7 Ways to Increase Your Social ROI

Wharton School boldly claimed that “If an ad doesn’t increase brand awareness, it’s not doing its job”.

Any CEO, marketing executive, and business owner knows very well that marketing is the integral part of any organization/business set-up.

Without it, there is no business.

Ridiculously, in times of economic difficulties, the marketing budget is normally among the first culprits of cost-cutting strategies. In other words, if your marketing budget is not bringing in the returns, its importance will diminish.

With the social media here with us, marketers are utilizing the social media platform to drive up their brand awareness, and advertising. Trust me, businesses spend lots of dollars in social marketing. But how do you ensure that each dollar spent in social media marketing plays a part in bringing in customers or creating brand awareness?

Here are 7 ways to increase your social ROI:

1. Make it a Team Effort

It is tempting to imagine that advertising on social media is a piece of cake. Behind every Facebook like; every YouTube view; every twitter follower, there is an effort or cash expended. This can’t be done by one person, nor can you depend on your ads alone to do the job, you must ensure that every person in the organization is contributing towards the campaign.

A survey conducted by OpenForum.com shows that about 53% of people engage in social media marketing campaign alone.  If you are a small business owner, make sure that your employee, suppliers, distributors (and family members if possible) are contributing.

2. Be Authentic

This is what Sid Shuman, who runs social media for Sony Playstation had to say “You can’t fake it online; they can smell that a mile away.” You can’t hide behind your monitor and run a marketing campaign you don’t believe in. you might dismiss this as a ‘pastor’s sermon in church’ but is the truth simply because it has been tried and tested.

Before you spend your cash in social media campaign, you’ve got to be part of it; you’ve got to believe in what it is you are selling to them. Only by doing so will you be able to answer your fans’ questions and engage with them.

3. Put Your House In Order

Make sure your social profiles are in shape. Make sure they look professional and attractive. Your social profile is your social shop-front. Don’t expect customers to jump through muck just to come and listen to you. Also, make consistent list of the tasks you’d like to accomplish on a periodic basis.

For instance, you can draft a list of twitter updates to send every 6 hours, each day. You can re-tweet interesting updates, share interesting photos, or descent jokes. Sometimes, it doesn’t have to a serious stuff.

4. Target. Target. Target

Your time is very precious. Your followers/fans’ time is precious too. Don’t waste any of it by engaging in nihilities. There is no way you are going to realize a ROI in your social marketing activities if the message is not reaching the targeted people at the right time and place. Poor advertisement strategy is like a boy winking to a girl in the darkness.

5. Engage

Don’t just listen to the audience, engage with them. Treat their feedback seriously and let them know that their views are being integrated in the process. Organizations can use social media tools to improve their services and products. In fact, social media is now among the most important tools in brand development. Just like your website would crash if your hosting provider services you the wrong way, your brand can easily sink to the bottom if you do not tend to socialize.

It starts with listening to the customers’ complains/complements/suggestion through intelligence gathering, analyzing the information, implementing where necessary and appreciating them for the contribution.

6. Identify influencers

Social media is about trust; whether you are talking about casual chat or business marketing. Invest in research that will determine what customers appreciate and trust. You’ll reap better fruits if your produce a product that your customers have endorsed. It is important to pay heed to what the customers are saying, what their fears are, what makes them happy, what annoys them, and so on.  Your team of marketers need to extremely alert to changes in market trends and customer psychology. Rather than being reactive, being proactive is the safest road to success.

7. Know Your Budget

If you don’t know your budget, how else will you be effective in what you do? Knowing your budget will enable you to plan, improvise, cut unnecessary expenses, and concentrate only on useful activities. If you don’t know your budget, you might find yourself spending a lot of money and time on non-essential things at the expense of the essential ones. You will also be in a better position to know whether your social media activities are producing the right rate on investment.

