In a recent meeting with a client in a transitional marketing overhaul - and finally seeing the end of tunnel - I asked him, ‘what did you learn from this process?’
His response: you don’t know what you don’t know.
It’s not the first time I heard this from a client. And, it’s certainly not the first time I heard this when specifically referring to social media marketing.
Clearly, social media marketing is still very misunderstood. It’s role in helping a business meet its bottom line goals are something many are still grappling with. I covered some of this in my recent posts on marketing considerations for your strategic plan and achieving ROI in 2017.
What makes this even more challenging for us is that we’re not only the strategists, we’re also the executors. We do the heavy lifting in the day-to-day for our clients. It’s easy for businesses to outsource it and forget it when a company is managing both the strategy and the execution. If we’re not in regular communication with our clients, especially the decision-makers, it’s difficult to hold them accountable for their part in meeting the goals.
As we move into 2017, it will be more critical than ever to understand the relationship of social media marketing to the bottom line. We are challenged to cut through the BS and identify the real synergy between the two.
Social media must be tied to business metrics through KPI’s. Without specific goals, social media marketing is nothing more than throwing spaghetti at the wall. It’s role in amplification is real, if we know what we’re working toward.
I give my client a lot of credit for admitting that he needed to make some changes – and I can see he is clearly confident in his marketing outlook next year. You don’t know what you don’t know is no longer an option for any business looking to increase their digital footprint. Ask us how we can help you find metrics that matter!
