Editorial Articles

Martin Smith, Head of Marketing at Neolane on effective social strategy

The majority of brands use social media as a mass communication tool to create communities of anonymous fans and measure sentiment. As these channels grow, the limits of profitability based on advertising techniques are revealed and the issue of return on marketing investment (ROMI) becomes paramount.

It’s important to look at how social marketing tools offer the opportunity to influence fans to get their opt-in, to qualify and enter into customised dialogues whilst maintaining the consistency of communications through other channels. To get the most from a marketing plan that includes social media, it’s vital to ensure there isn’t a mismatch between the practices of your brand(s) and consumer expectations.

Understanding the difference between a fan and a customer is key. Using social channels to communicate with customers means considering how you acquire then qualify and manage social permissions and to then customise one-to-one conversations, especially
through Facebook.

Marketing traditionally focuses on outbound communications. For the most part, it has not optimised the opportunities presented though the ‘inbound’ channels such as transactions and enquiries. Inbound contacts offer multiple incremental opportunities to capture information about customers in real time – and to make relevant offers. Marketers need to learn how an inbound-outbound marketing fusion can lead to measurable ROMI. The first barrier to creating an effective strategy is a silo approach to each marketing channel. If customer information is managed effectively, it can produce a clear understanding of each customer’s relationship with your brand. In streamlined transaction-generating conversational marketing, the communications are less often but more accurate and worthwhile. By developing a personal relationship with each customer, proposing the right offer through the right channel, at the right time, you can reduce cost and staff resource.