Effectiveness of Social Media
12 March 2010
45 Comments
If you’ve been wondering how effective Social Media is in your marketing campaigns, the chart below may help you determine which objectives are most effectively achieved.
It makes sense that the highest objectives achieved are to increase brand or product awareness and reputation, but I find it interesting that “increased sales revenue” sits at the bottom of the chart.
A lot of the results of social media marketing are indirect. If you’re trying to analyze where your leads that converted came from, most likely you’ll only be seeing last touch attribution. However, that social media campaign might have been the first touch that planted the seed. Even some Fortune 500 companies don’t realize this, and first touch attribution can be very difficult to track.
In addition, one thing that everyone should remember about social media is that your returns are directly affected by what effort you put into the program. If you engage your fans/followers/etc and show them that you really care about them as people and not as customers, then you will likely see better results from a social media campaign.
Brian Altenhofel´s last blog ..The On-Page SEO That Your Web Developer SHOULD Be Doing
Hey all,
I share the same view as Brian.
As I’m trying to increase the brand of the company I work for, I’m forced to consider social media as a wonderful weapon.
For me it should be used to generate leads and the same could be said about sign posts: a lot of people see it but very few are in need for he product or service being offered in it at that present moment and time.
So it can not be considered as a lead generation system that is as effective as PPC for example.
But what it does for you is creating a brand awareness.
A prospect will be more likely to buy from you rather than your competitors when he is finally in need for your product or services and does a search on any of the search engines and finds you.
Social media should therefore be taken very seriously indeed.
Excellent comments, Brian, thank you!
Agreed, and brand awareness is needed even for small local businesses, which is not always recognized.
A lot of the results of social media marketing are indirect. If you’re trying to analyze where your leads that converted came from, most likely you’ll only be seeing last touch attribution. However, that social media campaign might have been the first touch that planted the seed. Even some Fortune 500 companies don’t realize this, and first touch attribution can be very difficult to track.
Hello
I have been using social media to promote and build a brand. Its a long term marketing strategy that works very well for me.
I always like to hear other people tell others my products are great and when that happens it becomes more believable.
I like learning and with SEO you are always learning
Justin
18 Tyres´s last blog ..Welcome To 18 Tyres
I can understand why “increased sales revenue” is at the bottom of the chart, as like you say, social media is a tool more for brand awareness, reputation management and also customer feedback, rather than for generating direct leads or sales. Companies can shoot themselves in the foot by trying to subtly advertise on these sites, where people are adverse to spam.
I agree with both Brian and “removal companies” in that social media may indirectly lead to sales, the level of which is difficult to gauge. The main thing is getting the brand’s name out there and discussed on social media sites, which is vital nowadays, especially when targeting specific demographics. But companies have to be very careful in the ways in which they go about that, or it could quickly lead to a drop in sales, such is the power of today’s social media sites!
I agree with Brian, what you get back depends on how much effort you put it. I work for Auto Shipping Network, we’ll soon be making a facebook and twitter. Since we ship cars all over the world I’m pretty sure they’ll help out the business considering they are used everywhere. Until they are launched we’re relying on our website http://www.autoshippingnetwork.com, but I know “social media” is the way to go.
Interesting to see the stats on this, as many companies struggle with finding the ROI for social media through metrics.
Michaela
Mobile Marketing Campaigns
Companies should not be relying on tools like Google Analytics for metrics to determine if social media has had a significant impact. Most analytics tools by default only handle last touch attribution.
Social media marketing is much like word of mouth marketing. There is really no reliable way to measure it, but it has the potential to yield not only a higher conversion rate but also a better quality customer.
Brian Altenhofel´s last blog ..The Fallacy of Last Touch Attribution
Based chart shows that social media influence on various aspects, so I think effective or not depends on the purpose.
Social media is very effective if you want to get a word out there. Many people use this method as a form of advertising, and it is a good way too.
clickonportal | Do Follow List´s last blog ..Ultimate Do Follow List Movement – Updated, Niche Sorted Blogs
hey diva, nice post. the power of new media is much more then that of traditional marketing..
I don’t think that it is necessary to discuss how important SMO is. But in fact only a small percentage of webmasters know how to do it properly. Others are making critical mistakes.
Excellent post, and terrific comments. I think not enough attention to and research of social media and it’s effect customer loyalty/opinion. I’ve had a couple of companies reach out to me on Twitter – one is an electric company, so I don’t have freedom of choice there – and my opinion of them has increased. I went from being a ho hum customer to a happy one, because they responded to my complaints and followed up!
Mandi´s last blog ..Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-21
Social Media and social networking sites are really effective in driving traffic to my sites. I
I can believe that promotion through social media can be really effective if to define the target audience correctly!
“…Starbucks boasts 6 million Twitter followers” – unbelievable, isn’t it?
When people see so fabulous numbers the only thought is to create a corporate page on Twitter.
However, everything is not so easy as it may seems. It is hard to convert the followers into conversions if you have a growing business.
You must have a talent to gain your followers confidence.
thanks for sharing this chart..now i can get started with social bookmarking..social bookmarking is very effective for e-commerce sites..
Social media is the most effective marketing method nowadays mainly due to its ability to reach the majority of the target audience, I think.
