Determining Social Media ROI

The article “Five Steps to Measuring Your Social Media ROI” by Graham Gullans discusses the difficulty of measuring ROI based on social media. However, as he states in his article, it can be done. In chapter thirteen of the text, “Professor Christine Moorman, the director of the study, observed that, ‘Getting that all-important quantitative proof, which only 15% have, is essential to justifying this spending.’ (Barker, 2016)”

Gullans states that, “social media spending is projected to account for 16% of the digital ad market by 2017.” Making sure that your business’s money is well spent and that you are receiving a return on your investments is important. So how does he suggest we measure social media ROI? Firstly, we must identify our business objectives. Chapter thirteen of the text states, “Marketers cannot create measures with business value unless they first have measurable objectives and then map their metrics to the objectives. (Barker, 2016)” Each business must look at what they want to achieve through the use of social media. Secondly, we should create goals based on our business objectives. Thirdly, we should stay informed. This can be done through the use of Google Analytics, which allows you to track customer action in response to your posts. Fourth, we should set a value to our KPI, and lastly, we should compare our efforts to that of our competitors. This can help a business discover opportunities, but it should not be used to determine overall success as each business is different. (Gullans, 2016)

Gullans did a fantastic job in breaking down specifically how a business can determine their ROI. Also discussed in our class, he highlights the importance of developing objectives and goals and developing benchmarks for measurement. Social media is an important tool for businesses around the world to increase awareness and engage with their customers, but making sure that efforts are worth the associated price is always important. Businesses can feel lost using social media if they cannot see or understand the return. A lot of times this happens because they do not know how to determine their ROI, or are determining it incorrectly. Gullans sets up a step by step process that is easy to follow, from choosing objectives to monitoring the success of your social media efforts. He provides a simplified version of the process of monitoring social media that we learned in class, even recommending Google Analytics. His article lacks actual formulas for use in determining ROI, but he provides generalized steps with instructions. This article is a good reference for any business who wants to determine their ROI based on social media.

-Rebecca F

Gullans, G. (27 April 2016). Five Steps to Measuring Your Social Media ROI. Advertising Age.

     Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/steps-measuring-social-media-roi/303730/

Barker, Melissa S., Donald I. Barker, Nicholas F. Bormann, Mary Lou Roberts, and Debra Zahay.

     SocialMedia Marketing: A Strategic Approach. 2nd ed. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage              Learning, 2016. Print.

15 Social Media Marketing Trends in 2016

Social media will only continue to grow as our younger generations enter the workforce.  Therefore, social media marketing strategies need to continue to evolve as well. This article talks about how social media marketing will grow to accommodate consumers with an on the go lifestyle and evolve for the future. This is evident in the first topic that the article talks about. More people are finding information today on smartphones than they are on laptops or desktops. Having mobile optimization in your website or social platform is becoming more important everyday.

Another big topic this article makes you think about is selling on social media. Some social media sites let users buy products directly on their platforms. Facebook and Pinterest are the first to use this buy now feature so consumers can have a better experience buying what they want on the spot. Engaging with customers and converting views into sales are the main goals with social media marketing. The buy now feature and other new ways to buy directly on platforms will definitely help companies improve with both of those goals.

According to statistics, videos dominate consumer’s attention online. The article states, “YouTube still receives a massive amount of hits per day. Facebook receives 8 billion video views daily as of November 2015”(Smart Insights). For this reason, companies will obviously have to keep up their video usage. Not only are consumers watching a lot of videos, but they are also more engaged to the content. You can see why video is so popular because it has “the ability to engage viewers, reach large audiences, and showcase products.” (Barker, 145). The interesting part of this is how video will change in the future. The article said that Facebook is getting a lot more video views than in the past. Maybe videos will start getting more popular on social media platforms and YouTube will have to improve to keep the consumers on their site.

Lastly, this article talks about how social media users love “in-the-moment” content. Social media users love to be the first one to find out big news or see a hot new deal on their favorite brand. Today, Periscope is the most popular live streaming online platform. This platform has the opportunity to grow substantially in the next couple years. This live video could help brands engage with their consumers closer than ever before. Brands could convey themselves in totally different ways and show exactly what they represent and strive to be.

Brandon B.

Link to Original Post:

http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/15-social-media-search-engine-marketing-trends-2016/

The DOs and DON’Ts of Facebook Marketing

Original article written by Brenda Ster on July 14^th, 2016

The author of this article, Brenda Ster, is both a social media trainer and a direct sales consultant. If anyone should know about what does and doesn’t work on Facebook, it’s her. This article is spot on with what I’ve learned in my Social Media Marketing class. While this article was written more for the direct sellers and individuals with their own online companies, all of these concepts apply to huge, international companies as well.

