Social media specialists’ and managers’ goals are very different when they are managing budgets for verticals, beyond marketing, in a company (HR, for example). Those in the trenches are clear that getting buy-in for consistent strategies across different social platforms is a huge challenge, and analytics and proven ROI are often their most effective tools.
Unfortunately, a social media budget may not get approved because results are not easy to measure: the online conversation is often an extension of what happens offline. Twitter is a fantastic lead generation tool, but when customers are converted from a Twitter conversation to a purchase, there may be other marketing channels which effected their decision. As with offline advertising, it may not be possible to know precisely how the media spend effects the purchase decision.
The 2012 Marketing Trends Survey, conducted by Zoomerang on behalf of StrongMail: Zoomerang “gathered feeedback” from a large pool of decision-makers. We don’t know whether their stated plans will result in a concrete social media budget line items .
The challenge next year is for social media specialists to persuade decision makers in their organizations that future initiatives need budgeting now, but are not not like online pay-per-click– the fantastic measurable data is not available in some cases. They will need to demonstrate the value of creating conversations online by using some of the indirect success variables that offline, non-direct marketers have relied on for decades.
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For assistance developing a social media strategy, Van Buskirk will work with you to make results more measurable than the best-layed-plans of his peers. His work with company blogs, viral marketing, online community, and managing digital media teams runs deep and wide. Contact him today.
