admin — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:02:09 +0000

Can I measure a ROI with Social Media?

admin — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 19:57:46 +0000

Absolutely! Well, in a manner of speaking.

But it will not happen because you have an e-commerce store on Facebook’s platform. Regardless of a Facebook currency concept being proposed, an option ‘to buy’ may never come to fruition. Other popular social media platforms, like Twitter or Pinterest, do not have ‘buy now’ buttons either. So how do companies justify their marketing dollar budget spend? How did companies spend billions on Social Media Marketing in 2012?

There is increased pressure for marketers to find and engage new customer prospects. In my seminar talks across the country, I ask for an audience member who has recently purchased a large screen TV. Once I know the model, I delve quickly in to how they made their purchase decisions and ask the kind of product research and comparisons conducted. My final question is “now, did you visit the TV manufacturers website as part of your decision making process?” - The answer is always “no”. Wait a minute, what is going on here? Today’s customer is smarter, they make purchase decisions differently, and they may never come to your website – social media has changed how we make decisions.

The reasons on why a company must market in social media are evident, but we must do a better job of measuring the effectiveness. Justifying your marketing program success by stating “we have increased our Facebook likes by 40%” is not a ROI. Marketers need to ask themselves the ultimate question. If you owned the company and your marketing budget was your personal money, would you be satisfied with this answer? No, you would ask Marketing to show how these budgets spend has increased sales.

If you have a limited budget, you can do this cost-effectively. Assuming you have a web analytics program in place like Google, there are certain calculations that need to be identified. First, what is your ratio of new to repeat visitors? Are you seeing an increase in new site visitors as you increase your social media spend? Next, identify ‘success event’ webpages; for B2B companies it is a landing page with a lead form and for B2C customers, it can be a “thank you for your purchase” page. The fundamental approach is simple, what % of new/repeat visitors is visiting your ‘success event’ webpage today? This % ratio is now your benchmark for identifying visitors that become a customer prospect. Example, 5% of new visitors completes a ‘success event’ and is now identified as a customer prospect. Use this ratio as you begin your social media programs to calculate the % of new visitors coming from Facebook, Twitter etc.

Your other option is talking to us at StoneMass about our in-bound marketing platform solutions that can help generate leads and sales and measure ROI accurately from Social Media – ask for a demo today.