The Importance of Social Media Campaigns and ROI Tracking

In this weeks reading, we learned the importance of calculating a Social Media campaign. The up-rise in social media has made it paramount for most businesses to create their own social media pages and develop marketing campaigns. However, many feel that just creating a Facebook and Twitter is beneficial to the bottom line. But, are these places of business actually tracking the right numbers to ensure their social media campaigns are beneficial? Maybe, but most aren't doing it correctly. Turner (2013) states, "a recent social media survey by Oracle indicates that only 10% of the businesses surveyed can actually tell if their social media campaigns resulted in increased revenue.”

Question 1: In your previous, or current experience, were you or anyone at your employer responsible for tracking Social Media ROI? If so, how was this process conducted? If not, how was the success of your social media platforms measured?

Turner discusses the importance of social media leads. He states, “The best way to determine how many customers you’re gaining through social media is to look at the website analytics. Every social media page your company has should direct potential customers to a landing page on your site. By looking at the analytics for that page, you can determine where your customers are coming from and how much they interact with your site once they get there.”

Leads are very important to follow up on. In my previous experience we had an automated system that would pipeline them through to our email. However, we (in the sales department) never received any from social media, as the marketing department would handle this. This would cause much confusion with our consumers because they would hear from two different departments and numerous people. If we had automated systems such as Marketa, LeadLife, or Act-On, I feel this would have alleviated much confusion. These systems display the history of every visitor to the site and allow him or her to track where they are from and where else they were looking.

Here is a recent article discussing 10 Digital Marketing Automation Tools: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2015/06/19/10-top-digital-marketing-automation-tools/

Question 2: Have you ever had any experience with automated lead systems for your social media? If so, do you believe they were conducive to your way of business? If not, what current lead system is in place? Do you believe these type systems would be beneficial for your place of business?

Scott stresses the importance of Customer Lifetime Value. “By monitoring your customers on social media, you can determine what products or services they want and how you might fit into that in a new way. You can also engage customers in innovative ways to increase the duration of your customers’ relationships with your company.”

Question 3: As marketing automation tools can improve Customer Lifetime Value, what other ways do you believe we can improve the quality of our customers experience through social media? Do you feel your company’s website alone is enough to allow them to have a great experience? Or are there other areas that need to be improved? If you were in charge of improving your employers’ practices to not only retain current customers, but also gain new ones, what would your strategy be?


References: Turner, Jamie (2013) An In-Depth Guide on How to Calculate the ROI of a Social Media Campaign. Retrieved from: http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2013/11/17/in-depth-guide-calculating-social-media-roi/