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A Glimpse Into Marketers' Social Media Strategies - Even the big guys struggle to measure ROI.
92 Percent of marketers say social media is important channel for their businesses, reveals new study from adweek.z
"Almost every company puts much money and effort behind social media strategy, with goals ranging from enhanced brand awareness to direct leads or sales. But while 97 percent of those surveyed said they use some form of social media marketing, only 37 percent reported being able to measure ROI—and this problem extends to even the largest marketers, 78 percent of whom said they struggle with this measurement."
Take a look at this infographic called "A Glimpse Into Marketers' Social Media Strategies" for rest of the findings....
One of the big themes of my Top New Social Media Tools from 2011 was the maturation of social networks like Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest as well as the trend of automation to auto-creation. As popular social networks continue to mature, gone are the days in which we post something and hope that it “sticks” or becomes viral. We can now take calculated risks and posting and sharing has become more intelligent and efficient.
2012’s social media theme centers around metrics, analytics, and tools that are helping us create deeper connections with consumers. Content is the underlying current that many are trying to navigate more successfully using the below list as their support team...
I don't know you, but me I've longtime put aside LinkedIn, because I thought it's a boring and uninteresant business tool. But, today I know it's not the case. This excellent post explain in a perfect way what's going on LinkedIn, what everybody should know about the art of use it, and few other interesting things, a great post who's worth the time you would invest. [note Martin Gysler] PS: I'll make the five changes right now, and you? LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today. Far and away. So why is it that so many of us stink at LinkedIn etiquette? That’s right, folks. We stink at it. We send out lazy, generic connection requests. We ask people we barely know for recommendations. We ambush people, asking for favors before we’ve ever spent even two seconds of time building rapport. We shove our Tweets through our LinkedIn feeds, even though half the people on LinkedIn could care less about Twitter. Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/07/06/your-linkedin-intervention-5-changes-you-must-make/ [This is really sound LinkedIn advice. Make sure you follow it ASAP. ~ Jeff]
Via Martin Gysler
It's possibly the best presentation on social media available right now; Social Media at Scale: Return on Amazing by ex-Walgreen social media director Adam Kmiec. His conjecture: the secret to social is to do something amazing, then get out of the way and let people talk. [Highly recommend this video presentation by Adam Kmiec ~ Jeff]
When it comes to social media’s impact on America’s largest financial institutions, one can’t help but think of the ways that the Occupy movement and other consumer activists have used platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to grow their ranks, organize their efforts, and disseminate scathing critiques of the industry. But as reported last week in the Wall Street Journal, at least one major financial services provider is embracing social media to get closer to its customers. When Citibank customer Stacy Small tweeted about being left on hold for 40 minutes during a routine call to the bank’s customer service department, a Citibank agent responded within minutes with a message that read “Send us your phone number and we’ll call you right now.” Not moments later, Ms. Small was speaking to one of approximately 30 Citibank customer service representatives who have received special training in social media monitoring and response. The experience was so overwhelmingly positive that Ms. Small doesn’t even call Citibank customer service anymore. Instead, she simply tweets the address @askCiti whenever a question or problem arises.... [Impressive social media adoption and worth reviewing ~ Jeff]
...But amid enjoying some of my favorite tunes belted out by the Peppers in an outdoor venue filled with well over thirty thousand people complete with free beer and wine I couldn’t help but think this: “all this money—and companies will only be solving one third of their social business problem” The problem with social technology solutions—even really great technology—is that it’s incomplete. It’s no wonder why Salesforce is making a killing, because I’ve seen first hand how a business will freely invest in a technology platform thinking that they have purchased a turnkey solution only to realize shortly after that they’ve possibly invested in the wrong solution and most definitely underestimated the other two areas which require investment (people and process). The Three P’s of Social Business People, Process, and Tech Platforms. Each is equally important and yet so many businesses are putting all their eggs in the platform basket because it seems like the most obvious solution. But it’s short sighted and even emphasizes the need for the other two. The most common issue I see from working with large organizations is that once an enterprise social technology solution has been implemented it immediately raises questions about who will operate it, integrate it, adopt it and derive value from the investment. The dirty little secret in the technology world is that technology, even really good technology looks automated but in reality requires people to make it work.... [David Armano reflects on the importance of balancing people, process and tech platforms ~ Jeff]
The most common problem I’ve come across in social media is what I’ll call ‘fragmentation’. It’s the attempt by marketers to use as many platforms as possible in an effort to reach a potential audience. What generally occurs is a fragmentation of attention and resources away from what suits the company best – and whatever ‘strategy’ was in place consequently falls flat because it lacks focus. This post is a five step guide to approaching a multi-platform social media strategy. Hopefully you'll be even more resistant to tech press hype and clearer on how to integrate your social media platforms by the end of it.... [This is a must-read post and five strategies to stop social media fragmentation by James Carson ~ Jeff]
As marketers are tasked with the challenge of doing less with more, there's an increasing demand to quantify the value of social media. Here's a guide to mapping a social media strategy with meaningful KPI's that align to business objectives for tangible measurement! Quantifying the value of social media can be a daunting task. Unclear objectives and numerous metrics add confusion. It's time to ground your social media initiatives with a strategic plan that makes measurement clear and easy. Start by following the social media strategy funnel. Before diving into tactics, you need to define social media goals that align with business objectives.... [Smart tips for social media strategies from Angie Schottmuller - JD]
Biz, Ev and Jason were the founding team behind Twitter and it looks like they are back. The Obvious Corporation is their new venture that has a small portfolio of companies all looking at a new vision for how we can publish content. Why should we care? Well when the team that launched blogger which helped bring blogging to the masses and then Twitter which has gripped the whole world do something, then you need to sit up and take notice. Most of the companies have just the most basic of sites outlining their vision but you can enter your details requesting access to the beta versions when they are ready to let you. I would recommend all PR professionals to do this as I am a real believer that you need to understand these new tools and their potential value for clients as soon as possible. There is nothing worse than being in a meeting and the client asking you what you think of X and not being able to at least offer the most basic of opinions. Of the new projects they are involved with the following three are the ones that I feel communications professionals need to take a look at. 1. Medium
