Seeking hard numbers for social media
Two thirds of Twitter users who become followers of a brand are more likely to buy that brand’s products. Sixty percent of Facebook users who become a fan of a brand are more likely to recommend that brand to a friend. While 74% of consumers are influenced on buying decisions by fellow socialisers after soliciting input via social media.
So, reports CoreMetrics in its recently published Master Social Media Marketing and Measurement white paper. But despite the metrics, it’s not all good news for brands. “Marketers are investing heavily in social media, but measuring the return from those investments remains elusive,” the web analytics outfit says. “Too many organisations are relying on gut instinct and crude metrics to assess the returns from their growing social media presence. Without an accurate measurement framework they run the risk of misinterpretation, which may lead to misinformed decisions on budget allocations and marketing mix.”
For Coremetrics, social media measurement is all about robust analytics, with marketers requiring data that demonstrate how social media investments impact the business’s top and bottom lines. And any solution should allow brands to compare social media ROI to the performance of mainstream online channels.
“The relatively recent emergence of social media marketing is both a challenge and an opportunity,” says CoreMetrics. “On one hand, marketers cannot afford to underestimate the power and potential of this vast and global phenomenon. At the same time, they cannot afford to simply throw money at social media hoping that they will hit the jackpot.
“Like any online marketing endeavour, social media marketing requires measurement if it is to excel. But certain characteristics of social media marketing – the prevalence of impression-based messaging and the ‘soft’ cultivation of brand and reputation – defies quantifiable measurement by basic, off-the-shelf marketing tools.”
