MarketingProfs 2012 State of Social Media

MarketingProfs 2012 State of Social Media
2012 State of Social Media Marketing: Social Media Measurement, Objectives, and Budget Implications Sponsored by
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 2 May 2, 2012 Dear Fellow Marketer, There’s a clear disconnect between the perceived value marketers get from social media and their ability to demonstrate and act on that value, but it doesn’t have to be that way. To prove it, Lithium teamed up with MarketingProfs to delve more thoroughly into the issue of social media marketing ROI, surveying over 450 marketers around how they use social media and what exactly they realize from their efforts. What we found were sometimes subtle and sometimes significant differences in the ways in which marketers approach measurement in the first place, and that the approach made all the difference. Marketers who have graduated from counting social KPIs (like fans and followers) to measuring real business outcomes (like driving word of mouth marketing and accelerating innovation) are those that drive the most impressive ROI. More experienced marketers who focus on long-term strategic goals such as community building and increasing brand awareness are unlocking the full potential of social media and struggling less with demonstrating ROI than their less experienced cohorts. But we already knew that. We knew it from our nearly 10 years of experience working with today’s top social brands like AT&T, Best Buy, Sephora. Lithium’s Social Customer Experience suite enables marketers to unlock the full potential of working with their social customers. Our SaaS- based software helps companies listen comprehensively to their social customers, engage with them, grow brand advocacy, harness their ideas for product innovations—and measure ROI in real dollar terms against real business objectives. A special thanks to MarketingProfs for helping us to test our theory and prove it correct. Social media marketing ROI need not be so elusive for so many. Leading-edge technology plus a mature, strategic approach to social media marketing puts us squarely on the path to nailing social media marketing ROI. Enjoy the report! Sincerely, Katy Keim, Lithium Chief Marketing Officer
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 3 Executive Summary In just two years, the focus of social media marketing has shifted significantly from mere participation to driving value and convincing management that social media initiatives are having a meaningful impact on the overall business. Now, with its prominent role in the marketing arsenal, social media is charged with a greater responsibility in demonstrating how it contributes to the bottom line. Marketers have quickly turned to ROI as the equalizing metric, however, an over-emphasis on ROI has led some marketers to implement “hard sell” tactics that do not resonate well in social media environments. Understanding the role of social media in the marketing funnel as a driving of brand awareness will help marketers address the measurement gap that has emerged between management’s expectations and marketers’ ability to measure against those expectations. This report explores these issues in order to bring clarity to the relationship between social media’s objectives (e.g., brand awareness) and the desired metrics (e.g., ROI), as well as how integration with other marketing channels—with more well-established and direct metrics (e.g., search, company website and email)—will bridge the disconnect. When social media marketers can effectively track the success of their programs through cross-channel integration using metrics that resonate with the company’s C-suite, they can demonstrate the true success of their programs and improve the investment in their social media initiatives.
