There has been much talk about social marketing and ROI. How do you measure return on investment when advertising in social media networks. How do you track sales or enquiries through them?
You can, of course, track direct referrals to your site, like you would do with any other source and measure direct online sales or inquiries. More often than not however, this is the wrong mindset when approaching this new channel. In the early stages of social media and similarly to those early days of SEO it is all about information being shared and passed around. Not much commercial value to that you might think. Does that information influence buying decisions? Are brands being empowered by positive communications, transparency and visibility? Is the viral element of word of mouth (or word-of-click as some call it) being nurtured in those networks?
The answer to all the above questions is yes. The impact of social marketing on your brand would be similar to that of a great PR campaign. Publicity, brand awareness, positive image and a familiarity that people only gained via TV ads previously.
So stop asking ‘why’ and start asking yourself ‘how’.
See you online.
7 Responses
Yes it is right that The impact of social marketing on your brand would be similar to that of a great PR campaign.Absolutely
Hey,
I like this post, I believe that many organizations feel that the traditional channels are a better means of communicating their message simply because they lack the skills/knowledge to effectively utilize online channels of communication.
I have created a webcast ‘Understanding Social Media’, looking at key aspects and issues regarding new media, including the importance of SEO.
Cheers,
Jon
I think it also depends on what objectives you set yourselves. Sometimes the ROI of Social Media can just be brand awareness or an improvement in customer services.
Great Blog Post…
Social Media is Bigger than before. When you look at the volume of traffic that goes through facebook alone 500 million users and thats not even touching on Twitter, Myspace and other social media sites..
An interesting article about the best ways to montior and calculate social media. I will definitely take some of this into consideration moving forward.
Great article!
thanks!