ROI Archives

How to Track ROI on Facebook in 3 Easy Steps

October 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Tracking ROI on Facebook and other networks is always among the top concerns for marketers. This is one great way to track ROI on Facebook.

Despite all of the methods that exist to measure ROI on Facebook – some more complicated than others – there are still marketers and executives that refuse to acknowledge that it can be done! One great way to measure ROI on Facebook is with Facebook’s easy-to-use Conversion Tracking. Below is a step-by-step set of instructions on how to create goals on the network and measure ROI on Facebook.

Step 1: Go To Your Ads Manager (or Power Editor)

This is about as simple as steps get. Get started by going to either your Ads Manager and clicking on “Manage Your Ads” (the green button on the right of the header image) or the Power Editor (depending on how familiar you are with Facebook advertising).

Step 2: Set Up a Conversion Tracking Pixel

The next thing you are going to need to do is create a conversion tracking pixel. This is a small piece of code that you are going to place on your conversion page (this could be a checkout page, a download page, form submission, etc.).

First, go to your Conversion tracking in your designated ads platform.

Then you are going to click on the green “Create Conversion Pixel” button on the right hand side where you will see this box pop up:

Fill it out with the name of your goal (in this case, we are creating a goal called “View Blog”) and what category that goal falls into. Above, we have selected Key Page Views (essentially, the conversion is made when a user views a specific page) but other categories include Checkouts, Registrations, Leads, Adds to Cart and Other Website Conversions.

Now once you click “Create Pixel” you are going to see a small snippet of code pop up. You do not need to know any complex degree of HTML to work with this. In the code, you’ll see a line that allows to add a value to this conversion (the line with the red arrow next to it below). It is here that you can denote how much this conversion is worth.

Say, for example, you are sending people to a contact form for more information, and you have determined based on some fancy accounting work that any lead that fills out the form is worth $5.00. So, you would change this line to read five dollars (the currency is in the line just below it) and save the code.

Step 3: Load the Pixel Onto Your Conversion Page

Now comes the part where you might need the help of your webmaster or code-savvy friend.

Copy the code you have generated and place it in the header of your conversion page (detailed in the instructions before the code, above). Now, when people have clicked on your ads and found themselves at your website, Facebook will register that they have taken action (a conversion) based on when they land on that page with the conversion pixel uploaded.

And there you have it. Three simple steps to help you measure direct ROI from Facebook.

What other ways do you measure ROI on Facebook? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Find out more about measuring your ROI on Facebook with our Consulting Services here.

Social Equity: Social Media Measurability

September 20, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media measurability is one of the driving elements behind the value of social media.

There are few things that social marketers hate more than hearing the phrase, “You can’t measure social media.” Virtually every single aspect of your social media marketing initiatives is measurable, and it is this social media measurability that can add tremendous value to your business.

Consider other forms of marketing. Has there ever been an initiative or campaign as tangibly measurable as social media? It’s very hard to think of one. The Social Equity that this social media measurability offers can be considerable for quite a few reasons.

Justify Your Costs

When it comes to marketing and advertising, there are some initiatives that we simply have to trust blindly. With the exception of focus groups and questionnaires, it is hard to say whether a particular initiative worked.

When it comes to social media, you can easily justify the costs that it incurs. The ability to measure every single element on social and see exactly how your activity translates into Social Equity means that there is no longer a need to blindly trust an initiative. Justify every penny you spend, and showcase why a certain budget is required.

See Tangible Results

In keeping with the theme of the previous point, every single aspect can be measured in order to ensure that every single aspect is performing.

By incorporating the concept of Responsive Branding into the mix, you can make real-time modifications to your social media marketing initiatives in order to ensure that your program produces the highest possible returns.

Watch Your Business Grow

Another great feature that comes with social media measurability is the fact that you can see exactly how your business is growing online. Of course, Google Analytics provides insights into your activity online. But setting up your Google Analytics Social Dashboard and incorporating the performance monitored there with your other measurement criteria will mean watching how and where your audience is growing most rapidly.

