A short high level review of the online response to GeekRetreat 2011.

1. t GeekRetreat 1 st January 2011 – 12 th January 2011 [email_address]

4. The following report analyses data from the 1 st January 2011 to the 12 th January 2011. The number of mentions which were picked up during this date range amounted to 876 This is the similar to a what a small blue chip organisation in South Africa, would expect to receive in a month.

5. This can be broken down further, day by day… During: 616 After: 229 Before: 31 10 th January generated the greatest conversation, with 178 conversations.

6. The conversation reached approximately 1 656 155 people. This is the number of people who were potentially exposed to the event between the 1 st January 2011 and the 12 th January. It does not take into account the people that may have been exposed to the event before and after this reporting period. However, this value is extremely high considering the reporting period is only 12 days. In order to maintain the high reach, it is recommended international influencers are included to push the event further.

7. The value of earned media during this time period amounted to R 379 204 This is the value of ‘free advertising’ due to the online conversation alone. And does not take into account any paid media and promotions. To put it in context, the average advert value equivalent for a company in the telecommunications sector amounts to approximately R 800 000 per month.

8. Why are the values so high?

9. Well, 78.3% of the conversation was from a respected source. A respected source reaches a minimum of 1 000 people. This is associated to the fact that the authors are key influencers in the digital space. Not only did these authors generate conversation, but the community also engaged with them in the form of retweets and replies.

10. What were the main sources of conversation?

11. 95% of the total conversation was generated by consumers. The benchmark for most businesses is between 60% - 80%, which shows that consumers definitely spearheaded the online conversation.

12. With…

13. 5% originating from enterprises. Enterprise conversation includes individuals and/or companies similar to Geek Retreat.

14. What were the top domains?

15. The top domains for the online conversation were broken down as Domain Volume Percentage www.twitter.com 832 94.9% www.randolfjoeberg 12 1.36% www.islabs.co.za 5 0.57% www.realmdigital.co.za 4 0.45% www.flickr.com 4 0.45% www.justinsprattposterous.com 3 0.34% www.marketingengineer.wordpress.com 3 0.34%

16. Twitter alone generated the most conversation. The reach for Twitter amounted to 1 576 450 people.

17. But what exactly are they saying?

19. 35.6% of the conversation on Twitter was retweeted. This constitutes to a high level of engagement and interaction amongst the audience. It shows that majority of the audience were in agreement with the conversation being tweeted and actively participated on this platform. The retweet value can be compared to a very active alcohol brand in South Africa.

20. And…

21. @elanlohmann was mentioned 91 times.

22. Whereas…

23. @hfordsa was mentioned 50 times during the same reporting period.

24. But was everyone Happy?

25. 4.01% of the conversation for the entire reporting period was negative. This is low considering the fact that the average negativity for the hospitality industry is between 10% - 15%.

26. Why?

28. @richmullohand complained about the high volumes of conversation on Twitter (#geekretreat). This amounted to 35.8% of the total negative conversation due to the retweets and responses. In addition, 25.6% of the negative conversation referred to Geek Retreat as a waste of time and pointless event. This also included one reference of the event being “elitist, ageist or sexist”.

29. Lastly there were also a few mentions of the event not having a mixed group of contestants by being a bit white dominant and with ‘too much talk and no action’. This amounted to 20.2% of the total negative conversation.

30. As for the positive?

31. 95.9% of the conversation was positive. With 6.27% of this being endorsements or praise. This is very high considering the enterprise conversation was low and consumers generated the positive conversation.

33. 23.6% of the endorsements and praise were directed to Times Live and AVUSA Media for sponsoring a great event. This positive conversation on Times Live and AVUSA amounted to a reach of 19 900 and an advert value equivalent of R 4 575.

34. Visual Support

35. 16.3% of the positive conversation referred to Geek Retreat as an inspiring and interesting event. With the remainder of the positive conversation being tweets on the day to day activities and overall success of the event.

36. Visual Support

37. Top Authors on Twitter?

38. From the graph below, there is a good spread of active consumers who contributed and actively engaged with the online conversation.

40. BrandsEye is an online reputation management service which focuses on the real-time monitoring and managing of corporate reputations in the digital space. For more information: Contact Tim Shier on 021 462 7353 Email the team on [email_address] Contact us on Twitter @brandseye Or go to our website: www.brandseye.com