|
Getting a positive return on investment from a social mediacampaign is about more than tracking the number of your Facebookfans and Twitter followers. It's about linking the social strategy to measurablebusiness objectives, according to Gartner, which says mostbusinesses aren't doing this. A new study released this week from the technology consultancy saysthat half of Fortune 1000 companies will not receive a worthwhileROI on their social media strategies this year. The rather basicadvice to get more bang for your social media buck: Have a plan,measure its success and make changes if it's not working. "One ofthe keys is to know what you're trying to accomplish," says ScottNelson, a Gartner analyst who focuses on social media strategiesfor enterprises. "Doing social media because everyone else is doingit is not a strategy." [ Also on InfoWorld: Scrambls puts control of social media back in the hands of users . Discover what's new in business applications with InfoWorld's Technology: Applications newsletter and our Technology: Microsoft newsletter . ] HOT JOBS: Hottest IT skill? Cybersecurity MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU: 10 ways to celebrate Star Wars Day Nelson says most companies adopt a plan for one of four reasons: toincrease revenue, decrease costs, increase satisfaction ofcustomers or employees, or to use it as an extension of brand. Nomatter the reason for using social media, it must be accompaniedwith a plan of action linked to metrics that will measure itssuccess. "For the 50 percent of Fortune 1000 organizations not determining,or even measuring, ROI, ignorance will mean failed projects," saysAdam Sarner, research director at Gartner. "Among the companies whowill not see a worthwhile return, only 20 percent will even havethe data to evaluate where their social strategy is falling short.These organizations will be unable to justify future funding." Whereas social media has traditionally been embraced by marketingteams as a way to build company name recognition, there are anincreasing variety of use cases emerging. For example, social mediastrategies are used by sales, customer service and customer supportdepartments for lead generation, cross sales and up salesopportunities, Nelson says. This social customer relationshipmanagement (social CRM) industry is growing fast -- Gartnerestimates that by the end of the year software licenses andsubscriptions will total $2.1 billion, up from $850 million lastyear. Vendors offering such services include Jive Software , Lithium Technologies and, increasingly, Salesforce.com with its Chatter feature. Still, Nelson says those social CRM practices should be used tosupplement, not supplant existing business processes. "You've gotto make it fit with your other products and strategies," he says. Abusiness using social media to drive people to a website should beincorporated with an e-commerce strategy that leads them into asales deal, he says. Whether these products or others are used byan enterprise, Nelson says the advice is simple: "Have a plan." Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computingand social collaboration. He can be reached at and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW. Read more about LANs and routers in Network World's LANs & Routers section. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Led Downlight Fitting , China Flexible Led Ribbon Light, and more. For more , please visit T10 Led Tube Light today!
Related Articles -
Led Downlight Fitting, China Flexible Led Ribbon Light,
|