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 4 Change in Actively Managed Social Networks 2009 to 2012 (MarketingProfs) 2009 2012 86% 84% 72% 69% 2% 48% 43% 39% 26% 8% Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube MySpace Source: MarketingProfs Section 1: Introduction Where are we in the evolution of social media marketing? Two years ago, when MarketingProfs published its last report on the State of Social Media, the social media marketing landscape looked vastly different. Conversations about marketing with social media centered on whether or not to jump on the bandwagon given the astronomical growth rates of sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Some marketers were struggling to convince management of the value and necessity of social media as a marketing platform, while others were waiting to see what, if anything, all of the hype would amount to. At that time, just slightly more than half of the companies surveyed reported that their company maintained a corporate profile on at least one social media site. Facebook led the way with 48%, followed by 43% on Twitter and 39% with a presence on LinkedIn. Since then, the conversation has shifted from participation to value. The vast majority of companies now report maintaining a presence in social media. The same three sites lead the way, but the use of these sites has nearly doubled in just over 2 years—86% of companies maintain a Facebook presence, 84% are active on Twitter, and 72% show up on LinkedIn. With social media now a staple in the marketing mix, marketers have shifted their focus from establishing a presence toward addressing how to create meaningful engagement with consumers, how to measure it, and how to connect these activities to their impact on the bottom line. The majority of social media marketers surveyed (71%) say they are now concerned with demonstrating value to upper management. As social media marketing begins to come of age and marketers begin asking for larger budgets for their programs, they must quantify the success of these programs using metrics that resonate with the company’s C-suite. The goal of this first report on the 2012 State of Social Media research study is to provide marketers with insights that will help navigate this new reality. Specifically, we will address the following questions: 1. Defining Objectives: Which objectives are social media marketers using to guide their efforts in social media? 2. Delivering to the C-Suite: Which objectives does management expect to achieve through social media? What metrics do they consider important when considering additional investment in social media? 3. The Measurement Gap: How well are marketers able to measure the things management consid- ers important? How wide is the gap between what marketers can measure and what management is looking for? 4. Measurement Tools: Which tools are being used to measure the effectiveness of social media? 5. Investing in Social Media: How can marketers demonstrate success and improve the overall investment in social media initiatives in the future? 86% of companies maintain a Facebook presence, 84% are active on Twitter, and 72% show up on LinkedIn.
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 5 Section 2: Defining the Objective The Social Media Marketing Funnel Marketers often have multiple objectives for their social media programs. When evaluating these common objectives, it turns out that they correspond with the stages of a typical sales funnel. Starting at the top of the funnel, 91% of marketers list “brand awareness” as one of the core objectives of their social media program. The percentage of marketers targeting objectives related to downstream activities, including increasing purchase consideration (57%), driving direct sales online (46%) and offline (33%) and driving CRM activities (31%), decreases as we move further down the sales funnel. In addition to the fact 91% of marketers cite brand awareness as one of the objectives of their social media programs, 66% cite “increasing positive mentions of their brand online” as one of the objectives. This supplements the larger goal of brand awareness, since personal recommendations from a trusted network of friends and family has the benefit of driving awareness of the brand virally. The second most common objective, driving visitors to brand websites (78%), serves as further evidence of the fact that marketers are focused on filling the top of the funnel through social media. Driving website traffic is a logical and natural outcome of increased brand awareness. It is also significantly easier to measure the impact of increased site traffic on the bottom line than it is to measure the impact of brand awareness on business performance. To this end, it is important that marketers rec- ognize the inherent challenges in calculating the ROI of brand awareness. Consider, for example, the challenges in calculating the ROI of a television advertisement or de- termining the value of sponsoring a sports venue. It can be done, but these calculations are not linear and need to account for external factors that are difficult to isolate. Methodology Survey data for the 2012 update of Marketing- Profs’ State of Social Media Marketing report was collected in two distinct phases: Phase 1 kicked off in November 2011 with qualitative interviews from select social media experts as recognized in the larger marketing community. In order to make the insights from this report more grounded and action- oriented, we identified “hot topics” from these interviews that are currently relevant for professionals working in social media. Their input was incorporated into the survey and served as a guide for the topics that will be covered in the 2012 series of reports. The experts interviewed represent a cross section of social media professionals including independent consultants, writers and editors, researchers, platform representatives, and client-side practitioners. • Experts: Mark Amtower, Amtower & Company Rebecca Corliss, HubSpot Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer Ann Handley, MarketingProfs Nichole Kelly, Full Frontal ROI Matt Magee, SearchEngineLand Tom Martin, HelpMyBrand.com Jeff Rohrs, ExactTarget) Jordan Viator Slabaugh, Spredfast Aaron Strout, WCG DJ Waldow, Waldow Social Aaron Weber, Inventi Phase 2 began in February 2012 with the launch of a survey to MarketingProfs readers. Screeners required people to indicate they have social media marketing responsibilities in their current professional role. In total, 459 marketers made it through the initial set of screeners. Of those that passed the screeners, 256 (56%) completed the entire 20-minute survey. “...social media increases the likelihood for consumers to put your product into their consideration set.”–Aaron Strout, WCG 57% of social media marketers cite “Increasing purchase consideration of the brand” as another common objective. This objective serves as the bridge between brand awareness and direct sales and is an area where social media shines according to Aaron Strout, WCG, “social media increases the likelihood for consumers to put your product into their consideration set.”
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 6 The lowest-ranked objectives of this study were recruit- ment, CRM and surveying customers for market or product research. This lack of emphasis on social media as a research tool suggests that marketers may think like Henry Ford, who famously said, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse’.” Whether or not Mr. Ford was right, marketers who aren’t looking to social media for insights about their customers are likely missing out some key benefits of gathering this kind of data. One major strength of social media is its ability to give brands access to groups and communities of consumers interested in their brand. These communities can easily be leveraged to provide input on a brand’s prod- ucts and positioning. This feedback can give marketers clues about existing attitudes toward a brand or product, and can help them course-correct or change strategies. Some consumer feedback happens publicly, while other crucial information requires more nuanced methods. “You can do a lot of ethnography through linguistics in social [media], because it’s mostly a text-based medium,” says Tom Martin, HelpMyBrand.com. “You can get into the mind of a consumer…you can play out hunches, and then back them up with statistical data.” Social media marketing efforts can also do double duty here: building brand awareness and engagement while contributing to research goals. Consumers engage with brands that interact with them—those that actively seek their comments and ask questions. Polls and quizzes can be used to both engage the public and gather data for product or marketing purposes. “Anybody can post a Tweet or a status update on Face- book, but the brands and people who are being the most successful are really taking into account who their audience is, what they care about, and how they can stand out,” says Jordan Viator Slabaugh, Spredfast. “Whether it’s creating new conversations that haven’t taken place, designing custom applications (contests, polls, etc.) or offering an interactive experience for people to give feedback and their own content.” Primary Objectives Impact Measurement More than anything, the primary objective companies set for their social media programs determine how measurable Common Social Media Business Objectives (Multi-Select) Brand awareness Driving visitors to brand websites Creating community around the brand Increasing positive mentions of brand online Increasing purchase consideration of brand Showcasing thought leadership to target audience Customer service Driving sales to online sources Marketing research: Consumer insight for marketing Driving sales to offline sources Building your customer file for CRM Product research: Consumer feedback for product Recruiting potential employees / job candidates 91% 78% 74% 66% 57% 55% 47% 46% 40% 33% 31% 26% 25% Source: MarketingProfs 2012 Social Media Survey, February 2012. Chart Base: 256 marketers. “You can do a lot of ethnography through linguistics in social [media], because it’s mostly a text- based medium.” –Tom Martin, HelpMyBrand.com “Anybody can post a Tweet or a status update on Facebook, but the brands and people who are being the most successful are really taking into account who their audience is, what they care about, and how they can stand out...” – Jordan Viator Slabaugh, Spredfast
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 7 the program will be. Therefore, a marketer’s ability to measure the return on their social media investments effectively begins with a clear understanding of the objectives at the onset. Some objectives, like direct sales, are easy to quantify. Others, like building community around the brand, are significantly harder to link to ROI and require contextual or indirect methods of measurement. “People used to want Fans on Facebook. Then they realized what you want is engagement. After, they realized what you want is ROI, for people to engage and then follow-through and buy things. The truth is, depending on what you’re doing, it could be any one of those three things …all [are] valid objectives.”–Matt Magee, SearchEngineLand Marketers face a balancing act when it comes to the emphasis on measurability because choosing to focus only on objectives that can be easily tied to revenue can result in the use of social media tactics that have only short-term return. For example, the recent focus on measuring ROI in social media appears to have driven some marketers to place direct sales at the top of their list of priorities. However, this may require marketers to become overly aggressive with their messaging in an environment that does not typically welcome a “hard sell” approach. “We know better than to walk into a networking event with our megaphone turned on, screaming about our product because if we do, we’re going to be asked to leave because it’s not the appropriate environment... So, that’s kinda what social media is in a nutshell. It’s a networking event where you go, you hang out, you participate and provide value over time. If you show up and you have a presence and people know you, if you provide value to them, then they like you. If they know you and they like you and you do that consistently over time then they trust you. And when they know, like and trust you, they buy from you.”–Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer Of the marketers surveyed, 13% indicated that direct sales was the primary objective of their social media programs, but these marketers tend to be less experienced compared to the 24% whose primary objective was brand awareness. Although the simplest way to demonstrate ROI of social media is by driving direct sales, more experienced social media marketers (as we identified as marketers with at least 3 years professional experience in social media and 6 years of overall marketing experience) Primary Social Media Objective Brand awareness Creating community around the brand Showcasing thought leadership to target audience Increasing purchase consideration of brand Driving visitors to brand websites Driving sales to online sources Driving sales to offline sources Increasing positive mentions of brand online Customer service Marketing research: Consumer insight for marketing Building your customer file for CRM Recruiting potential employees / job candidates Product research: Consumer feedback for product 24% 21% 11% 11% 10% 8% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 0% Source: MarketingProfs 2012 Social Media Survey, February 2012. Chart Base: 256 marketers. The truth is, depending on what you’re doing, it could be any one of those three things …all [are] valid objectives.”–Matt Magee, SearchEngineLand So, that’s kinda what social media is in a nutshell. It’s a networking event where you go, you hang out, you participate and provide value over time. –Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 8 are more likely to focus on long-term strategic goals, such as community building, brand awareness and demonstrating thought leadership. Companies may have a difficult time quantifying the ROI of social media with regard to brand awareness, but a strong ability to measure secondary objectives suggest that marketers are zeroing in on ways to evaluate social media’s effectiveness. For example, increased traffic to the website is something 68% of marketers say they can measure effectively. Just behind brand awareness and creating community, showcasing thought leadership was cited by 11% of marketers as their primary objective in social media programs. “You’ve got to be extremely attractive to the market niche you’re going after,” says Mark Amtower, Amtower & Com- pany. “You need to develop your thought leadership platform.” Thought leadership could be seen as a refinement of brand awareness. Building a brand’s reputation for thought leadership increases traffic, positive mentions and increases the level of regard by both customers and prospective customers. “You’ve got to be extremely attractive to the market niche you’re going after.”–Mark Amtower, Amtower & Company Increasing purchase consideration and driving sales both fall lower on the list of primary objectives for social media. This isn’t to say these are not important, but making sales the endgame for social media efforts may be missing some critical steps in the marketing process—namely portraying your brand as one with which people feel good about conducting business.
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 9 Measures that are EXTREMELY and QUITE IMPORTANT to company/client’s management when considering the allocation of resources to social media Brand awareness / recognition Direct traffic to brand website Return on marketing investment (ROI) Search engine placement Number of sales leads Customer retention Consumer sentiment Engagement measures (comments, Likes, Retweets, Check-ins) Customer insights Number of Likes, fans, followers, subscribers, etc. Topline sales Customer satisfaction / Net promoter score Customer lifetime value Customer service response time Quantity / Quality of crowd sourced content Share of voice Number of downloads (e.g., whitepaper, app) 78% 71% 66% 63% 57% 55% 55% 54% 51% 49% 48% 45% 41% 38% 37% 36% 35% Source: MarketingProfs 2012 Social Media Survey, February 2012. Chart Base: 256 marketers. Section 3: Delivering to the C-Suite In order to secure the resources necessary to implement their social media plans, marketers increasingly need to translate social media gains into the language of the C-suite. Their criteria for measuring effectiveness ranges from simple customer engagement (i.e., Likes, comments, Retweets, etc.) and brand engagement, to acquisition, lead generation, and direct revenue measures. The challenge for today’s social media marketers is that they need to demonstrate positive ROI to upper management in the form of sales, while their primary objectives (i.e., brand awareness) are challenging to define and hard to quantify. Marketers are held accountable to the bottom line despite the fact their programs are focused on, and likely optimized to, activities that drive prospects to the top of the sales funnel where they are later passed off to other channels that carry the burden of converting prospects into customers. Part of the challenge for social media is that it is measured alongside other online marketing channels where the direct path to conversion is linear. Channels like search, email, and affiliate marketing all have established and logical paths to conversion. However, each of these channels also starts further down the conversion funnel. When asked which measurements companies use to determine the relative effectiveness of different online marketing tactics, marketers rank customer engagement first at 53%, followed closely by acquisition and lead generation (48%), and direct revenue measures (29%). Site Traffic: The Bridge Between Fortunately for social media marketers, measuring direct traffic also ranks as an important metric for management. Site traffic is something marketers can easily measure, especially when compared to objectives like brand awareness and ROI. Since increased site traffic represents a natural progression, and is the logical outcome of successful brand awareness initiatives, this secondary data point may well be the most effective means by which marketers can quantify and demonstrate the effectiveness of awareness-building efforts. Moreover, marketers are becoming more intentional about integrating their social media initiatives with other channels, a topic that will be covered more in depth in Section 5
