How to Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Efforts – Part II

In our last post we shared how to accurately measure Business-to-Consumer (B2C) return on investment (ROI). Now let’s look at the business side; Business-to-Business (B2B).

Selling to consumers is different than selling to business professionals – for a variety of reasons.  Typically a B2B sale will have a higher price tag, and your sales cycle is usually much longer, just to name a couple of differences.  Additionally, B2B sales often tend to be sales of service, rather than a tangible product.  Can a business that sells to other businesses measure ROI with social media?

Absolutely!  The trick  with B2B is to know what your overall marketing goals are, and to tie your social media objectives to your overall goals.

A few questions to get you started on your measurement of social media:

–   Is it new prospects or leads you’re looking for? How many do you get each week now? How many do you want? How many leads do you need to speak with before you get a sale?

–   Is it new revenue? How many new customers do you need to achieve your revenue goals?

–   Are you looking to increase word of mouth referrals? How many referrals are you receiving now? Are you tracking them?  Where do they come from and how many do you need before you achieve a new sale?

Knowing what you want to achieve with social media, establishing concrete goals and then putting a social media strategy in place to help you achieve those goals is how you begin to determine a true ROI (return on investment) for your social media efforts.

Published on: August 25, 2011