1. Measuring Social Media Marketing Brian Massey, Conversion Sciencesbrian@ConversionScientist.com @bmasseywww.ConversionScientist.com
2. Degree in Computer Science Developed OSOM open source marketing automation and analytics program-2001-2004 Conversion Scientist at Conversion Sciences, Austin, Texas Over 15 years of online marketing experience. National Speaker Creator of The Conversion Scientist blog Columnist with ClickZ, Search Engine Land and the Content Marketing Institute
3. Conversion Sciences and Social Media(or why scientists don’t get many dates) We are not that good at Social Media
24. The Social Media Funnel Talk Opinion Use Awareness Consideration Action Special Thanks to Dave Evans, Author Social Media Marketing, An Hour a Day
25. Social landing pages seek to encourage the post-purchase conversions Conversion to User Conversion to Opinion Holder Conversion to Talker Social Landing Pages
33. Help Pages Forums Microblogs can also support Use, Opinion and Talk Other Social Landing Pages
34. Help Pages Forums Microblogs Affinity/Fan Pages Other Social Landing Pages
35. Search Engine Alerts: Technorati, Google Blog Search Social “Listening” Services: Radian6, Techrigy, BuzzStream URL Shorteners with Metrics: Bit.ly and Budurl.com Link Tagging: Google Analytics Activity on Social Landing Pages: Wordpress, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn Groups Talk Opinion Use Awareness Consideration Action
36. The Report We Want Traffic source linked to conversion
42. Create a piece of content Devise a way to measure its affect on our bottom line Market each content item as its own product Content-oriented Social Marketing
43. Measuring Results What was shared with our network and when How many people potentially saw it(impressions or reach). How many readers clicked on it. How many of those readers bought from us or became leads.
57. 60-Day+ Experiment Predictive Results: 1,164,004 Total potential audience reach (Spredfast) 14% net increase of Twitter followers (227) 12% Net increase in Facebook friends and fans (119 ) 5% net increase in LinkedIn connections (53) 25% net increase in RSS feed subscriptions (174) 57 Email Subscribers
68. Free 45-Minute Consultation Let The Conversion Scientist take a look at your site and tell you how you can improve your business. I answer YOUR questions Schedule Here: http://bit.ly/ScientistTime Email: brian@ConversionScientist.com Phone: 512.961.6604 TM
69. My Social Dashboard TheConversionScientistBlog ConversionScientist.com Slides and Other Resources: ConversionScientist.com/resources Twitter: @bmassey LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/BMassey Facebook Fan Page: Facebook.com/ConversionScientist Contact: brian@conversionscientist.com 512.961.6604
Editor's Notes
We allocate about 15 minutes to 1 hour a day to social media. This isn’t enough for a conversation-based social media strategy.
Paid vs. Earned MediaEarned media has traditionally been used to describe PR mentions. Not surprisingly, social media campaigns look a lot like PR campaigns.Sales FunnelConversion from Obliviousness to AwarenessConversion from Awareness to ConsiderationConversion from Consideration to ActionPost-purchase FunnelConversion From Action to UseConversion from Use to OpinionConversion from Opinion to Talk
Put a quarter in and connect with someone.This is the traditional advertising model, in which we pay for media and broadcast a message to generate Awareness.Paid media is seen as evil by many social media practitioners, but it is a valid and important way to get the word out about a product or service.RadioTVDirect MailBillboardsEmail Marketing
Do something well and connect THROUGH someoneEarned media comes when you convince someone that it is in their best interest to share your message.Social media campaigns can deliver earned media, in much the same way that PR campaigns delivers earned media. We still want the benefits of “old school” earned media in our social campaigns:Targeted audiencePredictable reachCredibility of “speaker”
Predictive vs. Definitive MetricMuch of the trouble with measuring Social Media (and with almost all traditional advertising) is that we rely on Predictive measurements of success.Predictive metrics may correlate to a positive outcome, but can’t tell us if what we are measuring actually helped the bottom line. Predictive metrics are rendered inaccurate by many things, such as market fluctuations, technical problems, time and weather.
