Simply Measured has recently published the results of a new study that provides a lot of information and insight into the way marketers are using social media. The study looked at things such as what marketers hope to get out of social media programs, where they feel they are successful and where their struggles are.
Measuring Social Media Effectiveness
One key area that the study covered is how effective a social media campaign really is. When asking marketers what the most challenging part of running these types of advertising campaigns, there were quite a few interesting answers. You can see the results from the chart below.
As you can see, measuring the return on investment for this type of marketing is clearly the most difficult thing for marketers. While this is a big problem for marketers, there are others that may be even harder to overcome. Tying social activities and business outcomes, for example, is often going to be a bigger challenge, even though fewer people are reporting that as a problem. This may be because this issue is either a big concern or not at all.
Some companies, for example, naturally fit in with social media so tying their activities to their business outcomes is very simple. Other companies, however, don’t naturally fit into a social media platform. This can make it more difficult to get the results you’re looking for or even plan out an effective strategy (which is the third most difficult area according to the study).
Social Media Marketing Goals
Setting proper goals is a big part of running a social media campaign. If you don’t have the right goals in place, you’ll never be able to accurately access the return on investment. For 71% of brands in the study, building a stronger brand awareness is their number one goal. This makes since because social media is an ideal place to do just that.
Driving website traffic came in second place with just 48% of businesses reporting that as a ‘top three goal.’ You can see how the different companies in the survey responded to this question in the chart below:
There are certainly quite a few different goals listed here and getting a good understanding of them all is important. While the question only asks about the top three goals, most marketers will have many other things in mind when developing a social media strategy as well. Getting the best results out of each campaign will rely heavily on understanding the most important areas that you’re looking to make progress.
If you are interested in learning more about marketers and social media, you can view the entire report by clicking HERE. You will undoubtedly find a lot of useful information that can help you develop a better and more successful long term social media strategy for your brand.
