by Jim Lenskold
The question as to whether social media should be expected to generate a positive return on investment (ROI) continues to be debated throughout the marketing community. Many marketers are adamantly arguing that social media must be exempt from ROI expectations. According to the 2011 Lenskold Group Marketing ROI & Measurement Study, 77% of marketers are using social media to promote their business and these marketers are just about evenly split on prioritizing social media measurements as either high or low (55% vs. 45%). The need to measure social media is a low priority largely for those marketers still testing and experimenting on a small scale. Measurement priority is high for marketers who cite a need to increase effectiveness and improve integration.
The research study found that one in five marketers rated their ability to measure the ROI of social media as a strength, establishing that measuring ROI is attainable and already in progress. If ROI measurements are possible, is the debate over measuring ROI more about marketing’s role or a desire to avoid more stringent accountability? The reality is that the need to measure ROI comes down to more than just a simple yes/no question. Instead, consider the following 10 questions that will guide if, when and how you should be measuring the ROI on your social media marketing.
The questions around Social Media and ROI have a general theme but it really takes a number of questions to understand the need for ROI and measurements for social media. We’ll address the following 10 questions to establish a more complete perspective
This first question is not about measurements but about having objectives or at least expectations for a social media marketing program to generate incremental profits in excess of its marketing expense (including labor). It’s amazing that questions like this get asked by marketing professionals. To put it in perspective, let’s pose a similar question on a personal level.
To evaluate the broker managing your retirement fund you might ask, “Are you generating a good return on my retirement investment?” How would you feel if the response was “I am the top-ranked broker among all brokers with over 20,000 Twitter followers and the most Facebook friends? Isn’t that enough to prove you are with the best broker?” Of course it is not the response you want. A well-respected broker with many followers and friends could be important when you first choose a broker but after that, all you really care about is the bottom line results.
The perspective should remain the same even when you are not managing your own money. For-profit businesses expect a profit from the marketing resources you use, regardless of whether you spend it on social media or other forms of marketing.
This means that at a minimum, you should run an ROI projection using your best data and assumptions to quantify your expected financial contribution, even if it will not be measured. If you don’t have a good idea of how your social media outcomes are likely to translate into purchase decisions and revenue, your strategy is not complete.
Social media is a broad umbrella and we are focusing on social media marketing. Other forms of social media, such as customer feedback, service or support, may not be held to the same requirements as marketing, although ROI analyses are possible and these uses may have much greater potential than promotional marketing.
As with general marketing, it is reasonable to expect that emerging marketing channels or new strategies may not generate a positive return in the short term but offer high profit potential once improved and increased in scale. When experimenting on a small scale or building critical mass (such as Twitter followers) that can serve as an asset for future larger scale initiatives, ROI expectations are set based on longer term returns and not just on the current period impact.
There are many forms of social media with different objectives and outcomes. Whether these initiatives are designed for branding, awareness, engagement, leads or some other purpose, all play some role in the buyers’ decision process that can and should generate financial value for the company.
Here are examples of outcomes very closely associated with sales and financial contribution:
There are also short term outcomes that require integration with additional marketing efforts to ultimately generate sales and financial contribution, such as the following:
Measurements and analytics should assess the effectiveness of marketing on driving outcomes and also examine the integrated impact of social media working with other marketing channels. The insights are likely to include a mix of solid conclusions and directional information providing reasonable assumptions to link initial outcomes with sales outcomes.
The immediate outcomes of social media marketing initiatives are absolutely important. These measures can serve as the early indicator of the business outcomes that follow or as a diagnostic assessment of where the marketing program has strengths and weaknesses. They should not be program objectives since there are some forms of marketing that can generate short term outcomes that fail to have any influence on purchase decisions now or in the future.
As mentioned earlier, the use of ROI projections is also beneficial here since your strategy would clearly establish the expected connection between immediate outcomes and sales contribution. In addition, a broader purchase funnel framework that examines the path to purchase across all forms of marketing can help relate metrics such as engagement or awareness to sales, regardless of the marketing channel. If these measures are not in place for other media and marketing, it does not make sense to develop them only for social media marketing.
No, it’s not necessary or possible to measure the ROI or incremental impact on all marketing investments, although it’s certainly good to track all readily-available metrics. Measurements must be prioritized based on the profit potential from improved effectiveness and the cost. It is more important to measure marketing initiatives and programs that consume a large portion of the overall budget, play a strategic role in influencing outcomes or are in need of major improvements in effectiveness. If the social media spend is low, running on a small scale or not critical to the business, measurements may be lower priority.
Marketing measurements generally fall into one of these four categories: results tracking, pre-post trends, market testing, or modeling. The choice of methodologies must be driven by the strategy, tactics, expected outcomes and the conditions for measurements. There are many aspects of social media that are challenging to measure based on the open, unstructured exchange of content and the ripple effect through social networks over time.
As a starting point, here are some general guidelines for each methodology:
Social media marketing can certainly have a positive impact on brand positioning and loyalty. There are comprehensive measurement techniques to assess brand investments and the impact on sales and financial value over time. But these should be established for the broader marketing mix and not just for social media. If you are working without these comprehensive brand measures, at least establish how social media will influence specific brand attributes that are believed to influence purchase decisions. Also, keep in mind that “brand” encompasses much more than awareness.
Executive pressure is one of the reasons that social media measurements are a high priority, cited by 48% in our research. It’s possible that executives initially asked what marketing was doing with social media and now ask what ROI is being delivered, showing the maturity social media is reaching as part of the marketing mix.
Executives may be monitoring the use of their limited marketing budget, may be interested in the effectiveness of this emerging channel relative to their expectations, or may be ensuring the company stays competitive in this area. Understanding the reasons behind the question will guide measurements to alleviate concerns, maintain support and secure necessary resources.
In addition to assessing executive motivations, look closely at your own. Are you pursuing ROI measurements strictly for reporting and justifying your spend or are you designing these to improve effectiveness? As we established earlier, measurements should be prioritized based on the potential gains of applying the insights to future cycles of marketing. The first two priorities are 1) marketing programs that are repeatable and 2) marketing programs that are scalable. One time social media programs or initiatives that can only be run on a small scale are most likely lower in priority.
In addition, in order to gain big wins in effectiveness, design your measurements to understand strategies, buyer behaviors, leakage points in the purchase funnel and the impact of integrated marketing. The knowledge into strategies and the influence on purchase decisions can be more broadly applied across social media and other marketing programs. This type of insight will be more valuable over time since social media technologies will change at a faster pace than the general stages buyers go through in their path to purchase.
The final and most important question to ask about measuring social media ROI is what will you get for all of this effort. The insights generated should shape your marketing strategies and boost performance. It is not necessary to seek perfection in ROI measures but continually move forward in expanding capabilities. Even basic measures or ROI projections have an incredible effect on credibility with senior executives.