Ceekue B2B marketing and social media

To Hell With Social Media ROI

May 10, 2011

Social Media ROI is hot. Many blog posts, articles, whitepapers and books have been written about the topic and there are probably many more to follow. But if anybody asks you about the return on investment of your social media activities, feel free to tell him to go to hell.

It may be wise to answer in a more friendly way, but people never worried so much about the return on investment of marketing as they do now with social media. So tell them to find their kicks somewhere else and let you do your job.

Before

When is the last time anybody asked about the ROI of the full colour ad in that magazine you think (hope) your target group is reading. Or about the fair you participated in or that seminar you organized. While the costs of these activities are probably much higher than the money you will ever spend on social media.

And most of the time if people are asked to justify these activities the only thing they can say is ‘Everybody else does it, so we have to do it too!’. Or ‘This is how we have always done it!’.

Change

Don’t you think that is strange?

You are now able to reach much more people than ever before. People that are interested in your products and that really matter to your business. Fast and easy and for a fraction of the money you have spend in the past when you needed a volley of shot to hit a customer.

And all of a sudden people start worrying about return on investment.

I think that is mainly because social media is still new and maybe a bit scary for a lot of people. It is free (not really off course, but you can start from scratch without a penny) but at the same time it can be extremely effective and successful. Much more effective and successful than the old and expensive marketing tools have ever been.

It works so good! There must be something wrong! I don’t believe you! Show me it really works! Give me the figures and show me the return on investment!

Better

You can be assured. If you do it well and if you are prepared to invest enough time and energy (yes, there is an investment here!) social media will work for you and your business.

And do you know what is so beautiful about social media and all your (other) on-line activities? You are able to measure everything! From day to day, from hour to hour. Every move your customer makes. Everytime he hesitates and backs off or proceeds in the direction you want him to go.

You can measure the effect of every little change you make. Instantly. You are able to tweek you efforts and go for maximum results.

You are even able to report everything that is going on.

Therefore it may be better to answer the question about the ROI of your social media activities with ‘Here are the figures!’.

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Personalization Is A Trick – Focus On Content

May 9, 2011

The personalization of e-mail newsletters is quite popular. I often receive e-mails that start with my name as if the message is send to me by somebody I know. When I look closer or when I open the e-mail it turns out to be a newsletter.

And I am often disappointed.

Trick

Personalization is a trick. A trick to get a higher opening rate for a newsletter. It looks good, but has nothing to do with the quality of the newsletter.

Because most of these newsletters still contain the same old sales pitches. The company that sends you the newsletter is not trying to help you, it is not giving you advise and it is not trying to make your life better.

Their only objective is to sell you something.

That is the weak spot of personalization. They raise expectations and the disappointment hits extra hard because the content does not deliver.

Why

What is the use of personalization except for trying to raise opening rates? Everbody understands personalization is a farce unless you have only a handfull of people subscribed to your newsletter and you are able to send everyone a really personal e-mail.

I don’t know of any e-mail newsletter in which personalization goes further than the opening alone.

Forget

My advise therefore is to forget about personalization and focus on content. Make your newsletter worthwhile and something your subscribers are looking forward to.

As soon as people find out your newsletter has value to them, they will open it. Also if it is not personalized.

And do you know the additional advantage of non-personalization? You don’t need to ask all these details when people subscribe. Only an e-mail address is enough!

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Never Make This Mistake

May 5, 2011

Offer Something Special

Not so long ago in the news. A fashion store charging it’s customers money to fit clothing. If you buy, you get the money back. Otherwise it costs you money.

The reason why this store invented this fitting-charge they said was the fact many people came in only to fit clothing and then later order the same clothes on-line.

The manager of this fashion store didn’t get it.

Offer More

People buying clothing on-line means part of the profits made in selling clothes will move from off-line (fysical shops) to on-line (virtual shops). There is nobody that can change anything about that.

So what can our fashion store manager do about it?

There are people that buy on-line and never visit a store. These people can only be reached on-line. That means the store manager should get himself a website. He does not have to sell clothing on-line, but he should try to make an offer on-line that people cannot resist. Mind you, this offer does not have to be about prices. But the offer must be strong enough to get people to visit his store.

As soon as people visit the store, the manager must give them an experience they never forget. Something they will never be able to experience on the Internet.

Very important. Don’t try to sell clothes. Give the people that visit your store advise about clothing. Offer them to change clothes so they perfectly fit to their taste or figure. And give tips about make-up, hair and everything else that has to do with looking good.

Offer customers an experience they have never experienced before. An expirience they tell other people about.

But what a shop manager never ever should do, is ask customers to pay before they have bought something.

Also On-line

Don’t be mistaken. Also on-line you should never try to sell only.

There is a big chance you have competitors. There is also a big chance a number of these competitors try to offer the best prices. And in this case best means as low as possible.

You should not want to get into that fight. That means you also have to offer more on-line. Like the fashion store manager. Offer an expirience, the best advise or expertise. Stand out and beat your competitors that way.

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