Is Your Social Media Marketing Pulling Its Weight? What’s Your ROI?

Strongmen event: the Truck pull (no rope). UD8...

Strongmen event: the Truck pull (no rope). UD80 truck (Nissan Diesel). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Internet makes social media marketing really easy. You can create a Facebook page or an Instagram account (for free). Blogs are free (or low-cost with your own domain).  So is commenting  on posts, interacting on Google+, or Twitter, or Snapchat.  All free.

The only cost is time. And woo hoo, look ma, I’m marketing!

I realize that everyone may not like this post, but here goes.

Likes are not ROI

Is liking on Facebook really marketing? What about encouraging other people to “like” your page?  Does the time spent there (or on other social networks) get you anything tangible?  Can you tell?

“Likes” or “+1s” are easy.  Your visitors click once, they leave, and then they forget the whole thing ever happened.

I’ve seen large companies spend millions on campaigns along the lines of “hey the new ___ movie just came out, like us on Facebook if you like the movie.”

Really?  Why?

Same thing with a Klout score.  Yes, they add goodies and prizes as you reach different levels of “influence.” But couldn’t you go out and buy yourself most of those things? And the topics Klout claims you know never seem to quite match its members actual areas of expertise.

Measuring real social media marketing ROI

The real measure  of a marketing effort isn’t the number of “likes” it gets.   They’re not a measurement of success.  Likes don’t lead to anything that really matters for a business, particularly a small to medium business.  Large companies can afford to waste their money that way.  You can’t.

If you are going to use Facebook or other social networking sites, use them with a better strategy.

Do something that leads to a direct return on your effort and time.  Run a survey (with a free report on the results to the participants.  Use that information to create new products or services.

Run a series of ads offering a solution to a problem your clients have, with a link to get more information on the product.

How to find your true social media marketing ROI

If you’re running an ad, or posting somewhere, track how many clicks you got.  Then see how much each click cost you.

Of the people who clicked, how many signed up for your newsletter?  Or filled out your survey? Or turned into a lead for further follow up?

Can you follow it through a sales process?  How many of those leads turned into a sale? What was the return you got on the ad money you spent?

Measure, and track, and you’ll know if your efforts are worth their weight in gold (or just lead).

 

2 thoughts on “Is Your Social Media Marketing Pulling Its Weight? What’s Your ROI?

  1. Social Marketing really comes down to, well… Being social. Meeting new people and interacting with communities that you have never been with before – not just e-begging for likes. That sort of stuff doesn’t work – building relationships over social networks does, and it will convert.

    People don’t want to work with a machine. They want to work with a person. Great post 😉

    • Exactly. Treat people well, even when you can’t see them face to face. A lot of companies and people seem to forget there are real people at the other end of their rants, trolling, and general nastiness.

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