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 10 of this whitepaper. Metrics that can be easily measured through other channels, such as direct sales and search engine placements, are yardsticks that are becoming more important to both marketers and management in light of the challenges associated with measuring ROI. Taking an integrated approach helps realize the unique capabilities of social media in driving increased brand awareness while leveraging these other channels to move people along the conversion cycle. In essence, integrating social media marketing efforts with other channels allevi- ates the need social media to focus every action directly at driving a sale. It’s Not All About the Downloads Simple social media measures are not particularly attractive to executive management. The measurements con- sidered least important to the C-suite include the number of downloads (e.g. whitepaper, app), share of voice, and the quantity and quality of user-generated content. While these measures may be indicative of some types of success, they also represent diagnostic opportunities for marketers to determine if they are doing a good job or not at driving higher-level objectives. For example, getting more people to download a whitepaper indicates that the topics addressed in the whitepaper resonate with prospects and that the messages used to drive awareness are effective. Increasing the share of voice indicates similar prog- ress resonating with Business-to-Consumer audiences. When it comes to customer-centric metrics, consumer sentiments, insights, retention and satisfaction outweigh numerical indicators (number of subscribers, likes, fans, etc.)—and even customer service response time—in their importance to leadership. This focus on higher-level metrics indicates that management is more interested in driving topline results than looking at intermediate metrics of success. Management is looking to improve the overall impression of their brands through social media and promote this positive sentiment to a broad audience.
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 11 Section 4: The Measurement Gap If some of the most measurable elements of a social media tactic—likes, clicks, downloads, and so on—are the least important in terms of demonstrating value to management, then marketers have to find ways of bridging this gap. So just how wide is the gap between what management wants and what marketers can measure? Marketers’ ability to measure certain elements is, in some ways, canceled out by how unimportant those components are to management. Likes, re-tweets, check-ins and comments certainly indicate that a campaign is getting some traction. They are also the most straightforward customer-driven metrics from a measurement standpoint, but if they can’t be clearly linked to increased site traffic or conversions, chances are they will be dismissed by those with the purse strings. Only 4% of marketers surveyed say they are “excel- lent” at measuring the impact of social media on company performance, with another 16% saying they do an “above average” job at this. That means the majority of marketers (80%) feel they perform at average levels or below in this regard. This inferiority complex, so to speak, is likely due to the extreme gap between the importance senior executives place on two specific metrics, and the ability of marketers to accurately measure them. When it comes to brand awareness, 78% of marketers said it is important to executive leadership, but just 32% of them feel they can actually assess this. Similarly, 66% said ROI is important to the decision-makers, but only 28% feel they can accurately demonstrate the connection. But, there is hope! Driving traffic is one objective that marketers and management can agree upon. A full 68% of marketers say they can quantify it, and it’s high on the list of metrics that management is looking for. Increased traffic is just one outcome of building brand awareness, but when it’s combined with other factors, like improved search engine placement, marketers can make a strong case that brand awareness is improving. Secondary metrics that can be tied directly to conversion can serve as respectable proxies for a brand awareness measurement, until more robust tools can be implemented. In the same vein, one path to a more complete ROI measurement is through integrating social media with other The Measurement Gap ABLE TO MEASURE EFFECTIVELY IMPORTANT TO MANAGEMENT Brand awareness / recognition Return on marketing investment (ROI) Customer retention Customer lifetime value Consumer sentiment Number of sales leads Customer satisfaction / Net promoter score Topline sales Customer insights Share of voice Search engine placement Customer service response time Quantity / Quality of crowd sourced content Direct traffic to brand website Engagement measures (comments, Likes, Retweets) Number of downloads (e.g., whitepaper, app) Number of Likes, fans, followers, subscribers, etc. 32% 28% 22% 15% 31% 34% 22% 25% 38% 24% 55% 31% 33% 68% 65% 53% 78% 78% 66% 55% 41% 55% 57% 45% 48% 51% 36% 63% 38% 37% 71% 54% 35% 49% Source: MarketingProfs 2012 Social Media Survey, February 2012. Chart Base: 256 marketers.