The concept of Social Equity relates to using social media to build your business. As your social audience and results increase, so does the long-term value added to your company.

Everything on social is measurable. There is virtually no feature of a social media program that cannot be measured in some form or another.

What is your favorite measurement criteria on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Reasons Why Social Media is a Must for Business

September 17, 2013/by Corey Padveen

There is a lot out there that defends the use of social media, but here are four reasons why social media is a must for business.

It’s everywhere. We hear about it every day and yet, there are still some companies out there that do not believe in the potential that social media offers. Well, below are four reasons why social media is a must for business and shouldn’t be ignored – by anybody.

Everybody’s Doing It

Admittedly, this is something our parents warned us against when we were younger: “If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?” But social media is different!

Over a quarter (27%) of time spent online by American consumers is now spent on some form of social network. What’s more 85% of Internet users have a Facebook account, and 49% have Twitter accounts! It’s hard to argue the other side when there is only a small minority left on it. (Eventually, even the most devout BlackBerry users switched to another device.)

It Spreads the Word

How much has your company spent on trade shows? What about telemarketing or PPC? Well, did you know that a properly implemented social media program generates double the amount of marketing leads as those marketing efforts?

The average Facebook user has 141.5 connections, and the average Twitter user has 208. Where else will you be able to reach such a broad audience with one line of text?

Marketing on Steroids

53% of companies have found at least one customer on Facebook, 43% of LinkedIn and 36% on Twitter. Social media lead conversion rates are also 13% higher than the average lead conversion. Ask any marketer: these numbers deserve double, triple even quadruple takes.

It Helps Business and Sales

60% of customers give feedback – willingly – to brands on social networks. That feedback can be applied to your business in order to improve the customer experience and drive new sales.

When it comes to sales, over 50% of marketers believe that social media has helped them improve sales. And in the retail industry, 73% of brands have found a new customer on Facebook. Lastly, 81% of social media users have their purchasing decisions influenced by comments made by friends on social networks.

Social media is an extremely powerful tool and it is right there in the numbers. Don’t miss the boat and think it’s a fad. Social media is a must for business!

Which of these stats do you think is most interesting? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Ways to Increase Sales on Social Media

September 11, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social selling can be a little tricky, but these tips are sure to help you increase sales on social media.

It can be hard to increase sales on social media. This is especially true when you consider the fact that people are not necessarily on social media to be sold. Social selling is a delicate art form that, with much practice, can be one of the greatest tools in your sales arsenal.

There are certain Dos and Don’ts when it comes to social selling. Below are four tips that will help you increase sales on social media. Keep in mind, like anything, social selling takes time. Nurturing your lead is going to be crucial to finding success.

Relationship First, Sales Second

If the first thing a new Twitter follower receives from you is a direct message that reads, “Buy our products at LINK!” you might be underwhelmed at the click through rate.

People engage on social media platforms in order to be social, not to be sold. At least not right away. Once a fan or follower develops a rapport with your brand, then you can casually move over to the sale. However, keep in mind that not all fans are leads, so be sure to have a set of criteria in place in order to qualify your social leads before getting to the sale. You certainly do not want to scare them off.

Listen to Conversations

What is being discussed in your industry? You don’t need an expensive, enterprise-level listening software in order to figure this out. Following hashtags or mentions with free softwares can provide you with the insights you need to position yourself for the sale.

Knowing what is being discussed by potential customers allows you to involve yourself organically in the conversation to build that relationship before selling a product or service.

Solve a Problem

Ever wonder why so many companies sell solutions? A lot of potential leads don’t know they have a problem until a solution is proposed!

When listening to conversations in your industry, learn what issue continuously arises and, once again, position yourself as having the solution for those problems. There is no better way to grab the attention of your audience than by telling them that you can make their life (and business) easier.

Don’t Sugar Coat It

Eventually, we get to a point where we know when we are being sold. It becomes painfully obvious. The only thing that consumers do not appreciate is being told that they are not being sold when they clearly are. It’s undermining and pushes them away rather than brings them closer.