I can definitely understand why Twitter ranks highly for spreading brand awareness but low for generating revenue.
Twitter is an excellent way to spread a message and generate awareness for your business or your brand. It doesn’t directly increase your sales very often, but it gets your name out there and that definitely helps improve your business.
Toronto Web Design´s last blog ..Five Ways To Turn Website Traffic into Business
Interesting. I’ve heard (from SESNY) that conversion rate can be up to 2.5x higher when social media is embraced…
John@John Vantine´s last blog ..Anchor Text Test Landing Page
Yup Sally is right, you can get connected with your clients and boost your marketing strategy with a social media, It is helpful to share about the services via social media.
I agree. We are starting to see a lot of larger companies employing the use of Facebook and Twitter to drive revenue. Social networking websites are becoming apart of everyday life because the advertising is essentially FREE. All you need to do is engage your fans, your followers. If they are interested enough in what you have to say, they are more likely to become a customer resulting from becoming a ‘fan’ and/or a ‘follower’. Social networking websites are becoming very powerful in the business.
In the present day, social media has modernized the consumers in a new way; by means of the internet.In recent years social mediums have highly improved. It is also effective to utilize social media when promoting and advertising your sites or products.
Interesting post! But i think its important that companies and indeed webmasters dont just get on the “Social media.. everyones doing it so it must be good for my company…” train. Alot of the time people will neglect their social media channels after a flurry of inital work on them.
Some companies will get a good use out of it, for example web friendly companies, viral content, useful resources etc. A funeral parlour might not.
In my opinion Twitter should be used as a customer service / brand building platform first and foremost, with the ultimate goal to convert people within your niche to interested visitors and ultimately customers.
Also, i dont find it interesting that revenue is bottom of the list – i cant imagine many small to medium sized business get much in the way of sales from Twitter – people who tweet are general not in a buying frame of mind. That is of course unless you put an answer to their problem right under their nose, which is where the power of social media lies. You just have to seek out the type of people that are looking.
Scott
Quesjam.com
It is not necessary to prove the effectiveness of social media in the modern marketing – it stands to reason!
That actually shows everyone that marketing and all kinds of using of Social Media as the advertisement is superbly effective.
Cheers to Social Media!
It was interesting to know the results of this research – thanks for sharing it here!
Kate´s last blog ..ORM Propel 1.5 is out
Social Media could work, but you really need to invest some time in it…not just update a status or something
Alex Aguilar´s last blog ..Rates of Unsold Homes Finally Going Down
In a recent Hotels Magazine review, John Wolf, senior director of public relations for Marriott International noted the importance of social networking for the hotel brand saying “Creating brand awareness and maintaining guest loyalty are the platform’s most important purposes. It’s not about return on investment—it’s about return on engagement.” I think that’s very true about social media but business will start to traffic being driven to the websites through social media activities and an increase in investment. It may not happen overnight but it will happen.
Social Media Marketing is effective even ppv marketing on twitter and facebook is very effective and gaining importance now-a-days
I must say that by and large I am really pleased with this website. After reading your post I can tell you are well informed about your writing. Looking forward to future posts.Cheers! Computer
Thanks for sharing this information – I believe there is alot of value in social networking, but I believe there has to be a targeted effort, not just random posting.
Sean
hmmmm great work…i will help lot of people to analyze the situation which is very difficult to understand that which process can help us more…sorry to say but in my opinion social media marketing is a long term process.
i have read the topic and go through the comments thanx for sharing the information grapically,no doubt social networking is fine ,but it should be targetted not a broadcast manner thanx once again
amer´s last blog ..Chase Hindi Film Release Date, Story, Cast
@Sean Mize you are absolutely right! An ordinary posts will be not so affected as those ones which would be targeted and good motivated.
Thanks a lot! That graph was very helpful, I tend to do better with visual information like graphs.
I think that’s very true about social media but business will start to traffic being driven to the websites through social media activities and an increase in investment.
well thanks for sharing such a use full informative article with example. i have been using twitter as a platform for my social networking & its really help full for me
I always promoted my site with social media, I promoted with facebook. I made a group, then I invited all my freind to join with my group in facebook. So, if I have a new product, I send them, so the visitors is very much.
Well, it’s been quite a long time since I bought my last pair of shoes through ads on paper media. I just trust those recommendations made by friends in online coummunities more than editors of magazines or papers.
I came across this interesting article and I just felt the need to say something.
“Increase sales revenue”, 53% somewhat effective. In my opinion, brands get “somewhat revenues” through social media because they tend to be corporate-like. A brand’s presence in a social media network misses a personal touch.
People love reading, watching, following personal experiences, personal facts, personal thoughts regarding a product, something that let’s them know a particular product is a true experience.
Take for example, Darren Rowse, the Problogger. He has success on Twiter. Take John Chow too. Why do these people are VERY EFFECTIVE on a social network? Because they’re trustworthy, believable and their success rely on personal experiences.
Anyway, again, interesting post.
Neotester´s last blog ..Chop and share online Youtube videos with TubeChop
I usually post some ads on Facebook using free coupons to boost my visits, it works sometimes
These findings/statistics/ are stunning! It takes time though. Be patient and you will surely one day reaps the benefits of social media.
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