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 12 marketing channels like email and search. These channels usually have well-established means of calculating ROI and can help collect evidence that social media is contributing to the success of the company. Marketing software company HubSpot was cited by experts and survey respondents alike as being one of the most sophisticated and effective social media and marketing tools in existence. Integrating social media efforts with email and search marketing helps HubSpot effectively measure the ROI of their social media efforts. “At the end of the day, if you can measure customers generated from social media, you’ve won,” shared Rebecca Corliss, HubSpot. “We measure the traffic, leads, and sales that we’ve generated through social media specifically and track social’s impact on other channels as well. That’s really powerful and helps me justify the time I’m spending on social.” In fact, in this regard, the focus of social media may need to shift from a direct impact on ROI to an ability to amplify other, more traditional direct marketing methods. It’s important for companies to make sure the right tools are in place to bridge this measurement gap. This will en- sure they can tie social media objectives to the strategy and tactics they’re using and have the metrics to back it up. “At the end of the day, if you can measure customers generated from social media, you’ve won.”–Rebecca Corliss, HubSpot
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 13 Section 5: Measurement Tools To understand the gap between what management wants and what marketers can measure, it’s important to consider the tools being used. These tools fall primarily into the two categories: free and paid services. It’s not surprising that free tools are the most frequently used. Two-thirds of marketers consistently use free analytics software. Services like Google Analytics and YouTube Analytics fall into this category, as do free buzz- monitoring services like Google Alerts, TweetDeck and Technorati. The problem with these free services is that, while they offer many methods of monitoring interactions, such as downloads, subscribes, and likes, they have fewer metrics that can make the direct link to sales, which is what management ultimately wants to see. When it comes to paid measurement tools, the usage rate among marketers plummets. Most marketers—roughly three-fourths—have never used paid analytics software or paid buzz-monitoring services. When you’re looking for the drivers that move a consumer from brand awareness to purchase, it can get pretty complicated. This means that the measurement process is complicated as well. It requires sophisticated and integrated measurement tools beyond the data marketers can obtain from most free services. “A lot of times there’s confusion between monitoring tools and measurement tools. They’re very different,” says Nichole Kelly, Full Frontal ROI. “Many times the measurements in your monitoring tool are not connected to revenue, so you’re not getting the full picture.” Paid Services: Worth the Investment? What’s the difference, or added benefit, of paid services if you can get about the same value from free ones? Before that question can be addressed, there’s the question of effectiveness: what does it mean and which measurements meet that standard? This is a critical discussion because this is where the rubber meets the road. Everything—from the objectives of the marketing department, to management’s expectations, to the measurement tools—must align to result in a truly effective campaign with clearly demonstrable value to the bottom line. “It’s easy for social media consultants to come in and talk about building up a social media presence,” says Aaron Weber, Inventi, “but because those platforms don’t cross out into the broader web…it’s easy to say ‘it’s working, Tools/Tactics Used To Measure Social Media Efforts NEVER USED USE FREQUENTLY Paid buzz-monitoring service (e.g., Radian6, Visible Technologies, etc.) Paid analytics software (e.g., Adobe Omniture, IBM Coremetrics, etc.) Scientific control / exposed surveys of friends/fans/ connections to determine effectiveness Polls of social media friends/fans/connections to estimate effectiveness Tracking clicks and re-posts/-tweets (e.g., bit.ly) Free buzz-monitoring service (e.g., Google Alerts, TweetDeck, Technorati, etc.) Free analytics software (e.g., Google analytics, YouTube Analytics, etc.) 72% 72% 63% 54% 25% 22% 10% 10% 12% 6% 7% 39% 49% 67% Source: MarketingProfs 2012 Social Media Survey, February 2012. Chart Base: 256 marketers. “Many times the measurements in your monitoring tool are not connected to revenue, so you’re not getting the full picture.”–Nichole Kelly, Full Frontal ROI
