Trying to Use Social to Generate Sales… Don’t Make Selling Social

Many say we can’t assess social-marketing endeavors directly, others profess that if we can’t accredit a ROI then we shouldn’t be doing it. But perhaps we are altogether overlooking the fact, possibly the hitch is not if social worth can be calculated in dollars. Maybe the matter is that we cannot quantify the objectives in dollars that weren’t envisioned to be commercial in the first place

Most biz owners defines objective to make money for their organization as they should….but still most social-marketing programs are intended to generate engagement, increase followers or cause Facebook likes. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that there’s a discord here. Obtaining ROI from most social endeavors doesn’t take better analysis tools — it simply takes the inclusion of objectives that are centered on generating profit.

Consumer loyalty, support, engagement, interest and awareness are all important in the marketing funnel, but the assumption that they surpass the “baser” action of retailing is pure sham. If consumers don’t want “buying” relationships with us, then we have no business being in business.

You require an improved balance with your social-marketing endeavors and speak to the whole customer permission set, comprising how they want to buy from you. Only then you can form measurable profit goals that intersect with these permissions. Because the purpose of social marketing is not simply to collect viewers/listeners appreciation, but to make every customer experience shareable — including the purchase. You need to use those “stalking” ads that display the products in facebook, AdNetworks to your visitor when they last looked at on your site. And frankly, despite the creepy factor, consumers don’t mind for the most part, since the connection the biz has built is centered on customers buying stuff from it.

Further, the hypothesis that the gamut of social media is being wrecked by the “old” strategies of “push selling” is totally untruthful. All those famous fan-led pull efforts which were astronomically successful, are the new way to market; but did you notice that almost all of these “fan-led” triumphs are built on the foundation of years and at times millions of dollars spent in old-school push promotions?

You should remember that the real value of social to any business be it small or fortune 500 is that it tears up the veil between marketing and operations, that it has a broader objective of creating the sales experience personal, significant and ultimately shareable. It brings out every customer’s touchpoint within the company on public display. So, it is imperative that we stop creating passive, money wasting programs that simply use social media and start thinking of social marketing as a mastery of doing business in a style that customers want to share. Selling must be social. Because only then are we able to measure the profitability of social marketing.

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