They like you, but do they love you?

As we race to keep up with the latest social-media trend, it's easy to forget about what really matters - generating buzz over an exceptional product and brand experience.
MULTICHANNEL MARKETING Business team hands at work with financial reports and a laptop

Likes and followers may make us feel good, but in order to see real sales results, businesses need to resist vanity metrics and look at what consumers really want.

What’s the best way to measure true brand engagement, effectiveness and return on investment (ROI)? This is probably the hardest question that marketers face and many have conflicting views about the best answers.

As technology continues to become more embedded in our lives, all business units are forced to prove their worth by implementing new and innovative practices. Marketers are no exception to this, often hopping on the latest trends and constantly adjusting their strategies across all media channels.

However, continually adapting to social media and reacting to changing digital algorithms has led to some marketers becoming distracted. It’s also prevented some small businesses from achieving their original sales and marketing objectives.

What really matters

As we race to keep up with the latest social-media trend, it can be easy to forget about what really matters – generating buzz and excitement over an exceptional product and brand experience.

Brands of all sizes were caught up in Instagram’s purge of spam followers – proving that all sorts of businesses can get trapped by the allure of vanity metrics.

Rather than looking at increases in “fan” or “follower numbers”, businesses should instead look at “engagement” figures.

Measuring sales results from a product advertised on the front page of a catalogue as compared to a promotion code ordered via an online promotion is a far better metric to analyse. Why? Because it involves determining the most important element: actual sales from marketing investment.

In today’s fast-paced world, small businesses in particular often forget to look at what’s been achieved and consider whether their achievements are helping them move in the right direction.

As we race to keep up with the latest social-media trend, it’s easy to forget about what really matters – generating buzz over an exceptional product and brand experience.

What research reveals

The Yellow Social Media Report 2014 from Sensis demonstrates how disorganised small businesses can be in measuring the return provided by their social-media activity.

The report found that 81% of small businesses had made some financial investment in social media, but just 17% formally measured the return it provided.

Overall, one-quarter of small businesses do not know their social-media ROI and relatively few had developed a formal social-media strategy.

The Sensis report also highlights a clear disparity between how businesses use social media and what consumers want from brands online.

The study found that the most common use of social media for small businesses was to invite online comments, ratings or reviews.

However, just 28% of social-media users reported ever posting reviews or blogs on the internet.

Discounts and coupons were listed as the key reasons consumers connected with businesses on social media. However, the percentage of businesses that offered these incentives to connect was much lower.

Latest research highlights some interesting statistics regarding engagement and what media most drives consumers to buy.

Research shows that 93% of customers go in-store after reading catalogues and that Australians spend more than 29 minutes a week reading them.

What metrics to use

With consumers facing multiple interactions from various influencers everyday, it can be tough to determine when and what to measure. In these complex environments, it is always best to refer to a few finely tuned measurements rather than a handful of inaccurate, inconclusive metrics.

In his book The Lean Startup, author Eric Ries recognises the importance of “the three As” – metrics that are actionable, accessible and auditable.

Metrics should align directly with sales results – something that’s achievable for all media.

Demographical testing of campaigns, spot vouchers, sales incentives and local-area promotions are all great testing grounds for campaigns. Establishing these metrics will build solid data for all media channels.

Monthly reporting allows businesses to reflect on what they’re doing. Downloadable reports, Excel spreadsheets and marketing software all ensure this doesn’t have to be an expensive or time-consuming task.

Of course social and digital media channels have an important role in today’s marketing mix. However, using the right balance of each media channel, including catalogues, magazines and newspapers, will deliver optimal results.

A completely digital or social-media centric approach will not deliver as strong a result as a considered and balanced multi-channel campaign.

Kellie Northwood, Executive Director of Xsd, Executive Director of Australasian Catalogue Association

This article first appeared in issue 9 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine