What Is Your Social Media Marketing ROI?
Return on investment is measured in many ways.
Usually it can be determined through factors that are fairly straightforward and quantifiable.
When it comes to social media ROI, however, many businesses find it difficult to directly connect the returns with the investment.
Social media requires time, planning, scheduling and organizing of resources.
Whatever is posted there, for instance, needs to be produced and organized behind the scenes in an ongoing effort to keep content fresh and relevant to consumers.
So, the investment in SM is often less of a dollar figure, and more of a human resource investment.
Someone has to create content, post it, update it, organize the contests, giveaways, etc.
They need to respond to inquiries and enter into the discussions on other companies' sites.
Then, all of that effort has to be tied to sales.
Social media ROI (and its advantages over traditional marketing) has been proven in many cases, with businesses large and small.
Some of the criteria include:
In the case of feedback, social media allows consumers to easily provide real time product reviews that help companies to innovate virtually on the fly.
Value to consumers is the perception that your company is doing people some kind of good.
Offering coupon savings is through your social media accounts is one way to create this public perception.
Since, increasingly, people are using social media to make their purchasing decisions (many times bypassing company websites and even blogs), these are returns that connect social media directly to sales.
As SM ROI increases for companies, some are starting to post their Twitter and Facebook addresses in lieu of their site addresses.
Those familiar with SM know that many consumers are going straight to their SM accounts to get the latest information.
According to recent studies, 40% of Twitter users are on using their accounts to learn about products and services and get reviews from other users.
And, with larger percentages of their sales funneling through SM, features such as "like" buttons are becoming ubiquitous on company sites.
The recent Digital IQ Index Specialty Retail report found that online retailers that have a"like" button on their site enjoy 80% higher traffic over a three month period.
So, social media ROI is measurable, you just need to know what to look for and how to separate out your efforts on SM from your other marketing methods.
Social media analytics make it easy to see how much of your traffic comes from SM, so start there.
Usually it can be determined through factors that are fairly straightforward and quantifiable.
When it comes to social media ROI, however, many businesses find it difficult to directly connect the returns with the investment.
Social media requires time, planning, scheduling and organizing of resources.
Whatever is posted there, for instance, needs to be produced and organized behind the scenes in an ongoing effort to keep content fresh and relevant to consumers.
So, the investment in SM is often less of a dollar figure, and more of a human resource investment.
Someone has to create content, post it, update it, organize the contests, giveaways, etc.
They need to respond to inquiries and enter into the discussions on other companies' sites.
Then, all of that effort has to be tied to sales.
Social media ROI (and its advantages over traditional marketing) has been proven in many cases, with businesses large and small.
Some of the criteria include:
- sales
- new leads
- improved efficiency/cost savings
- better reach
- improved customer feedback
- value to consumer
In the case of feedback, social media allows consumers to easily provide real time product reviews that help companies to innovate virtually on the fly.
Value to consumers is the perception that your company is doing people some kind of good.
Offering coupon savings is through your social media accounts is one way to create this public perception.
Since, increasingly, people are using social media to make their purchasing decisions (many times bypassing company websites and even blogs), these are returns that connect social media directly to sales.
As SM ROI increases for companies, some are starting to post their Twitter and Facebook addresses in lieu of their site addresses.
Those familiar with SM know that many consumers are going straight to their SM accounts to get the latest information.
According to recent studies, 40% of Twitter users are on using their accounts to learn about products and services and get reviews from other users.
And, with larger percentages of their sales funneling through SM, features such as "like" buttons are becoming ubiquitous on company sites.
The recent Digital IQ Index Specialty Retail report found that online retailers that have a"like" button on their site enjoy 80% higher traffic over a three month period.
So, social media ROI is measurable, you just need to know what to look for and how to separate out your efforts on SM from your other marketing methods.
Social media analytics make it easy to see how much of your traffic comes from SM, so start there.
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