Most C-Suite executive’s, entrepreneurs, and marketing managers know social media is important. That argument is hard to refute, especially when it’s all over the news and everywhere you look. However, in cases where we are trying to show a CEO or marketing manager the value of organizational involvement in social media, a few fact sheets and videos showing the size of Facebook and how celebrities have more Twitter followers than people in certain countries just doesn’t quite cut it.
Public relations? Customer service? Community building? Those can be difficult things for organizational leaders to get their mind around, much less justify additional business costs.
Here are 3 ways you can help justify social media marketing and touch on the thing that matters most…the highly coveted bottom line.
Focus on Relevant Numbers
Whether you are just hoping to get a social media initiative started or your organization has been dabbling with a Facebook page; getting approval for the time and resources to do this correctly means focusing on numbers that matter. Don’t drown your presentation in a sea of metrics. Fans and followers numbers are important; however, aligning social media with goals, revenue and cost savings will get you farther:
1. Connect Business Goals
- Customer Goals
Most organizations are continually trying to figure out how to keep their current customers, get them to buy more and buy more frequently. During that process there is interaction, whether it’s by phone, email or in-person. Trust me, these are measured goals any self-respecting organization will be focusing on.
Can you articulate how social media can support buy more and buy more frequently goals?
- Sales Goals
We all like new business leads that company salespeople can work with, communicate and interact with to reach targets. And organizations love referrals. Done correctly, social media can generate leads and referrals in a variety of different ways. It’s “pounding the pavement” on the Internet.
How can your social media initiative support and align with lead generation and build referrals?
- Marketing Goals
That $5,000 per month radio, television or billboard advertisement has a goal…drive new business. So does that snail mail marketing campaign that most of the time gets tossed in the receptacle two seconds after it reaches the intended mailbox.
Can your social media plan reinforce marketing goals for advertisement and create an experience that will get people talking and buying? Even better, can it save the marketing department money on methods that don’t get measured or work as well?
2. Engage the Sales Funnel
From the brick and mortar operation to the eCommerce store, new and existing customers follow a path through various channels on their way to purchasing products and services. Whether that path is short, such as inspiring someone to eat at a restaurant or relatively long like purchasing a new car, organizations and marketers spend inordinate amounts of time and money trying to influence prospective customers.
Social media plugs in to those channels of influence and becomes a part of that sales funnel. It aids audiences in the decision making process. Empowering that audience to download the latest meal deal coupon by booking their restaurant reservation or special offers and value added information on that new car.
We can’t forget the interaction that takes place in the sales funnel either. Ratings, recommendations and videos for the restaurant act as the salesperson. Likewise, real-time monitoring and support in the form of answering questions about that new car are all apart of nearly any sales process.
3. Document the Evidence
We are starting to become convincing here. The ears are perked up and the eyes open a little wider. Now it is time to document the evidence. Whether you uncover information on best practices or are forecasting costs vs. benefits, the numbers are what will really matter.
So what will that CEO or marketing manager want to know?
- Who will lead the social media initiative?
- How much staff time will it take in $?
- What will outside/inside services cost? (i.e. IT, design, etc.)
- How much should be allotted to media buys? (i.e. Google and Facebook Ads).
- What will connect efforts to conversions? (How will we know someone purchased as a result of social media)
- How many conversions can we expect? (You might use other campaigns as a benchmark)
With those numbers you’ll have enough evidence to show the costs. Now, it may be wise to also calculate things such as revenue per sale and overall revenue and align those with social media goals you have set for conversions or money savings.
If revenue outpaces costs, you now have much more justification for getting your social media initiative approved. Even better, you might just find a whole slew of resources at your disposal.