Image Credit: Sean MacEntee

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15 comments

Metz September 17, 2013 - 2:57 am
Social return on investment or Social ROI. One of the most challenging platforms is Social Media. It allows consumers to share opinions and experiences with friends, family, and followers. And all the tips stated above are no doubt helpful, most especially about Team effort, the engagement, and identifying influencers. In addition, being authentic essential. All in all, the post is great and has wonderful tips. :) Thanks! metz-kingged.com contributor http://www.kingged.com/7-ways-to-increase-your-social-roi/
Sunday September 17, 2013 - 8:31 am
Well, the lessons of this post have been learned. Social marketing should be planned and applied to increase brand awareness. To get constant returns from the Investment made in this post, it becomes necessary engage followers professionally and make them see value. The point made about targeting is crucial and helpful for successful social marketing! The above comment has been left in kingged.com - the IM social site where this post was "kingged" Sunday - kingged.com contributor http://www.kingged.com/7-ways-to-increase-your-social-roi/
Daisy Coleman September 17, 2013 - 12:42 pm
Great advice here, thanks very much. One thing I would like to add is that you should have a clear strategy and stick to it, it is easy to get distracted and go off on a tangent online. Social media is a fantastic tool to market yourself if used well.
Techie September 17, 2013 - 1:20 pm
Hey everybody, Thank you for your comments, I'm happy you like the article. Just like Daisy said, it's important not to switch the strategies as soon as you encounter the slightest issues. Persistence is definitely a key to success in social media marketing.
custom logo designing September 18, 2013 - 4:29 am
Nowadays without social media we can't even think about advertising and marketing therefore social media sites are very essential for online business. Most important points you shared are "Make it a Team Effort" and "Target" both are essential points for success. Sometimes people don't know about their target or goals therefore they didn't achieve them.
Hyptia September 18, 2013 - 8:45 am
When some one invest money to any of business then he/she wants to get good return but it's some difficult to do but it's not impossible. So i am sure these tips will give new ways to get good ROI.
PrIyAnGsHu @ My Top Tier Business September 19, 2013 - 7:22 am
Targeting is the key to a successful social media campaign. Even when you are spending tons without any targeting, your campaign will not really get you good results. Even a low budget campaign with proper targeting can blast off pretty good ROI for you.
Sandra Barker September 19, 2013 - 9:27 am
With social media everything is there already, all you have to do is use it in a right way and always give your best shot. Be creative innovative and be idealistic.
AKASH ARORA September 22, 2013 - 7:12 am
Thanks Techie I like your points very much and think that the 7 points that you had shared are more than enough. It will help me a lot. Once again thanks fo sharing such a great article.
Smartjazz September 24, 2013 - 6:36 am
Hi there. ROI in any business is the main purpose and goal. These tips and tricks are really great. The foremost thing is "User Engagement". Social media also plays a vital role to convert the visitors into customers. Yes authentic and creativity will bring a new flavor to your business. Regards
Download Lion for Mac September 25, 2013 - 3:55 am
One of the best techniques i saw to improve ROI, very helpful and authentic info provided here. Thanks for sharing this jewels!
oliversmith@Private investigator in kerala September 26, 2013 - 5:45 am
yes, It is Now everyone wants to engage with social networks and make the money from online. For getting the money first you have to invest it then you should be expected ROI. That things you describe so well. Thanks to you for that.
Web Design Agency London September 27, 2013 - 7:55 am
Thank you Adam. We are a new business and trying to get some ad done. These are very good tips. Good timing for us.
Social Networking Plan October 31, 2013 - 2:32 am
Getting ROI in social media is not a cake walk. It takes time to build relationship with your customers through social media. But once you manage to get relevant people, things will surely get lot more easily to you. Speaking about Engagement, it's a key part is that it needs a lot of extra hands and hard work. But if one follow all the plans and strategy delicately, it will work out good.
Web Design Company India November 19, 2013 - 2:21 am
These are a very good tips to improve ROI. It will help me a lot.
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