            Brenda Ster starts out the article by saying in the first paragraph, “People come to Facebook for two primary reasons: to connect socially, and to be entertained.” This fits in directly with what I learned in the second module. There are five reasons that people log on to social media, and three of them connect directly with exactly what she said. The contact comfort impulse drives the need to connect, and the affinity impulse and prurient impulse both tend to the need to be entertained.

            Ster brings up an excellent point later in her article by saying, “If you wouldn’t do something in person, don’t do it online.” This is so important for social media marketing because the goal is to engage with consumers. By constantly pushing goods and services on them, companies can turn existing consumers and potential consumers off of their product. This makes me think of the kiosk workers in the mall who chase you down so that you will smell the perfume they are selling. By attacking me with such determination they make me want to run the other way. If they would just smile and ask how I was before jumping down my throat with why I should buy everything they’re offering, I would be much more likely to approach them and potentially make a purchase. This concept applies to social media marketing as well as marketing fragrances in mall corridors.

            In the DO and DON’T lists that Ster provides toward the end of the article, every single point she talks about, we touched on throughout this course, except she mentions that you should follow the 80/20 rule. In this class we talked about the 10:1 ratio instead, but both of these concepts have the same premise. Whether posting for an international company, or the mom and pop store down the block, the 10:1 ratio should always be taken into consideration. This will help ensure to not push away customers with obnoxious posts.

            Ster ends her article discussing that “your brand sells your product. You sell your personality.” This point is so important to social media marketers for all products. No matter how great the product is you’re pushing, if you, as yourself or as the voice of the company, do not come across in a genuine and authentic light, you will have end up losing follower and subscribers.

           

Morgan M.

Original Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-dos-and-donts-of-facebook-marketing_us_57884887e4b0cbf01e9f7b6e

Blunder by The Home Depot

https://www.linkedin.com/company/1534?trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Acompany%2CclickedEntityId%3A1534%2Cidx%3A2-1-4%2CtarId%3A1469291943807%2Ctas%3Athe%20home

I considered this social media post to be “bad” by The Home Depot, posted on July 22, 2016 on the social media platform of LinkedIn. I believe this post was a failure because the content of the post is not appropriate for LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, in-depth, longer posts are needed and jargon is frowned upon on this site. Therefore, The Home Depot’s use of the phrase “TGIF” in this post does not convey professionalism, which is what LinkedIn prides itself on (M. Barker, D. Barker, Bormann, Roberts, Zahay 88). This light, airy content is more suited for Facebook or Twitter, not LinkedIn. Also, another reason this post is a letdown for The Home Depot is because the company did not post at an optimal time in order to receive the highest level of engagement among consumers. It is recommended not to post on the weekdays from 10 am-6 pm, with this post falling outside of this suggested range (M. Barker, D. Barker, Bormann, Roberts, Zahay 50).

Tory C.

Barker, Melissa S., Donald I. Barker, Nicholas F. Bormann, Mary Lou Roberts, and Debra Zahay. Social Media Marketing A Strategic Approach. 2nd ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.

Blair Witch Sequel

@BlairWitchMovie is using their twitter account to promote Lionsgates new movie, The Woods. One reason why this ad was so successful is because it was a paid advertisement featured on other twitter pages. This post received about 600 more retweets and 500 more likes than any other tweet made about the film. Another reason why this ad was so successful is because the Blair Witch twitter page does not post clutter. Since the page only posted a few times after the buzz from Blair Witch died down, seeing news of a new post created an unprecedented level of excitement on their twitter page.

Mikalah S.

Original source: https://twitter.com/search?q=the%20woods&src=typd

Hair Tutorial Gone WRONG

http://fashionweek.com/cosmopolitan-faces-criticism-saying-cornrows-new-trend/

An example of a bad post was shown on July 16, 2016 at 1 pm when the magazine company, Cosmopolitan, posted a video that caused tons of backlash from their audience. One reason that the post was bad is that the company didn’t listen and observe their audience or do their research before creating a post that called an old age hairstyle by a particular race a new trend. Another reason that the post is bad is that since the correct research wasn’t done, thousands of commenters accused the company of cultural appropriation and threatened to never buy the magazine again. The only thing that Cosmopolitan did  do right about this post is show social media etiquette by taking responsibility for the problem and apologizing by saying “*A note from the editors: Many of you have commented on this video and the language used to promote it. We take your feedback seriously and we apologize. We can and will do better.”

