In order to build credibility among the potential clients and close down lucrative deals, different types of promotional tactics play a pivotal part. McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Microsoft are some of the famous global brands, in spite of that, they never ceased to spend billions of dollars every year on their marketing efforts. Such is the importance and power of marketing.

Not only the globally recognized multidimensional companies but also for growth-phase companies, proper marketing is highly essential. The field of marketing is fiercely competitive and requires immense expertise to build brand credibility, win new customers and attract best talents. Whether it is big brands, small businesses or new start-ups, everyone invests a huge chunk of money in marketing and advertisement. Calculating the Return on Investment on the marketing is crucial to understand the results you achieve in your business.

The Transformation of Marketing Channels and the Rise of Social Media Marketing–

Earlier, businesses used to invest in traditional marketing, such as billboards, flyers, pamphlets, radio promotions and print advertisements. But the marketing trend has changed a lot over the years and it is the new form of brand promotion called digital marketing or online marketing that is taking the center stage. Among the various types of digital marketing tactics, social media marketing is perhaps the most value-driven online promotional method to increase brand awareness. With a well-conceptualized SMM plan, corporate and business houses can easily build awareness of their company, their brand and their offerings.

Judging the ROI of Social Media Marketing–

By investing in social media brand promotion, businesses are creating new avenues for more income. But it is important to get a clear cut view of the returns and benefits your business is getting from your social media marketing investment. One of the key performance indicators of any business is Return on Investment, better known as ROI. As companies are putting a sizable amount of money on their social media marketing campaigns, it is essential to know whether they are getting satisfactory returns on their investment or not. Understanding if you’re getting your money’s worth is important to strengthen your financial success and chalking out promotional planning for future. Before trying to understand ROI from your social media campaigns, you need to know the answers of few questions.

What is Social Media Marketing ROI?

Business owners need to have a proper understanding of what exactly social media marketing ROI is. In a simple term, Social Media Marketing ROI is the return business owners are getting from the money they are putting on their social media promotions and advertisements. It is the measurement of money received minus the initial investment. It is very tricky to measure the ROI generated by social media of conversations and relationships. It is vital to keep in mind that social media marketing ROI can come in many different valuable forms, unlike traditional marketing.

What are the Different Types of Social Media Marketing Campaigns?

There are lots of paid solutions available on the market for managing social media campaigns. Here is a list of some of the finest social media campaigns.

• Social Media Optimization (SMO)
• Facebook Ads
• Twitter Ads
• Instagram Ads
• Pinterest Ads
• YouTube Video Ads
• LinkedIn Promotions

Simple Rule of Calculating Social media marketing ROI–

Social media marketing ROI metrics can let you know how your business is performing and the real value you are getting from the money invested. However, monetizing the returns you are getting from social media investment is not so simple as the basic calculation rule that is:

The calculation of SMM ROI depends on various metrics, here is an explanation: Marketing metrics are extremely valuable because they give you a proper understanding of how well your social media promotions are working.

• Site Traffic
• Reach
• Examining Metrics Concerning “likes” and “tweets”
• Audience Engagement
• Sign-Ups And Conversions
• Leads Generated
• Revenue Generated
• Email list sign-ups
• Contact form inquiries
• Purchases Via Social Platforms
• Downloads of a Whitepaper or E-book

Tools that can be used to measure your social media ROI–

1. Facebook Ads with Facebook Pixel: It is a remarkable tool developed by Facebook that enables users to understand the effectiveness of their Facebook ads. Facebook pixel is an analytics tool that consists of a code that can be placed on the website.

Facebook Pixel gives you complete scenario on–

• What type of actions people are taking on your website
• Conversions from Facebook ads
• Optimize ads
• Build targeted audiences for future ads

2. Twitter Campaign Dashboard: It shows the advertiser the results required to optimize their Twitter Ads campaigns. The interface is divided into three main sections- audience segments charts and reports. Twitter Campaign Dashboard offers you a complete data on how many times Twitter users have Seen, Liked, Replied and Retweeted to each Tweet. The insights can help you to get a strategic view of how your social media campaigns on Twitter is running and a sense of revenue they are generating for your business.

3. Ads Benchmarks: Several ads benchmarks marketers use to get a complete view of their marketing campaign. ROI ads benchmarking tools are the ideal way to compare your advertising cost with the return they are bringing. All the information gathered by using ads benchmark can be used to identify the dividends your social media ads are bringing. This is only one of the several reasons digital marketing experts encourage their clients to make a good use of ads benchmarks. You need to ensure that you note the current metrics and take actionable steps so you can attribute the change to your social media activities.

Social media return on investment depends on two crucial factors

First– The amount of money you are currently spending on your social media ad campaigns.

Second– How much your social media impact matters to your business right now.

Conclusion–

It’s clear that social media gets value, but value isn’t always measured in pounds and dollars. There are few shortcuts that can help you to measure an accurate revenue your social media campaigns are bringing. Companies require to be held responsible for the time and resources they are putting in for their social media marketing efforts. It is important for the businesses of all sizes to identify whether their social media marketing tactics are boosting revenue or it is a time to change their gameplan. In case, your social media marketing ROI is not according to your expectations, it is better to look for fresh thinking and move resources for a robust campaign.

_____________________________________________________

Author Bio:

Rajdeep Bose is a new-age entrepreneur with an immense expertise in a wide range of IT-related services such as ERP solutions, Mobile app development and internet marketing. He is the director of NATIT Solved Pvt. Ltd. and the co-founder of CBNITS.