While B2B marketers have embraced social media in a big way, many struggle with delivering intended results, or determining the effectiveness of social media. While the assortment of channels are great for directly connecting with customers in a cost efficient manner, a major reason for social media skepticism is the difficulties associated with measuring ROI.
For the marketer, social media is only as good as the success derived from it, and without measuring such results, the gains can be squandered away.
Some direct metrics help in this regard. For instance, an increase in the number of followers or likes may signify increasing brand awareness. The number of visits to a social media page or website may denote the number of leads attracted through the media, whereas the number of visiting and returning leads may denote the number of leads nurtured using this media.
Twitter scores above many other social media channels when it comes to measuring results. The brevity of tweets make URLs the primary calls to action of Twitter updates. URL shortening sites such as bit.ly and ow.ly make it easy for marketers to include and track landing page URLs in their Twitter updates similar to e-mail or paid search campaigns.
LinkedIn and Facebook are two other channels that can offer some insight into reach, clicks, shares, etc. While such information is helpful in determining who is viewing and clicking on your information, it can be difficult to draw conclusions when all results are scattered across the various channels.
A comprehensive, analytical marketing platform that can score multiple social media channels goes a long way in helping marketers optimize and quantify social media impact. Marketers are continually required to boost engagement as it is a key indicator of buying interest. Scoring on social media engagement can be as important (if not more) as scoring on email behavior, sales team interaction, or website traffic!
ROI’s campaign management, integrated with its Customer Lifecycle Marketing solution allows marketers to manage data, track responses, organize campaigns, and segment audience groups. Using ROI’s platform, marketers can integrate social media, web analytics, and CRM data seamlessly for a holistic view of both prospects and current customers. The ability to view all of the different engagement points from one prospect empowers the sales representative to know exactly what has resonated with each prospect, which makes closing the sale that much easier!
For more Customer Lifecycle Marketing and how it can benefit your organization, be sure to schedule a demo with a lifecycle marketing expert!
