ROI « Digital Trail

Feb 02 2011

Be measured and measurable

It is not a social media strategy if it isn’t underpinned by planning, expected outcomes and numerous opportunities to measure from Day 0 through to the end, whenever ‘the end’ might actually be.

Measurable outcomes are not to be feared or sniffed at and targets are not always wholly achievable. Knowing where you are at any given moment and why will be your biggest driver of and opportunity for success.

Social media success could just as easily be measured by how flexible your plan is. If it can take the strain here and give some slack there, you will find that the overall goal – of which one would hope is at least loosely tied to the indomitable march of progress – will benefit for it and reap just rewards.

The flexibility in changing the delivery of your social marketing or the reassigning resources to other platforms is a useful place to be in. It demonstrates that through measuring and listening to your social dialogues, that you can always identify where the most gain is to be had and where something might not be working and adjustments are needed.

How measured is your approach?

Tagged campaign, Marketing, measure, metrics, planning, ROI, Social Media, targets

Jan 24 2011

An ROI of social media in business case study via @NotFromBolton

Bath Ales | An ROI of social media in business case study
http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=bathalescasestudyslideshare-110123163707-phpapp01&rel=0&stripped_title=bath-ales-an-roi-of-social-media-in-business-case-study&userName=notfrombolton

A cold, hard ROI demonstration here that showcases the business benefits derived from social media and more importantly, through measuring and monitoring the right metrics to make the business case. (Also, good to see that SM2 has been of use in delivering the insight on slide 60)

Effective use of the relevant platforms, run in-house, has seen Bath Ales get closer to their target audience and find a new level of engagement and increased opportunities to have the conversations with their audience that both parties want.

Tagged ale, bath, beer, Business, email, Marketing, ROI, Social Media, Twitter

Jan 18 2011

Four ways to take your Search Marketing to a new level with Social Media Monitoring

http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/doc_player.swf?doc=4ways-smm-100625162618-phpapp01&stripped_title=4ways-smm&userName=Alterian

View more documents from Alterian.

One of the obvious points from this whitepaper is the range of activities that can be boosted when it comes to Search Marketing. Some of these are quick wins and some are a ‘long-tail’ slow burn that yield a more organic result and therefore stronger prospects. The pay off between quick, ‘cheap’ wins and setting your stall out long-term is where you will need to find a balance. Make a better informed decision on what shape that balance might take with social media monitoring insight.

Highlights include:

Find out how to identify which words or phrases connect with your competitors
Increase brand awareness and therefore sales through better SEO
Identify appropriate content to link to in order to efficiently build out your link building strategy
Drive better quality traffic to your websites and lower the costs of PPC campaigns

What works for you when it comes to boosting your Search Marketing?

Tagged Marketing, monitoring, PPC, ROI, Search, SEO, Social Media, whitepaper

Feb 09 2010

3 Comments

Wheat

Online Community – a force for social good

Community has been given a new lease of life online. As soon as you hop on to a network of people you are more than just connected. Community offers a range of elements, from support to strength in numbers.

Too often people can fear the idea of a business community because they think that being active within one will mean revealing too many secrets, especially in a community that contains rival companies. From the offset this can create a strained atmosphere, a stifling of group creativity and also, cliques.

A recent example, allbeit offline, of a barista introducing a dis-loyalty card in London’s trendy (Obligatory prefix) Shoreditch, is testament to businesses uniting together for the greater good.

Like Minds is proving to be a bit of a social change movement, with a lofty aim of generating £100,000 of revenue for the City of Exeter and in doing so proving the often questioned ROI from social media. The conference will bring great benefit to more then just the attendees and in turn will make a great gesture of support to the local business community. Other conferences do nothing or simply make a token gesture of planting a tree to offset carbon emissions.

Coming together for social good is something that social media is uniquely set up for. The boundaries are reduced, the red tape of charity is snipped, and things just get done. Take the Twestival organisation, initially, a near impromptu coming together of Twitter users in a handful of cities hosting a simultaneous putting-faces-to-avatars meetup, doubling up as fun-filled fundraising event. In this its second year, it is a more coordinated affair and because of the exponential growth of smartphones and users of Twitter, it will be a more powerful force for good. Bristol’s Twestival takes place on Thursday 25 March.

I am wary that the role of social media is overplayed in circumstances. Social media is an enabler and nothing more but for charitable and community gain it can certainly get things going.

How do you work within a community and what opportunities has community presented you?

Tagged charity, community, like minds, likeminds, ROI, Social Media, twestival

Sep 23 2009

1 Comment

Wheat

Can social media command and conker?

Consider this–social media–all bells and whistles and caught up in a storm of hype and false industry. Been knocking around for a while finding its feet and having many people shout about what it is but where is it going?

There is a lot of talk and trumpet blowing by those who use social media about just how great it is. This is dull, I’m guilty of it myself. If we are to take this highly polished conker and to make it last, it is imperative to talk about the ‘how’ and not the ‘what’ in order to defend its role and to gather a pool of wisdom on how best to utilise it.

You can varnish and buff up a Conker to make it look good and if your the kid in the playground you can talk it up as you take it into the challenge ahead in a Conker fight. You can blow the trumpet of social media all you want and talk it up as a great thing but that won’t keep it up there or concrete it as a true marketing practice of value and return. Just because it looks good and on the surface does not mean it has a soft and vulnerable core when the challenges come in.

I invited Brrism member Nigel Legg to offer his insight into the matter of how social media can offer value for businesses looking to get in on the act and where it fits in the marketing mix. Based on his expertise as a social media practitioner who researches its nuances and practical applications, Nigel said:

“The only way you are going to be able to measure ROI is with numbers – so it is vital that you decide what numbers you want and how you are going to measure them before you start. And the appropriate metrics for a biscuit company may well not be appropriate for a construction firm – the metrics will depend on who you are, where you are, and what you do.”

In October there is an exciting conference on the horizon that has set it’s stall out from the start in saying it will focus on the ‘How’ and less so on the ‘What’. Of particular and crucial focus is the look at return of investment to be had from social media.

I shall be in attendance at the ‘Like Minds‘ event in Exeter on Friday 16th October and will report back on the ‘How’ and we will see if we can get this sweet social media nut flourishing into a long term practice with true value and purpose.

I think it is very true that as social media users, the honeymoon period is over and the ‘What’ is a known entity. The real way to achieve longevity is to suss the ‘How’ and to use it to supplement marketing practices, not replace them.

Tagged Business, likeminds, Marketing, ROI, Social Media

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