2. Branch
3. Lift...
Tips from the Search Engine Strategies conference about how social media can make your business run more efficiently.Get the latest blog articles on business... For busy business owners, managing your brand on a growing list of social networks can be time consuming, if not stressful and frustrating. The good news is that there are a small army of tools and apps that can help simplify the process.... Here's a look at five of the low-cost tools Buyer suggested online marketers add to their social media arsenal... [Good suggestions worth exploring - JD]
Several social media celebrities seem to be recommending that measuring social media efforts is unnecessary. It's time for a smackdown. Why you MUST measure. Here are four reasons why you MUST measure the results of your corporate social media activities....
From surprising a fan with a free steak to creating a Pandora station for a TV show, these five companies know how to succeed on social media. Take a look at how they do it. An infographic from Voltier Digital neatly illustrates how five companies—Dell, Morton's, Unisys, KLM and ABC—successfully use social media. From customer service and PR to knowledge-sharing, these companies are rocking the world of social....
The After Action Review is a reflective practice that can be used for anything, but I find it especially valuable for social media pilots and experiments. The After Action Review (AAR) is a structured way to capture the lessons learned from any project, with the intent of improving future performance. It is an opportunity for a group to reflect on a project, activity, event or task so that they can do it better the next time. It can also be used in the middle of a project or strategy to learn while doing....
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Pinterest announced that they're now offering their users access to a rich set of statistics for their pins and pin activity. Called simply Pinterest Analytics, it is available to any user with a verified website (not just "business" accounts). This is a much-needed asset for business owners and bloggers as it will help you see not only how your pins have performed, but what content other people have pinned from your website and how those pins have performed. The analytics includes how many people pinned content from your site, how many people saw those pins, and how many people visited your site from those pins (clicked through). You will also be able to see your most popular pins, the ones that have been repinned and clicked the most, as well as most recent pins. Businesses can use Pinterest Analytics to evaluate the value and ROI of a Pinterest presence. At 10.5 million users and rising, Pinterest definitely provides a rich and growing audience for business owners, and these new analytics will show off just how much traffic and interest the site is generating in your brand....
They say you learn something new everyday...And one of the things I recently learned was a new oxymoron: a social media budget.Because in most companies, it simply doesn't exist. They expect Fans, Followers, Likes and Pins to fall from the sky. But that's not the worst part... No, the worst part is when you see how companies actually spend a social media budget if they have it. Because most of the time it's wasted on vanity metrics and hot trends. And the problem typically resides with the HIPPOs (highest paid person's opinion), because the highest paid person is also (usually) the least knowledgeable and furthest away from the front-lines. Here are three of the worst ways that companies waste money in social media.... [This is an excellent, thoughtful post with some good lessons and perspective about the past in technology ~ Jeff]
Social media has been around for a while and has become an integral part of many consumers’ lives. As a result, the composition of older social media networks has changed. For example, Twitter is now 53% female. As a marketer, this maturing of social media has serious implications for your business. For competitive reasons, you must be present and engaged on a cross section of social media platforms because over 90% of businesses have established outposts there. Shouldn’t your boss know this? Doesn’t your boss want to know about social media? Here are five things your boss doesn’t want to know about social media and strategies that will win him over.... [Heidi: offers actionable tips to convince senior management of the value of social media ~ Jeff]
Ever since social media has come to the fore, the ways we can communicate has become more diverse and quicker than ever. ...As of August 2012, Facebook has made over 30 acquisitions, Google made 110, Apple made 38 and Microsoft made 165. That’s more than 340 companies in the technology space acquired by just four companies, not even counting the businesses they have invested in. Yet, very few of these end up as their own identities as they become swallowed up by the giant brands – essentially becoming an acquihire.
Given how much of our time data we are handing over on a daily basis to these companies, this illusion of choice then becomes quite worrying for it is just that. Having the means to create a platform for your own voice is one thing, but if nobody’s actually watching you, buying your products, or if ownership of that voice is concentrated under a few giant entities, then the illusion is completely shattered.