Predictive Metrics tell you what to expect.PredictiveMetricsAdvertisingImpressionsMedia SpendSearchesDelivery RateOpen RateEngagement Return VisitsBookmarksKey Page VisitsSearchesRepeat VisitsClick-throughsConversionAdds to CartAdds to Wish ListCallsTrial/DemoAdoptionHelp VisitsService CallsSupport Forum MembershipsSupport Forum LoginsSentimentNP ScoreSurveysSocial MentionsReachFriends+FollowsFavoritesBookmarksAuthoritySearch Rank
Definitive Metrics tell you what is happening, what has happened.DefinitiveMetricsNew VisitsNew VisitorsClick-throughsDownloadsLeadsAttendeesRSS SubsNewsletter Circ.CallsTrial/DemoPipelineCheckoutsSubscriptionsRenewalsPurchasesAve. SaleRevenueUnique LoginsRenewalsReg. CardsReturnsComplaintsSatisfaction SurveysFeedbackLoyalty Program ParticipationSupport call volumeCommentsReviewsRatingsLink backsSharesDiscount CodesInvitationsUser Group Membership
Predictive vs. Definitive MetricMuch of the trouble with measuring Social Media (and with almost all traditional advertising) is that we rely on Predictive measurements of success.Predictive metrics may correlate to a positive outcome, but can’t tell us if what we are measuring actually helped the bottom line. Predictive metrics are rendered inaccurate by many things, such as market fluctuations, technical problems, time and weather.
Someone becomes aware of the problems your company solves.There is a point at which people become aware that your business solves a problem that they have. We say they have become Aware of you.The Awareness game is heavy on the predictive metrics and light on the definitives. We can know how many impressions our advertising delivers, but we can’t know how many people saw, consumed and understood the message.This has been true of advertising since the first billboard was painted on a cave wall.
The process of developing a preference for what you provide.The Conversion to Consideration is most often called “lead generation.” It is most easily measured when a prospect completes a form to receive a white paper, attend a webinar, or join a mailing list.
Someone buys your product or service.There are two measureable ways for a visitor to “pay” for your service:Pay with money (Sale)Pay with contact information (Lead)Of course, we can measure all kinds of conversions, including calls and visits to our retail outlet.A conversion can be whatever is necessary for a business to move forward. For example, we may create a social media campaign with the sole purpose of growing our social graph. In this case the conversion “Action” would be “Add as friend, follow or connect.”A dollar value can be assigned to almost any action, from which we can determine an ROI.
The mistake marketers make is thinking that social media stuffs new prospects into the top of the sales funnel. This is called “being on” social media. This fails to address that buyers need to become users, to gain an opinion and then to talk.
They have to use it if they're going to talk about it.This is one of the most important and most overlooked conversions on the Web. Just because someone has purchased your product or service, doesn’t mean they are using it, or using it right.There are a lot of reasons to encourage proper use after the sale, but people don’t often talk about things they don’t use.
Help customers form an opinion of what you offer.Perhaps the most difficult to measure, the Conversion to Opinion is part of the model to ensure that we, as marketers and business people, are giving our customers opportunities to hear what others are saying. Opinion is shaped primarily by two things:What we hear others saying about the productOur own experience of the product.These are in order of importance.
Give your customers ways to talk about you.The beautiful thing about talk is that we can hear it and we can measure it.The challenge is tying that talk to communications that we invested in.For someone to be effective as a talker, they need three components:Something to talk about or shareAn audience to talk to or share withA vehicle to communicate with that audience As social marketers, it is our job to give them all three if we have to.
The Social Media Funnel extends beyond the traditional sales funnel. It has two parts:The Sales FunnelThe Post-purchase funnelEach side of the funnel has three distinct “conversions.”Sales FunnelConversion from Obliviousness to AwarenessConversion from Awareness to ConsiderationConversion from Consideration to ActionPost-purchase FunnelConversion From Action to UseConversion from Use to OpinionConversion from Opinion to Talk
We have found that landing pages are a key strategy toward increasing conversions in the Sales Funnel.There are also analogs in the Post-purchase funnel.Social landing pages seek to encourage the post-purchase conversions:Conversion to UserConversion to Opinion HolderConversion to TalkerWhen we see our social touchpoints as landing pages, we can design them more specifically to achieve these actions, and increase the efficiency of our social marketing.
