Proving that your social media marketing efforts are worth your company’s budget and time can be a challenge. Social media after all, despite its ubiquity, is a relatively new phenomenon that can be hard to make projections from.
So you might ask: How can you, as a B2B marketer, prove that social media will work wonders for your lead generation and conversion efforts?
Here are some ways you can score “quick wins” and demonstrate the power of social media marketing.
1. Measureable Metrics from Social Media Advertising
A much faster way to see results from social media is to invest in social advertisements. Such ads are often as effective and “natural” in prospects’ eyes as native social posts are, and you can you’re your company’s senior management that social ads can make good use of the buyer personas and marketing intelligence your company already has. Within a relatively short period of time, you can demonstrate that it is possible to generate new leads via social, and as a bonus, you’ll have some data on what works for your company in building a social audience.
2. Rich Social Engagements and Influence
Much of the power of social media marketing lies in its power to increase a brand’s influence in an industry. The building blocks of this influence are very small: often they’re simple comments, likes, shares, retweets, and other small pieces of social media collateral.
But they can quickly become real evidence that your social initiatives are engaging prospects’ minds and hearts.
One of the biggest advantages of social is how quickly a polished social presence can be a springboard for lead generation and engagement. Use this to show that social can and will increase ROI over time.
3. Increased Web Traffic and Downloaded Content
One of the easiest ways to prove the positive impact of social on ROI is to demonstrate increased web traffic and downloaded content as a result of click-throughs on social media.
The process is simple: prospects notice that you exist on social. They’ll then click on one of your offers (whether it’s a direct advertisement, or you’ve linked to your marketing collateral organically) and end up on your corporate website or blog. From there, they download resources and are drawn into your sales funnel.
And there you have it: your social prospect becomes a real lead.