When you reach that point, present your service or product and make the sale. Don’t drag a sale on longer than it needs to go. Leads don’t like it (if they’re buying, they’re buying) and it hurts your business (that’s a lot of time wasted).

Next time you try selling on social, employ some of these techniques and see how it helps!

What strategy do you use to increase sales on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Financial Times

August 29, 2013/by Corey Padveen

What is there for marketers to learn from the Financial Times social media strategy?

Visit the Financial Times Google+ page and you will see an innovative use of social media by a brand in an industry that many think is outdated. The Financial Times social media channels looks great on the outside, but there is a lot taking place on the inside as well from which marketers can take a lesson or two.

At a 125 years old, the Financial Times is not necessarily a brand that many would expect to see incorporating social media in such a crucial way. With the exception of a select few, like the Huffington Post, news publications tend to use social media for nothing other than a secondary vessel through which to share information. The Financial Times, on the other hand, has adapted their model to incorporate social media to the fullest, and it is paying off in a big way.

There are two key features when it comes to the Financial Times social media program that make it stand out. First, it is engaging with its broad audience on a number of channels, primarily Google+. Second, the marketing team behind this strategy has been paying close attention to the analytics of their social media efforts, and they have been evolving according to the successes and failures they have experienced.

Below are three key lessons that marketers can learn from the marketing team behind the Financial Times social media success.

Sharing Rich Content

Much like the case study we did about H&M, the Financial Times shares rich, social-specific content to their social media audience.

Their networks do not simply regurgitate information posted to their website, they are sharing much more with their audience in order to keep them engaged.

Engaged with the Audience

And speaking of engagement, this is at the forefront of their strategy. They are not simply sharing, they are talking.

The Financial Times has built their network to its current size by engaging with their audience wherever they could. By listening to what is being said, the strategy was able to adapt and appeal to what the audience wanted. This has proven to be among the most successful factors in their strategy.

Monitor Analytics and Adapt

The only way to grow a social media program is to pay close attention to your results, and use that data in order to expand your network. This is exactly what has grown the Financial Times social media program into what it is.

Few brands – in the media field or otherwise – truly pay attention to their metrics. It is hard to imagine considering the weight put on the measurability of social media. By focusing on their analytics, the Financial Times has managed to continually grow their social presence.

Which of these three features do you think is most important for a brand’s success on social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Social Bookmarking Your Business

July 5, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How does social bookmarking your business on sites like Reddit and StumbleUpon generate Social Equity for your brand?

There is virtually no shortage of benefits when it comes to social bookmarking your business. In addition to building links, increasing your readership and targeting niche audiences, it is a relatively simple process that adds significant value to your business.

There are two areas in which social bookmarking generates Social Equity: SEO and visibility.

Social Bookmarking and SEO

It wasn’t long after social bookmarking sites like Reddit came about that SEO experts began to notice that links shared to them were treated as backlinks by search engines. While there is much that new techniques on social media have to offer with regards to SEO, backlinks are still an excellent means of increasing your SERPs.

The ability to create links to each piece of content on your website is a valuable tool, and these links remain in search engines and on social bookmarking sites indefinitely. Staying power and the ability for users to find your business through search on both engines like Google and bookmarking networks like StumbleUpon mean real value added in terms of findability and reach.

Social Bookmarking and Visibility

In keeping with the theme of findability, one can also look at the value added from social bookmarking sites as increasing your brand’s visibility inexpensively, quickly and to a very targeted market.

Similar results might require significant SEO efforts. The ability to categorize your content, share it to engaged audiences and provide pseudo titles and meta descriptions on these networks is a tremendous asset. Furthermore, results arise much quicker and, once again, generate a certain staying power for your brand online.

By showcasing your content to niche audiences, you gain a certain attribute that most other social networks do not afford: longevity. On networks like Facebook, where a post has a shelf life of roughly a few hours, or Twitter, where a tweet’s shelf life can be as short as a few minutes, the ability to maintain one’s presence for an extended period of time is virtually invaluable.

Over time, with ongoing attention paid to such a practice, a ripple effect will take place and your content will make its way across the internet, all leading back to your landing page, blog or website. It is hard to imagine too many other techniques as simple as social bookmarking that add that kind of value to a brand.