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 14 people are engaged,’ without deriving any further value. They’re addressing an emotional, not a financial need.” If paid services can provide the breadth and depth of analysis, as well as tools to make the connections between ROI and a particular social media program overall, the benefit will outweigh the costs. Social Media as Amplifier Social media is the first runner in the customer engagement relay. Moving toward measurement of its ROI requires integration with other channels that have a built-in ability to track sales. This necessitates comprehensive pre-planning and hand-off points, in addition to objectives for each individual channel. It also means putting in place the right measurement tools and watching the right metrics. “We translate everything to sales revenue and cost. We can compare the cost per impression, lead, click, in-bound link, etc., and we can compare it to traditional media, online advertising, PR, and SEO,” says Nichole Kelly, Full Frontal ROI. “We can typically show that social media is amplifying what those channels are already doing at a lower cost. We start there, and then we start looking at how we can connect to the revenue and sales picture. We focus on the cost per metric for all of the core traditional advertising metrics because they have a history.” The fact that companies value those measurements that are directly related to the integration of social media with other channels, such as website traffic and search engine placement, shows that they are on the right track. This mindfulness of the interconnectivity of various marketing channels to drive consumers along the path to conversion, to move them down the funnel, is a step in the right direction. Most marketers, however, are not innately analysts. Work- ing with complicated metrics may not come naturally, so it makes sense to invest in more sophisticated services that expedite this process. Unfortunately, justifying the budget for comprehensive, paid services, when the focus is typically on the need for more consumer-facing resources, is a struggle. “The marketing department ends up being an army of one,” says Aaron Weber, Inventi. “The biggest problem is they can collect all this data, but somebody still has to go through it. The story behind the chart is still the most important piece.” The story behind the chart is still the most important piece.”–Aaron Weber, Inventi
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 15 Section 6: Investing in Social Media Looking ahead to the next 12 months, investment in social media overall is not in question. However, the investments that companies are making may shift to focus on specific approaches more than others. The largest financial increases will likely be seen in strategies that involve participation in online communities and consumer engagement via brand social networking pages. There will also be a larger emphasis on marketing campaigns that supplement social media with multi-media content, like online video and blogs, as well as tools that increase social sharing. Marketers plan to continue directing investments to the “Big Four”—the platform heavyweights Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. SEO and email lists will also see increased funding because they have traditional metrics that can be directly correlated to ROI. These are especially important with regard to entry points (in the case of SEO), and consumer retention and relationship building (in the case of email marketing). Top Priorities for 2012 Social Media Efforts The top priorities for marketers in the coming year are increasing presence across social media platforms, followed closely by integrating social media with other online marketing channels. Clearly, bridging the measurement gap is top-of-mind for many social media marketers. SEOmarketingandemailmarketinghavebetterestablished means of pinpointing the origin of a sales conversion, which social media currently lacks. Addressing how social media can work to amplify and strengthen other channels will allow it to bring more to the table with regard overall marketing success. “There’s a huge missed opportunity in…not using email to power social and social to power email,” says DJ Waldow, Waldow Social. “Instead, a lot of people are thinking about those channels separately. I’m hoping marketers will think more of an integrated strategy, not just these different channels as silos.” The third and fourth priorities in the lineup are improving measurement and improving conversions. Marketers are acutely aware of the need to justify social media expendi- tures with a clear ROI. This shows that the focus is now on tracking social media’s role in the funnel process by using better measurement tools, and, as a result, increases conversions. What are the TOP priorities for your social media efforts in 