Photo credit: Dolina Wiedzy via Wikipedia

Companies continue to struggle to measure the value of their social media programs, despite increasingly sophisticated measurement tactics and data technology. Measuring ROI is the biggest challenge social media marketers face, according to a survey by TrustRadius, a business software review site.

Many marketers generally turn to vanity metrics, such as likes and followers to measure success. While easy to report, those metrics can be difficult to link to business objectives. One survey respondent admitted the company lacks definable goals and has not monetized social media. The organization is active on social media simply “because it seems like a bad idea not to be.”

Asked to name the three most challenging aspects or their social program, most marketers (60 percent) cited measuring ROI, half named tying social activities to business outcomes, and 48 percent listed developing their strategy.

The Most Popular Metrics

The survey revealed that marketers favor “soft” metrics that have little connection to business goals.

Asked for their top three goals, marketers favored increasing brand awareness.

The survey results show why determining social media ROI is difficult.

“Part of marketers’ challenge is a self-fulfilling prophesy. They aim to increase awareness but can’t associate social media awareness with lead generation and sales,” writes marketing guru Heidi Cohen, president of Riverside Marketing Strategies

Companies lack proper tools to manage and measure social media activities, TrustRadius concludes. Marketers use multiple sources of data and multiple technology products to manage and measure social media activities. Although they generally trust their data, they still cannot interpret the data to show value. In addition, many aren’t satisfied with their set of tools.

The research also shows that social media is largely not yet integrated into the overall business. More experienced personnel tend to rely on data to craft strategy. However, far fewer say social media data and analytics impacts their company’s overall business strategies.

Progressive companies are finding novel and innovative ways to use social media listening. One major retail company, for example, uses social media monitoring to understand shoplifting frequency at its locations and respond as needed. Still, many potential applications for social media monitoring and measurement, such as product development and market research, are not being realized.

Make Social Media Marketing More Measureable

Cohen suggests five ways to make social media marketing more measureable.

• Include a contextually relevant call-to-action. Encouraging customers to visit your website or register for email newsletters is preferable to pressuring customers to purchase directly through your social media account.
• Create customized landing pages and promotion codes. Select social media platforms targeted at buyer decision-making support. Target social media platforms where you can help prospects closer to the lead and sales process.
• Create trackable offers for mainstream social media platforms. Occasional promotional offers are acceptable. Create a targeted offer that names the social media platform to get a general idea of its effectiveness.
• Advertise on social media to support social media activities. Social media now requires budget and staff to be effective.

Bottom Line: Measuring social media marketing remains difficult for brands. Determining social media ROI is the biggest challenge for marketers. Marketers should consider changing their focus from increasing brand awareness to business objectives like revenue, and changing metrics to link social media activities to sales leads.

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William Comcowich

William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.