This is an adapted guest post from Shelley West in our sister program, the Marketing Leadership Council (MLC). Shelley wrote this for the MLC Wide Angle blog.

As part of my quest to know everything there is to know about what our B2B members are doing in the social media space, I spent this past Wednesday in Chicago at MLC’s B2B Social Media Strategy Builder workshop.  It was a great opportunity to interact with and learn from folks in the social media trenches at some of our B2B member companies.  In attendance were more than 40 staff members from over 20 corporations, representing a diverse set of industries and somewhat varied levels of social media maturity.   During the lively discussion, participants shared challenges, questions, ideas, frustrations, and successes.  A lot was shared, but I think two key themes emerged as the most challenging for those in attendance:

Challenge #1:  My boss told me to get our company on Twitter, what do I do now?

Several folks in the room reported that the powers that be at their companies had tasked them with objectives like, “Start a Twitter feed” or “Build a Facebook page.”   But without knowing what that those singular activities were meant to accomplish, marketers and communicators are left without a clear direction.  Very few would move forward with a goal to “Set up an event” or “Advertise in a trade journal” without a clear idea of what those activities were meant to accomplish for the business.  The same holds true in social media.  Social media is not a strategy in and of itself – it should be in service of a larger, more considered business objective.  Think about what business results you want your social media efforts to drive.

And, as I have said in past posts, I feel compelled to assert again that I am not using “social media” as a proxy for “Facebook.”  Social media incorporates a wide variety of channels and initiatives including blogs, interactive forums, user communities, communication tools, and virtual gatherings.  Think big!

CEC members, see Social Media: Build a Strategic Plan.

Challenge #2:  How do I show the ROI of Social Media?

Another popular refrain among those in high places is, “Show me the ROI.”  Those at the meeting expressed difficulty in getting social media plan/programs off the ground in their organizations because of an inability to make a direct connection to more revenue.  While I’d never argue that you should dive into social media without metrics to judge relative success or failure, ROI is difficult for this still emerging channel.

Some in the room mirrored this advice and shared their strategy of targeting a specific level of the purchase funnel instead of driving straight to sales – for example, increasing awareness.  Based on the principle of the funnel, putting more in at the top, should eventually result in more coming out the bottom.  Others admitted that lot of Marketing’s activities can’t really be directly tied to sales – like advertising – but are still accepted as important endeavors.

We recommend that a better way to think about this is Return on Objectives – using foundational communications objectives (like behavior and attitudinal change) to serve as a bridge connecting social media activities to top-line outcomes.  For example, if increased website visits are accepted in your company as something that leads to greater awareness and more sales, the intermediate goal of a social media experiment could be to drive a 10% boost in web traffic among a particular segment.

CEC members, see the Return on Objectives Framework and Measuring Social Media: Sample Metrics.

CEC Related Resources

• Social Media Topic Center
• Social Media: Build a Strategic Plan
• Social Media: Select Channels
• Return on Objectives Framework
• Measuring Social Media: Sample Metrics

If you want to learn more about MLC and its social media support for Marketers, please contact your CEC Account Manager or you can reach us here.