Social Media Advertising campaigns continue to deliver shocking results on the subject of post-marketing analysis. Its not that the results are bad, its that there is NO result at all.
Yes, corporate executives, market analysts and management grads who just love to scrutinize almost every financial aspect of the business, seem to be either unaware or deem it unworthy to conduct a detailed analysis of their social media campaigns, thereby either bleeding funds where its not required or failing to capture a new market which can very well prove to be their primary source of income.
Now the first question which one might, not surprisingly, ask is – “Is it even possible to do the tracking and ROI analysis of social media marketing? Are there any available tools to give us any meaningful data?”. The answer to both is a resounding YES. In fact compared to analysing offline campaigns, online campaigns are far more easier to track if you are creative enough. Basic examples include analysing the behaviours of page visitors, and handing out a small data-centric questionnaire to customers.
All this being computerized and automated saves you a lot of time and money. There is a catch though, you have to take some effort and resources to get it working properly. But considering that corporates are more than happy to pay huge sums and download largely inaccurate white papers on ‘Facebook’ and other social communities, it is reasonable to present these alternatives.
One of the most ingenious and cost effective methods to do the tracking and ROI of social media initiatives is to reward customers for taking their time to participate in the campaign. These rewards can include discount coupons, exclusive deals, and quickly updated information on the products for sale. Not only this tactic will make social media tacking and ROI analysis easy, but it can also help setting up the internet as a sizeable market for the products. It is important to note that these “Rewards” should unlock only on a traceable user action, else the results would be inaccurate.
In case of B2B marketing, companies can, if not must, rely on social CRM software, which can uniquely identify the visitors, track their response and give hard facts about the enterprise’s social media initiative. There are many of these enterprise software which allow market analysts to understand online trends, thereby helping them divert the majority of resources onto a community which is most responsive and generates most leads.
One important aspect that every analyst must understand is that SMM should not be used like TV adverts or Billboards. Social media marketing is at its best in retention of customers and using them to generate new ones. Think of it this way – in Facebook, most, if not all, replies for your posts come from your friends and subscribers rather than strangers. So if you are looking to introduce a completely unknown product to a completely new audience who probably have no experience with your business, then the results may not be the great.
Implementing SMM for boosting your business’ growth and reach is a great idea, however it is becoming increasingly important to do the tracking and ROI analysis as the social media continues to evolve as a great market.