Social media tools are becoming more and more valuable for marketing. Blogs, online video, social networks, and podcasts are the most popular social media tools used by marketers. Overall, there is a high satisfaction level with all social media tools.
“Companies are adopting social media as a marketing tool, yet they are struggling to find effective metrics”, writes Paul Gillin, author of The New Influencers, in a report issued by the Society for New Communications Research.
More than half of the organizations surveyed are formally measuring the success of social media initiatives. Standard hard metrics for online marketing such as search engine ranking and website traffic, are being useful for evaluating social media influence, yet awareness and engagement factors topped the list of most important criteria for overall communication efforts:
- Enhancement of relationships with key audiences
- Enhancement of reputation
- Search engine ranking of website
- Customer awareness of program
- Click-thrus to website
- Comments/posts relevant to company or products
- Social media coverage
- Unique visitors from influencers’ sites
Social media is perceived to be more effective when targeted at younger age groups, with the 18-25 group being the most likely to be influenced, ahead of the under-18, 26-35 and over-65 age brackets.
In determining who are the most influential bloggers and podcasters, marketers indicate quantitative data such as web and blog search engine rankings; frequency of posting; page visits/site meter rankings. They also value less tangible forms of measurement, like quality/relevance of content and name recognition.
Industries most likely to use social media are: media, internet, communication, education, leisure, computer hardware, government, telecom, nonprofit, food and beverage, health services, electronics, retail, financial services, specialty retail and consumer durables.
Industries least likely: heavy manufacturing, materials management and construction.
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