Will B2B Ever Get the ROI of Social Media?

The question of ROI in social media continues to perplex many B2B marketers. Assuming you have a strong marketing communications strategy, you may need to adjust your metrics to effectively determine the ROI of social media because it isn't cut and dry. In fact, in many cases we're using web 1.0 metrics (clicks, conversions, etc.) to measure web 2.0 tools. While sales is the ultimate driver of B2B online marketing initiatives, measuring the interim effectiveness of the tools takes a different metric that revolves around engagement and brand affinity.

Robin Grant of the agency We Are Social wrote an interesting post on measuring the ROI of social media including a good slide presentation embedded below from Jon 'yongfook'Cockle.

Social Media ROI

View more Microsoft Word documents from yongfook.

Real B2B buyers use long-tail keywords...

Long-tail keywords refer to more specific phrases vs. a general term or phrase. For example,

ERP software for discreet manufacturing in automotive industry
vs.
ERP software.

Testing has shown that the long-tail (more specific) search is usually a good indication of a higher level of interest, which leads to better conversion. That said, the total number of clicks will be much lower for long-tail phrases than for a general term, but conversions drive sales. See an older post PPC Copywriting vs. SEO Copywriting... they're inverse.

So how can B2B marcom pros boost conversion with long-tail keywords?

Go back to the B2B buying cycle. Prospects who are further along the buying cycle, in the consideration phase, are looking for more information to help them make the right decision. In the consideration phase, you may find long-tail keyword phrases more effective, because that's when B2B buyers begin narrowing down their searches. They may often search on solutions to specific problems instead of product categories. For example, they may search for reliability maintenance analysis using the Barringer methodology, At this stage an effective B2B marcom mix could include a white paper, webinar, online video (with complementary white paper), and blog posts--all discussing the details of reliability maintenance analysis using the Barringer method.

Taken a step further, your marcom mix should also use the long-tail keyword phrase, reliability maintenance analysis using the Barringer method, in the drivers to the previously described content--drivers being the banner ads, email blasts and Twitter tweets that drive visitors to the content. So your subject line in the email blast should include the keyword phrase as well as the twitter tweet, banner ad, etc. (In the case of a subject line, you may need to truncate the long-tail phrase slightly.)

So when you identify a long-tail keyword phrase that your prospects are searching on, develop an integrated B2B campaign around it to help move prospects closer to the buying decision. You won't get lots of clicks, but you will get more conversions.

Here's a good article from Julie Joyce, How to Use Long-Tailed Keywords in Your Linking Campaign.

If Your B2B Marcom Plan Doesn't Include SEO, You Could Be Driving Leads to Your Compeititors

If you're generating leads and you don't have an SEO program, or at least a website that's optimized for search, when a prospect searches for products and services, he or she will likely find your competitors (assuming your competitors are using SEO techniques).

I mentioned this in another Integratd Marcom Minute blog post on online video. Many B2B marketers don't think their B2B clients & prospects are searching online. That couldn't be further from the truth. Back as early as 2004, a StatMarket report indicated that 64% of B2B users turned to search first when researching new products.

Here's a common B2B marketing example. Let's say you offer a white paper on your latest technology. You position yourself as a leader in the field. The prospect downloads the white paper then later conducts a search to see other companies in the same space, and you're nowhere to be found. The fact that you don't show up contradicts what you say in the white paper--that you're a leader in the field.

And given the lengthy and complex B2B sales cycle, search becomes even more important as the prospect moves closer to buying. Prospects may download the white paper in the awareness and consideration phases, and then months or weeks laters, as they move closer to purchase, conduct a few more searches. Is your company showing up in the results?

Searches tend to become more specific (longtail) the closer the prospect is to buying. The bottomline for B2B marketers is this... SEO is an integral part of B2B online marketing. Without it, you could be generating leads for your competitors.

Marketing Profs' Roxanne Lott wrote a good article on the impact of search on the B2B sales cycle "The Power of Search within a Complex Sales Cycle."

At the very least, your website should be optimized for search.

Online Marketing Summit - Joe Pulizzi on Content and Social Media

Here's a good presentation on why B2B marketing communications professionals need a content marketing strategy as part of their marcom strategy.

B2B marketers can benefit from a content management strategy because it can help engage and move prospects further through the complex B2B buying cycle. Tell us what you think about content marketing.

Online Marketing Summit - Joe Pulizzi on Content and Social Media

View more OpenOffice presentations from Joe Pulizzi.

The End of B2B Marcom As We Know It...

I don't usually make predictions, but As a B2B marketer, I predict that social media is as big, if not bigger, than the internet was back in '94 when everyone was scurrying to put up a website. I see it happening all over again with social media. It happened to a lesser extent in '02 with blogs, and now many B2B companies are seeing results from blogs including improved search ranking, higher engagement, etc. The fact is, social media has already impacted B2B marcom.

