.

• Ads and sponsored stories were served on both the right-

hand side and the news feed on mobile and desktop.• News feed distribution , and mobilenews feed in

particular, was driving the highest claim rates, so thebrand quickly optimized to serve predominantly in this adspace.

To evaluate the return on investment o each element o itsmedia and marketing mix, including Facebook, Rosetta Stonebuilt an econometric model o how media and marketingactivities drove sales.

Rosetta Stone Page Ads

Rosetta Stone Inc. provides cutting-edge interactive technologythat is changing the way the world learns languages. Thecompany’s proprietary learning techniques—acclaimed ortheir power to unlock the natural language-learning abilityin everyone—are used by schools, businesses, governmentorganizations and millions o individuals around the world.

Rosetta Stone oers courses in 30 languages, rom the mostcommonly spoken (like English, Spanish and Mandarin) to the lessprominent (including Swahili, Swedish and Tagalog). The companywas ounded in 1992 on the core belies that learning to speak alanguage should be a natural and instinctive process, and thatinteractive technology can activate the language-immersionmethod powerully or learners o any age. Rosetta Stone is basedin Arlington, Virginia, and has ofces in Harrisonburg, Virginia;Boulder, Colorado; Tokyo; Seoul; London; and São Paulo.

facebook.com/RosettaStone

Case Study | ROI/

• The time series included weekly sales and marketing data romJanuary 2011 to September 2012.

• The model o the total U.S. consumer sales demonstrated highdegree o explanatory power (R² o 0.88), i.e., explaining nearly 90% othe variation in total U.S. consumer sales.

Results

• 6X return on advertising spend or all Facebook campaigns between

January 2011 and September 2012• Top-performing paid-media channel, behind only email (Facebook’s 6X

ROAS compares with 4.6X or TV at its peak)

“It takes time to determine ROI rom new platorms, but romthe very beginning we recognized the value o Rosetta Stone’smarketing campaigns on Facebook. The programs not only served our ans in a unique and exciting way, they’ve had ar-reaching eects on our other marketing programs—including search, e-mail and display. I like to call this the “wobble eect” o marketing, ater a space-science term that describes theinfuence an orbiting planet can have on its parent star. As theplanet makes its orbit, its gravitational pull causes the star to

appear to wobble when viewed through a telescope, and romthat scientists can measure the planet’s presence. We’ve runsuccessul direct-revenue campaigns through Facebook, but wealso see movement—wobble—o larger promotions rom our social-media eorts.” 

Eric Ludwig , VP & GM, North America Consumer, Retail Sales-Direct, Rosetta Stone