Multichannel Marketing for B2B Marketers

The question is on every marketer’s mind: How do you measure the return on social media?

The question is answered, in part, in a report by Forrester research analyst Augie Ray.

“Some marketers try to use proxies to assign financial value to nonfinancial metrics such as likes, followers, retweets, blog comments, and positive reviews,” Ray writes. “But this type of proxy carries risks that include: Failing to measure true business value, getting in the way of achieving objectives, arriving at an incorrect value for social efforts and failing to attribute results to those channels and investments that deliver the results.” continue reading…

Here’s a tip if you’re looking for a new use for social media.

How about customer service? You’d be entering a very elite group, according to a new study published by MarketingProfs for Digital Brand Expressions.

Of 100 companies surveyed, only 26% use social media for this purpose. Yet 91% use it for marketing, and 71% for public relations. And 55% deploy the social networks for sales.

You might even use it for human resources, an activity now pursued through social media by a measly 16%. continue reading…

Social networks are among the most measureable of all channels. But over a third of all B2B users are not measuring their impact, according to a survey from White Horse.

What’s more, only 11% are tracking direct ROI. B2B marketers “usually participate in complex, consultative sales rather than direct sales,” White Horse explains. Thus, there’s “less concern about proving direct ROI.” continue reading…

Notice to companies getting started in social media: You’re not an early adopter.

The most advanced firms are among Inc. magazine’s 500 fastest-growing companies, according to a survey by the Center of Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

They’re ahead of the Fortune 500, which presumably means that they’re ahead of everyone.

Of those surveyed, 80% use social media. That’s up from 49% in 2008. And 14% are planning to use it. continue reading…

Here’s some news that should warm the hearts of email marketers.

“Despite reports of its demise, email is still the most popular method of sharing, and despite its meteoric rise of late, Twitter is still not a very popular sharing channel,” writes Tim Schigel, CEO of ShareThis, the online sharing network, in a blog post.

Schigel reports that 46% of all sharing is driven by email, compared with 33% by Facebook and 14% by channels like Digg, del.icio.us and LinkedIn. Twitter’s “share” of this traffic? Only 6%. continue reading…