B2B Marcom: The New Enabling Function

Call it a disruptive technology, but social media has definitely shifted the perspective from which marketers operate. I'm referring specifically to B2B marketing communications (marcom). Marcom is not only a driver or conduit for getting the marketing message out, but also an enabling function that provides the platform for clients and prospects to engage with the brand, provide feedback and spread the word. Marketers can choose not to influence how they're enabling clients and prospects to spread the word, but the word will still be spread.

B2B Social Media and the Buying Cycle

Thanks to social media, B2B marketing communications has become an enabling function for the buyer--particularly in the consideration phase of the often lengthy B2B buying cycle. The role of marcom in the consideration phase is to enable the buyer to connect with the communities where he or she can conduct research on the product beyond what marcom says the product will do for the buyer. The B2B marcom role is to facilitate the conversation with and through other users of the product so that the buyer can make an informed decision. Then, once prospects convert to clients, marcom needs to enable satisfied buyers to evangelize about the product within their communities of influence.

Stop Pushing Your Prospects & Clients Around

Perhaps social media hasn't completely rid marcom of its role in pushing communications out to the market, but we should certainly look at the ratio of push to pull. (Hint: there should be more pull.) And we should also be asking ourselves how well our push communications are guiding buyers to the communities that will pull buyers into the conversation and further along the sales funnel. Remember... by itself, social media isn't going to directly drive revenue. However, as part of an integrated marketing communications strategy, social media can influence the buying cycle.

Do B2B Marketers Have Time for Social Media?

The question is... how much time are you willing to invest in social media to have an impact? As a general rule of thumb, you'll need to spend a minimum of one hour per day listening to the social sphere and a minimum of two hours per day to participate. That excludes the up front time researching your communities of influence, which can take as little as two or three hours to several hours. Take a look at the social media time chart below from Beth Kanter.

Remix this Chart Please

View more OpenOffice presentations from kanter.

Social media is here to stay

So I don't think social media is a fad, and I think that many of the tools that work on the social media platform may in fact be fads, but that's what happened back in the late '90s when numerous websites and companies that were built on the internet platform didn't make it. The same will happen with social media sites--some will make it and some won't. But the platform itself is here to stay and has already changed the role of B2B marketing communications. What do you think?

More resources on B2B Social Media:

• Social Media Tools


• Wall Street Journal's Conduct for Social Media


• How Much Time Does Social Media Management Take?


• Social Media Marketing Report

How B2B Marcom Departments Can Add Social Media Skills...

If you're like most B2B marketing communications departments, you probably don't have in-house social media experts. And you probably don't have a budget for hiring FTEs who are adept at social media. Your options are to leverage your agency, if they have a social media group and to build the skills in house using your own marcom team or leverage social media enthusiasts from other departments who can evangelize the brand.

Your job, as the marcom manager, is to understand and clearly state your marcom objectives first and foremost, and then allow the social media folks to present how social media can be integrated effectively into your marcom mix. B2B marketing communications is moving past the experimental phase and into a planned program approach to integrating social media. The following provides helpful advice and insights into how marcom departmentss need to transform to capitalize on social media and help their companies remain competitive.

John Bell, who heads up Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence team, offers good advice from a recent blog post 3 Trends in Integrating Social Media

Bell explains that marcom departments need to undergo a transformation to "think, plan and execute digitally." In Integrating Social Media into the Marcom Team, Bell tells us why a marketing communications transformation needs to occur and how it will benefit future marketing programs.

B2B Marcom: Making the Business Case

It's still sketchy for a lot of B2B marketers, but social media marketing has earned a permanent spot in the marketing communications mix. Here's how other B2B marketers are approaching B2B and integrating it into their marcom mix.

Remember... social media is a tool not a strategy. You still need to understand your objective and carefully consider how social media can help you achieve it.

• Here Lee Odden interviews Dave Evans on Dave’s new book (good read… btw) Social Media Marketing an Hour a Day http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/01/social-media-marketingan-hour-a-day/
  


• Online Marketing Connect: Good article on the use of social media and its impact on the business http://blog.onlinemarketingconnect.com/2009/03/25/social-media-in-the-enterprise-context-key-solution-areas-and-use-cases/
  


• Another good post from Online Marketing Connect about social media from a recent summit. Skip down to the bulleted list for good input on “Is Your Company Social” from a presentation by Michael Weisfeld. http://blog.onlinemarketingconnect.com/2009/03/20/online-marketing-summit-lessons-learned-about-social-media/
  


• Another good site from Peter Kim lists ~50 companies and the social media marketing tools they’re using. http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2008/09/ive-been-thinki.html
  


• My own article on B2B Tweeters http://www.jdamico.net/resources/How-B2B-Marketers-Are-Using-Twitter.shtml

What's your business case for integrating social media into your marcom mix?