Candice B.

Hobby Lobby: Doing Things Right

While scrolling through Hobby Lobby’s Facebook page, I realized just what an outstanding job the company was doing in their posts on this platform of social media. The first quality trait that I want to highlight is their post content. They do such a great job of creating interesting posts that really capture the eyes and minds of their audience. This post seen to the left and found at: https://www.facebook.com/HobbyLobby/  is a form of a how-to picture collage giving followers a nifty idea to practice when decorating a cake. Followers can reference this post for directions and to see the required materials, giving the Hobby Lobby page more traffic, and then visit the store to purchase said materials, increasing store traffic and sales. The second great trait I noticed in this post was Hobby Lobby’s response to the comments that followers made. The responses were timely, made within just a couple of hours, and they were genuine in that the responses were kind-hearted in what they contained. This shows followers that the company has a very active presence on the site and that they are there to serve them through this social media platform in providing them quality content and helpful, polite responses.

Savanna H.

Anthropologie's Instagram Advantage- Rachel Robinson

A company that I think uses Instagram to their advantage is Anthropologie, who used stylishly placed Instagram photos to their own benefit. In a July 16^th Instagram post, which was submitted to Anthropologie by lifestyle blogger, Camille Styles. The photo depicted summer cocktails being served in Anthropologie glassware. Anthropologie captioned the photo to give Styles the credit for the post and then included a link to their website where their followers could shop for that same glassware. In the 2016 book Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Approach, authors Melissa S. Barker, Donald I. Barker, Nicolas F. Bormann, Mary Lou Roberts and Debra Zahay, the benefits of marketing with online photos are highlighted- I attribute a few of these benefits as reasons for the posts success of nearly 16,000 likes. Anthropologie took advantage of this photo to showcase their product and especially to show their product being used to serve cocktails (Barker et al., p. 166). Another reason this post was successful was because Anthropologie used the post to drive traffic to their website by including a link to their website so that followers could shop the visually-appealing glassware displayed in the post (Barker et al. p. 167).

-Rachel Robinson

Barker, M.S., Barker, D.I., Bormann, N.F., Roberts, M.L., & Zahay, D. (2016). Social media

            marketing: a strategic approach (2^nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

https://instagram.com/p/BH8RcIwg99A/

 

 

Share Your Ears

This year, to coincide with the celebration of Disneyland’s 60^th anniversary, Disney ran a campaign along side the Make-A-Wish Foundation to raise money and celebrate their 100,000 Disney related wish granted. The campaign was simple. For every photo shared on social media, Disney would donate $5 to Make-A-Wish. Disney pledged that the Company would donate up to one million dollars to the charity throughout this campaign. Because of the overwhelming response to this campaign, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts double the amount donate and gave a total of two million dollars to Make-A-Wish.

Fans of Disney were invited to share photos of Mickey Mouse ears to the social media platforms twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #ShareYourEars and by using the photo frame on Facebook. If fans did not have Mickey Mouse ears they were still invited to make their own out of anything they had. Each photo unlocked a $5 donation to the charity. The campaign ran from January 29, 2016 to March 14, 2016. In addition to the online campaign, Disney gave portions of the proceeds of Disneyland’s 60^th celebration ears to the charity. Disney also made an exclusive dazzled ear hat and two exclusive Disney experiences as a part of the Make-A-Wish sweepstakes. Bob Chapek, a chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts said, “We’re thrilled that so many of our guests, fans, and cast members supported Make-A-Wish by sharing their ears and joining Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in making even more children’s wishes come true.” The Facebook post made by Disneyland can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/Disneyland/videos/10153973562240742/

                       

Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. Make-A-Wish is the world’s largest wish-granting organization. They serve children and families in nearly fifty countries on five continents and grants, on average, a wish every twenty-one minutes. Since its founding in 1980, the wish granting organization has granted over 350,000 wishes to children around the world and about 8,000 of these wishes each year are Disney related. This includes any experience at a Disney theme park, voyages on the Disney Cruise Line, meet and greets with specific characters, and visits to the sets of TV shows and movies. Disney is the most popular request by Make-A-Wish children. As a former cast member, I can say that being a small part of their trip is an honor and a privilege. There is not recorded amount of photos from the entire campaign however we can determine that it was at least 200,000 photos shared. The campaign was successful not only because of the amount of money raised but because of the outpour of support and reach the campaign had.

Original story: http://wish.org/content/disney/share-your-ears?cid=WBST-SHAREYOUREARS-MICROSITE#sm.0000w3cg1i53tep7q2l16xpt9p0u0

-Elizabeth B.