Study: Only One in Ten Businesses Measures Social Media ROI

In previous posts, I’ve puzzled over the reluctance of certain industries and professions (for example, health care organizations and law firms) to embrace social media as part of their marketing and customer service strategies.  But, here’s something I find even stranger: Businesses that ramp up their social media use without a plan measure the effectiveness of their efforts.

A study of 250 companies in the UK exposed disturbing discrepancies between time and resources devoted to social media and how well or thoroughly these businesses analyzed its impact.  Upon surveying the marketing decision-makers at these organizations, researchers at EPiServer discovered a staggering 90 percent had no substantive way of collecting or analyzing the return on investment from their social media marketing forays.

In addition, more than half of these same marketing leaders admitted to having devoted larger slices of their campaigns to social media over the past year, and nearly 30 percent stated they implemented an additional social media channel during that same time frame.  Moreover, one in five respondents predicted that they will invest even more resources on social media marketing over the coming 12 months—with no substantive evidence as to whether their current online campaigns had been effective.

When asked how they gauged the overall benefits their companies received as a result of their social media presence, the UK marketers provided some less than convincing testimonials:

Seven Tips to Use LinkedIn for B2B Lead Generation

LinkedIn bills itself as the world’s largest professional network with more than 150 million members, including executives from every Fortune 500 company. With that kind of reach, LinkedIn is a B2B marketers dream. But what’s the best way to take advantage of all this social media platform has to offer? How can you use LinkedIn to put qualified leads into your pipeline?

Here are a few fundamental steps to make LinkedIn work for your B2B company:

Make sure your profile page/company page is up-to-date. This may sound like a no-brainer, but I’m always surprised to see how many marketers make the mistake of using the “fix it and forget it” approach. When customers and prospects visit your company’s LinkedIn page, they should learn what is happening at your organization now –not what was happening months ago.  Start with cleaning-up personnel mentions; obviously, your company page should only list current employees.  Next, you’ll also want to update descriptions of the services you offer, recent awards, recognitions, etc. The same goes for recommendations; keep those as current as possible, too. All the links included in your profile are clickable, so use this page to drive traffic to the company website, key articles, etc. Once you’ve finished this basic housekeeping, set a calendar reminder to repeat the process in a few months. By scheduling periodic revisions, you’ll maintain a profile that’s accurate and fresh.

Stimulate engagement with the content you publish.  Your company’s profile page is only the first level of engagement on LinkedIn. In order to start building meaningful relationships with prospects, you’ll have to start participating in LinkedIn Groups. Use LinkedIn’s new Group Search to help you find the topics you care most about. Join a few groups and start visiting them regularly. Once you’re comfortable with the format and a few of the contributors, begin adding to the conversations. Post compelling content. Respond to threads initiated by others. Start establishing a reputation as your company’s helpful specialist, the “go-to” person in your particular field. Just remember: You’re there to build relationships –not to sell. Don’t just talk about what your company has to offer. Be engaging and help solve problems.

Establish yourself as an expert. One of the easiest ways to develop credibility is to start answering LinkedIn questions.

The Top Five Countries to Target When Advertising on Facebook

Social media platforms offer a wide range of targeting opportunities, but marketers remain uncertain about how best to optimize their social media efforts.

New research from Facebook advertising developer Nanigans gives us some valuable clues.

After analyzing about 80 billion Facebook ad impressions managed by its Ad Engine platform during Q3 2011, Nanigans ranked 20 countries by their:

• number of Facebook users,
• average cost-per-clicks and
• average click-through rates.

Based on the results of this analysis, Nanigans uncovered what it calls the “hidden gems of targeting” –or what I would call “the countries where you may want to target when advertising on Facebook.”

According to the data, the top five hidden gems are:

Social Login Gaining Traction Among Online Consumers

Even though social media networks continue to gain in popularity and reach, marketers remain confounded by this fundamental question:

What’s the best way to leverage all this consumer social media activity?

One potentially promising approach is known as social login (or social sign-on).

Originally developed as a widget or plugin to make it easier for people to comment on blogs and other websites using their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other social media identities, secure social login technology also could be tremendously beneficial  for online retailers.  However, as with any new tool, the challenge with social logins lies in getting businesses –and consumers –to understand how it works and how it can improve marketing ROI.

As you know, many retail websites currently require customers to create accounts before they can make a purchase.  In addition to capturing buyers’ email addresses, online account forms can also enable companies to collect demographic information, as well as payment preferences. There are obvious advantages for businesses –and for consumers, too, since a customer account can ease the process of making future purchases on the site.

But here’s the rub:

Most Business Owners Believe Social Media Drives Sales Growth

Independent business owners are beginning to recognize social media’s potential to drive revenue.

New research from The Small Business Authority reveals that more than half of the business owners surveyed believe Facebook and Twitter are significant engines of growth for their companies.

After polling approximately 2,200 respondents last month, The Small Business Authority found: