3 Tips for Improving Social Media ROI

Social media has become a popular channel for digital marketing. As with most marketing avenues, a common question is how to improve the results of each campaign along with the return on investment. As a top digital marketing firm, we wanted to provide our own insights in this regard by sharing 3 Tips for Improving Social Media ROI.

Many times, we find that when clients are not getting the results they want from social media marketing it is because there are a few aspects which are being overlooked. To some, these aspects might seem minor compared to the other parts of a social media marketing campaign. But they actually add up rather quickly when calculating the economic success of a campaign.

Tips for Improving Social Media ROI

These tips can improve the ROI of all social media marketing campaigns:

• Utilize User-Generated Content – User-generated content is pure gold in the social media world. To start with, there is no cost associated with it from a creation standpoint. Even better, it offers a valuable level of “social proof” that business created content cannot replicate. Studies have shown that people naturally trust user-generated content and images more than business content. The social proof element can be strong when it comes to influencing purchase decisions, which makes the inclusion of user-generated content a no-brainer. By showcasing your products or services being used by real customers you not only will gain trust but also reinforce the social aspect of the platform. You can also create contests and campaigns built around users providing content to strengthen customer relationships and increase brand exposure. The best example of that type of campaign was Starbuck’s legendary White Cup Content.
• Smart Retargeting – Retargeting has been a consistently good method for improving ROI in digital marketing. The key is to focus on smart retargeting, aiming only to spend additional effort to retarget customers that have shown some level of interest in your products, services, or brand. Too many companies use a shotgun approach to retargeting which is about as effective as shotgun marketing. That is simply not effective in today’s oversaturated market. Retargeting needs to be surgical and precise. There are several great retargeting vendors such as Retargeter, AdRoll, or Fetchback that will provide relevant ads that can include personalized products recommendations based on the target’s personal browsing history. Each of these vendors offers built-in analytics.
• Include UTM Parameters – UTM stands for Urchin Tracking Module. UTM parameters are used to better understand how users interact with your website. Why should this be part of your social media campaign? The answer is simple – analytics. A key to any marketing campaign is accurately tracking the results, which is also part of calculating ROI. By adding UTM parameters to links, it allows a better method for tracking the performance of your content on various social media platforms in relation to the following of links. When someone clicks on a URL with UTM parameters, information is sent to Google Analytics.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that if you are using social media as part of a well-rounded digital marketing campaign, maximizing the return on investment should be a priority. Our 3 tips for improving social media ROI can do just that not only for new campaigns but also those in progress.

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