2012? (Select Top 3) Increasing presence across social media platforms Integrating social media with other online marketing channels (e.g., search, email, website, etc.) Improving measurement (e.g., ROI, analytics, sentiment, etc.) Improving conversions Increasing the frequency of content publishing Developing / improving social media management processes Getting the right tools and technologies in place Integrating social media with offline marketing channels (e.g., direct mail, in-store, TV, print, etc.) Improving customer insight Growing / training our team Integrating with sales systems (e.g., CRM, POS, Lead Management) Lowering costs 38% 37% 35% 30% 28% 27% 21% 21% 16% 14% 12% 5% Source: MarketingProfs 2012 Social Media Survey, February 2012. Chart Base: 256 marketers. “Instead, a lot of people are thinking about those channels separately. I’m hoping marketers will think more of an integrated strategy, not just these different channels as silos.” –DJ Waldow, Waldow Social
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 16 Section 7: Conclusion Presence is no longer the name of the game—it’s now about bridging the measurement gap between brand awareness and ROI. The marketers who continue to expand social media presence while integrating those efforts with more trackable channels, and then connecting data dots for the decision-makers, are those that will see the most impact on their company’s bottom line in 2012. Lowering costs was the lowest rung on the priority ladder for social media marketers, but they’re looking to boost the bottom line in other ways. Rather than looking for line item cuts, they’re looking to provide greater return on marketing dollars spent. Using sophisticated, premium tools to help them interpret metrics and tie them directly to their objectives will make marketers more efficient at moving consumers through the sales funnel. The marketers who understand that closing the measurement gap depends on the ability to interface with other online marketing channels will create the most natural path for consumers to move from awareness to purchase. The bottom line is that if marketers can grow awareness, improve measurement and connect social media metrics to conversions, then they will have justified to management why they should increase their investment in social media marketing.
2012 State of Social Media Marketing | 17 Trendline Interactive is a marketing consultancy focused on developing messaging programs that resonate with consumers. Our unique insights are rooted in practical experience and ongoing research on media trends. Our work with clients helps to inform the questions we ask in interviews, focus groups, and surveys. In turn, the insights gathered through research fuels the recommendations we make to our clients. By combining these two disciplines, we turn information into competitive advantage that is delivered through our full suite of research, strategy, creative and technical services. MarketingProfs is a rich and trusted resource that offers actionable know-how designed to make you a smarter marketer— from social media and content marketing to lead generation and online conversions. More than 405,000 members rely on our free daily publications, podcasts, virtual conferences, and more to stay up-to-date on the most important trends in marketing, and how to apply them to their businesses. Plus, MarketingProfs delivers enhanced professional development training through online seminars and short webcasts, in-depth how-to reports, research, interactive planning tools, online courses, and in-person events. MarketingProfs helps the smartest marketers worldwide turn even the toughest marketing challenges into success stories. Basic membership is free—register now. Lithium is the leading provider of social customer solutions that deliver real business results. The Lithium Social Customer Suite offers complete social monitoring, a comprehensive community platform, and actionable analytics across millions of blogs, forums, and social networking sites. Lithium software powers amazing Social Customer Experiences for more than 300 iconic brands including AT&T, Best Buy, Paypal, Sephora and Univision helping them to build brand nations that grow brand advocacy, drive sales, reduce costs and accelerate innovation. For more information, visit http://www.lithium.com, or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and our own brand nation—the Lithosphere. Lithium is privately held with corporate headquarters in Emeryville, Calif. and offices in Europe and Asia.

MarketingProfs 2012 State of Social Media

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Presentaciones para ti(20)

Destacado(20)

Similar a MarketingProfs 2012 State of Social Media (20)

Más de Lithium(20)

Último(20)

MarketingProfs 2012 State of Social Media