There is no denying marketers, businesses and brands are sold on social media marketing, the same cannot be said of executive management still looking for hard figures on the effectiveness and the impact on the bottom line. The big contention point remaining: how do you measure social media marketing ROI
Nearly nine in 10 US marketers are using social media marketing. It is clear they consider it a necessity for doing business. But there is still a sense of unease about what works and doesn’t work as well as how best to manage the effort, according to a new eMarketer report, “Social Marketing Update: Eight Trends to Help Prepare for 2015.”
For as long as social media marketing has been around, marketers have struggled with how to determine return on investment (ROI). Despite a multitude of available metrics, the question still tops the list of challenges marketers face with social media.
In a June 2014 study of marketers’ usage and attitudes toward digital marketing conducted by Gigaom and Extole, more marketers said they would increase spending on social media marketing than on any other type of marketing. At the same time, 52% said it was difficult to prove ROI. That led the researchers to conclude that “marketers may be buying on faith with social.”