Social media marketing. Can you afford not to?

The rapid growth of social media has added another string to the bow of many marketing campaigns. Here we take a look at how social media can be beneficial to a B2B marketing campaign and the issues surrounding that all important return on investment (ROI).

Pretty much every survey you read on social media marketing cites the 'big three' as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, so for the purposes of this article we'll focus on those three.

Many people use various social media sites for personal use – catching up with friends, sharing news and keeping up to date with happenings in our own areas of interest – but how does that translate in a business environment?

Many B2C companies use social media to increase sales, build brand awareness and launch new products and services (check out Kellogg's use of Facebook when it became the first cereal manufacturer to launch a product through social media). 

Using social media for marketing in a B2B environment is an entirely different ball game from either B2C marketing or personal use – so where do you start and, more importantly, what can you expect to gain? 

ROI is notoriously difficult to calculate where social media is concerned. According to a survey by BtoB Magazine (some excerpts from which are available here), 75 per cent of B2B marketers who conduct social marketing say they do not measure the ROI of their social media campaigns. When it comes to social media there is no 'one size fits all' measurement protocol. We wonder if the 75 per cent who do not measure ROI have actually sat down and asked themselves the question 'what do I hope to gain from this?' and then set themselves a series of KPIs by which they can measure success unique to their business and its needs.

In the foreword to Oliver Blanchard's recently publish book 'Social Media ROI', Brian Solis writes: "We must first design outcomes into the equation. What do we want to accomplish? What's the return we seek? Are we trying to sell, change, drive, cause, or inspire something specific? Are we reducing customer problems as measured by inbound volume, open tickets, public discourse? Are we trying to shift sentiment to a more positive state that increases referrals as a result?"

Until you know what you are trying to achieve it is impossible to know whether or not you are going in the right direction.

When integrating social media into your overall marketing strategy perhaps the question should not only be 'what do I want to gain?' but also "what can I gain?". There is little use in having unrealistic expectations. Know what is possible, then work out how you can gain from it. 

If you want to launch a new product, Facebook may not be the best platform. If you want to improve your customer service offering, however, Facebook and Twitter should be top of your list. For networking and business recommendations, an up to date, active LinkedIn profile should be your social media priority.

Whatever you decide to use social media for, make sure it aligns with goals across the business and integrates with your overall marketing strategy. Take, for example, new business. You want to generate leads and bring in new sales. Social media may not be your best bet for bringing in direct sales but it could just be the thing that clinches that new contract.

Think about your own personal use of the internet. In a world of consumerism it's all about reviews. If you're planning a holiday you turn to Trip Advisor for reviews of hotels. If you're buying a new car you read the relevant What? Car magazine article. Would you buy a new TV without typing the model number into Google first? Probably not. Now put your business hat on. You've seen an advert for a potential new supplier in an industry publication. What's the first thing you do? You Google them. The first hit you look for is the company's own website which is, of course, only going to have good things to say about it. What you need to know is what it's like to work with and whether it's as good as it claims to be. It may have the best tomatoes in the world but if the delivery is unreliable and the customer service is unhelpful, you'll wish you'd gone elsewhere.

A visit to a company's Facebook page could provide examples of how it deals with any issues. Has anyone posted a negative comment? If so, how has the company reacted? Maybe there's details of an offer which makes it a more attractive deal. Often the delay in publication of printed media versus the instantaneous nature of the internet means that short-run offers will appear on the internet rather than in print.

Next you turn to Twitter to scout out any interesting tweets. Maybe there's been an issue with a delivery and a customer is making their thoughts known on Twitter. Or, conversely, maybe a customer is thanking them for increasing the size of a delivery at short notice. Maybe they are thought leaders or are actively petitioning to change a rule or regulation and are calling for support.

Somewhere along the lines you consult LinkedIn. Who is in their network? Who has recommended them? What discussions are they involved in?

Now ask yourself – would numerous recommendations on LinkedIn or a positive Facebook profile or Twitter feed encourage you to get in contact with the company? Possibly. Would a negative online presence make you think twice? Probably.

If the company's Facebook page is out of date and the Twitter feed consists of weekly tweets of self-promotion it would do nothing to encourage you to get in touch. If it is being used to communicate with customers, to deal with any problems and ask for feedback (on which it appears to act), it would certainly spike your interest.

According to the BtoB Magazine survey, one of the top three obstacles to adopting social media marketing was management resistance. Chances are this is linked to the issue of ROI. In the example above, social media doesn't provide the initial interest in a company but it helps to keep the interest long enough for an enquiry to be made.

If you're looking into whether or not to invest time and money in social media marketing, maybe the question shouldn't be 'can we afford to'? but 'can we afford not to?'. What is the cost in lost sales of being invisible in the social media world?