Do you share your content on social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg or StumbleUpon? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Equity: Foursquare for Business

June 7, 2013/by Corey Padveen

The value of Foursquare for Business is notable when it comes to Social Equity.

Mobile marketing and geo-targeting your audience is growing both in popularity and prominence. Several business are taking to geo-targeting in order to leverage the power of local markets, particularly businesses with one or multiple locations. With Foursquare for Business, these local businesses stand to gain some excellent value.

Recent Changes

There have been a few recent changes to Foursquare that have led to its Social Equity stake increasing.

First, the application of Foursquare for Business was introduced relatively recently, and has provided a great tool for businesses to monitor their activity on the network, as well as launch campaigns that entice Foursquare users to check in and visit a location.

There are also the newly upgraded search filters that allow users to narrow down their searches and find exactly what they are in the market for.

Lastly, Foursquare has recently opened their promotional features to smaller businesses. This means that small businesses can now campaign on both the network and in person for customers that are checking in.

So what is the value in terms of Social Equity with these Foursquare features?

Social Equity Derived from Foursquare for Business

The three features for business that have been introduced by the network have created an entirely new element of Social Equity for businesses that can use Foursquare.

First, the ability to create campaigns and monitor their success and customer interaction directly from the network eliminates the need to create far more costly mobile campaigns. Furthermore, Foursquare provides detailed analytics that businesses can use to modify their campaigns and increase business driven from the network.

Second, the search filters create a pseudo-search engine within the network that businesses can optimize for. The ability to create a specific, detailed listing for which users can search specifically is a growing trend in the world of social media, and one that adds considerable value to Foursquare.

Finally, Foursquare making available the promotional features to smaller businesses eliminates some of the advantage that larger companies had on the network. Promoting your company (again, as you would with a search engine) gives you an upper hand on your competition, and if users are searching for a business like yours on Foursquare, this feature will certainly create an added value for your brand.

Foursquare can be a powerful when it comes to business, and these new features have created a degree of Social Equity that is unique. The mobile and geo-targeted aspects of the network are invaluable for local businesses, and stand to generate a great deal of value as well.

Do you use Foursquare? Where do you see the value in the network? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Case Study: Cadbury

May 30, 2013/by Corey Padveen

How did Cadbury make their social media presence as sweet as their candy?

It was early in 2012 that Cadbury realized they were approaching the 1 million fan mark on Facebook. It was around that same time that they realized that only about 16% of fans ever saw any of the content they were posting to their social networks.

Cadbury wanted to get the most out of their social media marketing, and they knew that for an internationally-recognized brand, 16% simply wasn’t good enough. So they decided to do something so big that it would grab the attention of a lot more than a mere 16%: they built a Facebook ‘Like’ thumb out of chocolate to say thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uHtDRw4ujYw

The results of this gesture were 40,000 new Facebook fans and engagement of well over 30% for this campaign. Clearly, there are a few takeaways marketers can pull from this campaign by Cadbury.

Always Engage Your Audience

Engagement is going to be at the forefront of any successful social media campaign. Your audience needs to have a purpose for viewing your content, and providing engaging content is always going to be on top of that list of reasons.

Simply sharing promotional information, or a piece of text, isn’t going to entice anyone to share, comment, or necessarily like your content. The results? It hurts your EdgeRank and can be somewhat damaging to your brand’s growth on social media in the long run, due to the lack of exposure.

Let Your Fans Know You Care

Whether you are a Cadbury with 1 million fans or a Mom n’ Pop with 100, you should always let those that have become fans know that you care.

Success on social media stems from the ability to reach a wider audience than on any other medium, and each fan is another new network of possibilities. So when reaching milestones, show your fans you care – you’d be surprised at how appreciated those gestures are.

Never Ignore Your Analytics

It took Cadbury until the million fan mark to realize that only 16% of those fans were engaging with the brand. Moreover, Cadbury is an international brand; imagine how few fans are engaged with your small business on Facebook if only a small fraction are engaging with a brand like Cadbury!