Conversion to UseBlog posts provide great ways for businesses to educate readers on the use of their products or services.This increases the proper use of the product, and sets the stage for Conversion to Opinion.
User commentary to influence Conversion to OpinionComments on blog posts help visitors see what others think of the product, increasing Conversion to Opinion.
Opportunities to generate TalkComments give visitors a chance to talk, sharing your message with other visitors.Also consider adding links to social media sites where visitors can share the story.
SpredFast.com:Multi-network sending, including Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages, LinkedIn, Blogs, and more. Pulls in analytics from Google, Facebook, Twitter, Bit.ly, LinkedIn, and more. $50 per month.Google Analytics: For single-domain solutions. Provides open access to other platforms. Offers page tracking, visitor tracking, conversion goals, URL tagging and segmented reporting. FreeBit.ly:For single-domain solutions. Provides open access to other platforms. Offers page tracking, visitor tracking, conversion goals, URL tagging and segmented reporting. Free
Our return on investment is greatest when we:Invest in somethingPeople buy from us because of that investmentThus, we need to answer two questions that social media is particularly good at answering.Question 1: What should we be investing in?Question 2: Which specific investments cause people to purchase from us?Answering these two questions requires a brand of social marketing I callContent-oriented Social MarketingThe content will lead us to salvation.
It is of little help to monitor our overall social media success or failure. This is because we can’t make good decisions about how to change our actions to affect our bottom line.Content-oriented social marketers seek to identify the kinds of content that moves our prospects through each stage of the funnel.This means that we must:Create a piece of contentDevise a way to measure its affect on our bottom lineMarket each content item as its own productThis has all of the hallmarks of good conversion practice:Relevant contentSpecific calls to actionMeasurabilityDirect impact on business success
Our primary goal here is to measure the funnel up to the point that our bosses care.We need to know:What was shared with our network and whenHow many people potentially saw it (impressions or reach).How many readers clicked on it.How many of those readers bought from us or became leads.To have a positive ROI, the cost to acquire a new lead or sale (acquisition cost) must be higher than the value of that lead or sale. A lead can be valued at a maximum cost that you’re willing to pay for a lead.A sale can be valued at the revenue generated for that sale, or the average lifetime value of a new customer.
URL Shortenersallows us to track the source and destination of clicks out in the socialsphere. Choose shorteners that interface with other analytics packages such as Bit.ly.Link Tagging allows us to aggregate social clicks into our analytics packages. This requires that we bring traffic to one of our instrumented sites.Download the Google Analytics Link Tagging Spreadsheethttp://pubcon.conversionscientist.comSocial Landing Pages Provide ways for us to move visitors through the social funnel. Examples include blog post page, Facebook Page, Article page with features that allow visitors to share, comment, etc.
URL Shortenersallows us to track the source and destination of clicks out in the socialsphere. Choose shorteners that interface with other analytics packages such as Bit.ly.Link Tagging allows us to aggregate social clicks into our analytics packages. This requires that we bring traffic to one of our instrumented sites.Download the Google Analytics Link Tagging Spreadsheethttp://pubcon.conversionscientist.comSocial Landing Pages Provide ways for us to move visitors through the social funnel. Examples include blog post page, Facebook Page, Article page with features that allow visitors to share, comment, etc.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
Brian Massey writes for the Search Engine Land “Conversion Science” column.Challenge: How do we leverage Search Engine Land content to create Conversion Scientist subscribers?Create social landing page by generating a post on The Conversion Scientist referencing. Calculate the cost of generating the blog post.Create tagged URLs to the post for tracking in Google Analytics.Stage a series of social network posts pointing to the social landing page using Spredfast. Post to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook , and Facebook Pages.Evaluate results using Google Analytics and Spredfast.Results: A consistent increase in followers.New subscribers to The Conversion Scientist by Email.