How Are Enterprise Companies Embracing Social Media? It’s one thing to say that social media is good for a business, and another thing to take a close look at who in that business actually understands the benefits and uses of social tools. This infographic explores social media adoption in enterprise level companies, taking a close look at executive and employee attitudes towards Twitter, Facebook and more.... Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who “get” social are most often from the Generation X and Y demographic (29 percent) followed by senior management (27 percent). The percentage of middle managers who understand social drops to 18 percent, and it falls to less than 7 percent for consultants, customers, analysts and partners. Despite less than a third of the workforce actually “getting” social media, companies do see the value in it – 83 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that “social media only provides value to marketing, PR and advertising”, indicating that they see potential for social to influence sales, lead generation, customer service and other aspects of their business. Take a look at the infographic below for more on enterprise barriers to adoption, opinions on whether social is a fad and more.... [Still amazed at some attitudes towards social media! ~ Jeff]
Marketing Research and Data: Download for free over 120 marketing charts, graphs and other data for your own use. HubSpot has compiled a brand new collection of 120 Awesome Marketing Stats, Charts & Graphs based on original research and data from a variety of sources, including analysis of our 6,500 business customers, surveys with hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, and dozens of top-notch publications like MarketingSherpa, eMarketer, Pew Research, McKinsey, and more. ... [This is an exceptional social media & marketing resource from HubSpot. Ideal charts for presentations, proposals and blog posts. Highly recommended ~ Jeff]
This infographic details how social media interruptions impact employee productivity. How often does the social media monster swallow you whole? More than you may think, according to Red e App, which lets consumers get notifications from businesses without having to provide their personal information. The company developed an infographic, below, that details how interruptions impact employee productivity. “Is it possible to be too connected in this digital age?” Red e App asks in a blog post. “Research data indicates, yes.”... [WHOA! BIG numbers! Now, you better get back to work - JD]
Companies don't get social media - ain't it the truth. Social media is still relegated to a ‘function’ within a ‘division’ at many organizations, a somewhat mysterious bothersome marketing function that defies quantification.
The potential for social media to transform an organization, at minimal cost, is huge. It takes a different way of thinking, and a strategy – two things lacking in many social media programs. The skill set to merge social media with PR and marketing does not exist – and there is opportunity. Social media has become over saturated and stale (like Facebook’s IPO?). What’s the next wave?
Steve Nicholls gets it right and offers some guidance in Why Most Companies Fail at Social Media — Understanding the Three C’s. The three C’s are Content, Context, Conditions. An excerpt... [Good read from Mark Rose - JD]
Instagram’s community quietly passed the 80 million member mark with almost 4 billion photos shared while its owner Facebook has 300 million photos uploaded daily. Despite it’s relative youth and size compared to social media heavyweights like Facebook and Twitter, there’s research related to Instagram to give marketers insight into the platform’s importance and how to use it.... From a brand perspective, the investment doesn’t seem high relative to other forms of social media. About two out of five businesses have an Instagram profile and have posted at least one image.... [An excellent research resource for Instagram data and social media proof points - JD]
Author Geoff Livingston recently mentioned how average citizens are using social media to activate themselves online and demand change. He defines the phenomenon as the Fifth Estate, which is an extension of the media being considered the Fourth Estate.... I think public relations professionals ought to be afraid.... All of this was an inevitable outcome as the Fourth Estate began to shift away from objective journalism and toward affirmation media, which embraces and elevates public opinion.... [RichBecker's thought-provoking post]
With so many campaigns focusing on either Twitter or Facebook, it's always refreshing to see examples that take advantage of the smaller sites and do something different. Ford's latest campaign for their new Ford Fiesta vehicle had them use Facebook, but the real pull of the campaign was focused around the photo app Instagram....
Review sites like Yelp can offer a helpful service to the general public and give small local businesses a chance to gain word-of-mouth momentum no ad money can buy.... But this open platform also means any grumpy customer can slam your business, affecting your reputation and, ultimately, sales. The good news is you are not powerless. Not only can you can make customer service lemons into lemonade by proactively mining your Yelp profile to address customer service issues before they break your business, but your active care and concern will gain you more social cred. So, if you’ve had a cranky customer slam you on Yelp, follow these 5 steps to get them back on your side — and maybe even add a few stars....
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The article A Glimpse Into Marketers’ Social Media Strategies is an article about how 92% of marketers say that social media is important for their businesses. The article discusses that a lot of money and effort is being put into social media strategy in order to increase brand awareness or help with sales. The top social business priorities for large marketers is to: build brand awareness, build brand preference, drive direct leads or sales, increase customer loyalty, and provide customer service. The issue discussed in the article is that only 37% of marketers surveyed reported that they are unable to measure social return on investments.
I agree that social media is a very important part of businesses today. I think that it is a way to drastically increase brand awareness, and consequently result in more sales due to social media being such a large part of consumers’ lives. I understand the need for wanting a reliable way of tracking ROI, and I think marketers who are successful in finding the ROI should collaborate with the marketers who are not so successful to provide potentially useful insight to help address this issue.
-Jeff G.
The Struggle to Measure ROI via @ThePRCoach.