The reality is that roughly 98% of people who ‘Like’ a brand never return to that brand’s page. You need to find a way to optimize your content and your strategy in order to get those numbers as high as possible. Don’t ignore your analytics. They are providing valuable information that is going to help your brand blow up on social media!

The social media case study on Cadbury’s Facebook campaign provides a great set of Do’s and Do Not’s for marketers.

Which of these lessons do you think is most important? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

How Organizations Structure Social Media Teams [INFOGRAPHIC]

May 15, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media teams can be responsible for some of the most crucial marketing decisions when it comes to your business, but how are social media teams structured?

The importance of strong social media teams is right at the top of the list when it comes to modern marketing. Yet, because social media is so new and so fast-paced, many businesses – both large and small – are not sure how they are supposed to go about structuring their social media teams.

One of the most interesting figures in the infographic from Go-Gulf below is right at the top: 65% of organizations assign social media tasks on top of regular job responsibilities. Furthermore, 25% of companies are using interns to manage social media! The many benefits of social media for business are of growing importance to a company’s success. That being the case, assigning an inexperienced staff member to manage your social media will certainly not lead to a revenue-generating program, and the numerous benefits that can be derived from social media will be lost.

The result of this lackluster effort on the part of most organizations? Only 5% of organizations are highly satisfied with the results generated from their programs. It doesn’t take a statistician to see the correlation: if you are not devoting the proper resources to your social media program, you cannot expect to be satisfied with the results!

Have a look at this infographic to see how companies are structuring their social media teams. What data do you think is most interesting/surprising? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

4 Important Social Media Metrics

May 14, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Marketers are always looking for the best social media metrics, and these four social media metrics will be among your most important.

We are always faced with the task of measuring our social media campaigns in order to generate ROI reports. No matter what your goals are at the outset, there are going to be certain social media metrics that you will need to keep in mind when compiling these reports.

Influence

Granted, this is a somewhat arbitrary metric. Some might venture to argue that influence is not a metric at all. However, it is something you are going to want to pay attention to. There are plenty of services – like Klout, Kred and PeerIndex – that will provide you with a concrete number to help measure your influence, but you will want to do a little work on your own.

Pay attention to the groups, communities and networks where you are seeing your highest levels of conversation, and audience engagement. If, for example, on Facebook you see that your content is shared five times more than it is on Twitter, you might want to reevaluate your Twitter strategy in order to increase the influence you have on your community there.

Engagement

As noted above, engagement is something you are going to want to keep a close eye on. Engagement is at the heart of a successful social media program, and it is going to be one of if not your most important metric.

When measuring engagement, it is important to keep in mind that a conversation is not the only form of engagement. Look at instances where you audiences are engaging with content by simply liking, or sharing it. These are social signals, and are very important to both SEO and a success program. Take note of the types of content where you are seeing the most engagement, and modify your campaigns accordingly in order to maximize those levels wherever possible.

Share of Voice

Looking at the conversation taking place around your own brand is one thing, but how big of a share in the industry discussion does your brand have? This is why it is important to measure share of voice.

Your share of voice is the percentage of mentions in your industry that relate to your brand compared to your competitors. This is an important metric for a few reasons, the most important of which is to know where you need to become more involved in the conversation. To help you measure share of voice, there are free tools like Social Mention that can be used.

Social Referral Traffic

In the Traffic Sources section of your Google Analytics dashboard, you will see where your traffic is coming from. This is going to be a key focal point for a successful program.

To know whether or not your social media program is driving traffic and, subsequently, leads and business, you need to be monitoring that activity. This will give you a good indication of where your efforts and the strategy you have in place are paying off, and where you need to make adjustments. Engagement, influence and a significant share of voice are great metrics, but if those are not converting into leads and sales, then you need to modify your approach.

These may only be just four metrics, but they are universal and among the most important when it comes to social media metrics. You will need to look at these no matter what kind of a campaign you are conducting, or what your goals are.

What other social media metrics do you use? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

ROI

t2Marketing International

Marketing Rundown

Insights

Books, white papers and more

Specialized Expertise