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IAB: Proving the value of social media marketing
Marketing News |
19/01/2012
Businesses used a variety of different methods in 2011 as they sought to prove the return on investment of social media activities, it has been claimed.
Writing for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) blog, Iain MacMillan explained that companies are eager to measure the value of communicating with consumers via this channel.
However, he said the myriad of data gathered by social media marketers generally failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that social networking communications helps meet particular business objectives.
Mr MacMillan noted that companies sought to achieve a number of goals using social media, such as increasing awareness via online advocacy, driving loyalty through social engagement, improving internal collaboration via more effective information exchange and innovating new products through crowd-sourcing initiatives.
Other brands spent their time trying to prove the 'value of a fan', he added, something he regards as "an interesting though often somewhat intellectual pursuit".
But this tends to assume that all valuable online, social behaviour happens on Facebook, Mr MacMillan said.
Research conducted by the IAB highlights some of the methods used to measure the value of social media interaction, he explained.
For instance, business looking to improve customer satisfaction using social media tracked changes in sentiment using online monitoring tools, and those looking to establish a knowledge sharing community utilised user surveys.
Social media analytics were used by some businesses in 2011 as firms looked to drive customer engagement and increase awareness of their own activities.
And by tracking buzz levels using monitoring tools and measuring the amount of online hits, marketers were able to amplify events, the IAB suggested.
"It's great to see social media being used to drive business value and growth in so many ways, clearly showing how an organisation-wide approach to social media is not only required, but now being implemented, by many organisations," Mr MacMillan told the IAB blog.
"Both analytics and surveys are being used to show the impact that social media is having upon an organisation, its employees, partners and customers."
Posted by John Lynes
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