July 7, 2010

Former President of CBS News Andrew Heyward wrote in the Harvard Business Review last year that “every company is a media company,” summarizing the idea that marketing is shifting to an environment where advertisers need to produce compelling content in order to succeed.

Recent data suggests that this is indeed the case, and that looking at social media services like Twitter and Facebook strictly as lead generation tools might be counter-productive, especially for companies that focus on business-to-business sales.

LeadForce1, an online marketing automation service provider, studied website visitor data for 218 companies with a social media presence from February through April of this year. The results overwhelmingly showed that visitors who arrived at corporate websites via Twitter and Facebook engaged mostly with content – specifically a company’s blog – as opposed to exploring products or submitting a contact us form.

Diving into the numbers, when users arrive from Twitter, they are more than six times more likely to view a blog post than a Contact Us form. When they arrive via Facebook, the ratio isn’t quite as high, but nonetheless, blog posts and a company’s About page make up the bulk of user visits. About 63 percent of all of the visitors from both Twitter and Facebook look at only a single page.

The conclusion, then, from LeadForce1 is that “Facebook and Twitter do not bring in Leads – these can be used as channels to engage with your existing customers, media, other stakeholders, or for nurturing existing prospects, but not as a medium for generating leads.” With the vast majority of businesses still not measuring the ROI of their social media efforts, that might be seen as a discouraging data point.

However, I would argue that such a conclusion is short sighted, since it doesn’t measure the ongoing impact that engaging with customers and producing quality content can have on the long-term growth of your company. It doesn’t take into account a fundamental principle of social media marketing – the one that Heyward summarized so well in his statement about the evolution of advertising.

The stats are also a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy – as marketers become more savvy and use social media for conversation and content as opposed to solely direct sales and lead generation, it would make sense that the majority of referral traffic from social media sites is going to content as opposed to product pages and submission forms.

Thus, the thing to keep in mind is that while linking your audience to a blog post might not translate directly to a sale, it might translate to a blog subscription, a retweet, or a share on Facebook. And that audience – which will grow with every quality piece of content you produce – can be re-engaged down the line with news about your products or special offers that directly drive sales.

While social media shouldn’t be thought of in the same fashion as more traditional forms of marketing where lead generation happens at the point of arrival, it would be a mistake to write it off as simply a communications tool with no direct correlation to new customer opportunities.

Related Topics

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Adam Ostrow, Article, ROI, social media, marketing strategies, Mashable, CBS, Twitter, Andrew Heyward

Join the conversation ( 11 )

• Ron Marcus 1 year 9 months and 27 days ago

  

  I would look at social networking like real face to face networking - no an instant lead generator, but a way to build mutually beneficial relationships and get your brand in front of more people. It's a long term investment that can lead to, well, leads in the future.

• Gautam Tandon 1 year 9 months and 28 days ago

  

  I agree with you. We run a website www.ellipsisdive.com and have a facebook fan page too. we are able to generate good quality leads from that. the reason is that we post good quality blogs and inculcate the culture of discussion with prospects and customers there. facebook and twitter are nothing but much more refined forms of group chats that started way back... I don't know why people think of facebook as some sort of magic bullet.. it's the same old concept... a way to make human interaction possible... and as long as you keep that in mind you can generate good leads from facebook or any technology...

• mark p friedman 1 year 10 months and 5 days ago

  

  This post makes a compelling case for the need for different metrics for social media. Mr Cheng in his comment seems to think this means no metrics. That's not how I read the article.The social model is elegantly straightforward, yet demanding in its requirement to focus on one step at a time and not get caught up in scheming your endgame. The successful social marketer knows that an engaged customer is a loyal customer, and so engaging a prospect is the first step towards an enduring relationship...but it's only one step, and the outcome is not knowable.So how can we engage the prospect? Let me suggest that running social campaigns while thinking about closing sales is short sighted and wrong minded. You don't ask someone on a first date with the ring already in your pocket. You converse. You find commonalities. You woo. Then, someday, maybe sooner and maybe later and maybe never, you're at the altar.If you can't live with this slow but deep romance, don't bother with social media. Nothing is more discrediting than using social for hard selling.Write your blogs or tweets with relationship in mind. You are there to serve. Provide something useful or interesting. Make yourself invaluable in some way. If eventually it turns into a sale, great! If not, feel gratified that you have added value.What goes around, comes around. Give: that's the message of social media.Much has been written on useful metrics for tracking social activity, and here is not the place to repeat. The point is that "closed sales" is not a meaningful metric here.

• Jeff Ringgenberg 1 year 10 months and 16 days ago

  

  100% agree that social media will not automatically lead to business generation on its own. Many companies simply fill out a business profile or try a bit harder and post countless advertisements, but this is not proactive, nor is it effective. You must remove the hierarchy between the business and your consumers. In the case of B2B, provide solid information via public forums. The real upside to social networks is in the shared dialogues. I view the Internet as more than just a network of wires and a web of information. It is a free flowing spider web of relationships. Those who effectively unravel this web properly can transform online acquaintances into offline relationships. It all begins with forming relationships based on integrity, trust, and loyalty. Bridge the gap between online and offline.

• Jeff Ringgenberg 1 year 10 months and 16 days ago

  

  100% agree that social media will not automatically lead to business generation on its own. Many companies simply fill out a business profile or try a bit harder and post countless advertisements, but this is not proactive, nor is it effective. You must remove the hierarchy between the business and your consumers. In the case of B2B, provide solid information via public forums. The real upside to social networks is in the shared dialogues. I view the Internet as more than just a network of wires and a web of information. It is a free flowing spider web of relationships. Those who effectively unravel this web properly can transform online acquaintances into offline relationships. It all begins with forming relationships based on integrity, trust, and loyalty. Bridge the gap between online and offline.

• Kim Luu 1 year 10 months and 17 days ago

  

  Well said Victor,I work with business owners every day and they get so much hype about social media. What everyone forgets is that it is simply another tool in the marketing belt. If social media is not producing leads then it's because the marketing person fell in love with the social media concept and never researched or planned out how and what kind of business to get. Having 10,000 fans on Twitter from across the world means diddly squat if you're a restaurant and need people to physically walk in every day and buy a meal. Victor, for B2B, none of my clients use social media. The time required is not appropriate for the return. They have a limited pool of prospects (say 10-150). It gets smaller as the contracts gets larger. If you're looking for a $1 Million sales, there are only so many companies that can afford to buy that much from you. I agree that senior level executives are not on social media except the CMO or those who are promoting something like a book. From my research, none of them are on Linkedin at all either. They have an account but they don't touch it. The main conversations is done through private networks, emails, direct contact with each other.

• Terrance Barkan, CAE 1 year 10 months and 17 days ago

  

  Having conducted a study of how 800 organizations are deloying social media, the results described in the article are not surprizing. Social media is not well understood by senior company managers and therefore is often being deployed in ways that generate traffic but not results. One of the first mistakes is confusing followers or fans with customers. This includes not defining in advance who exactly the company is trying to reach. (For example, knowing who your best customers are and focusing on attracting more of that type of customer as opposed to a shotgun approach). Social media can be viewed as a new communication channel (it is a lot more than that as well). Communications basics calls for understanding your audience and target markets as a first priority together with defining what you are trying to achieve. I observe that a lot of "peer pressure" is driving social media adoption as every company CEO understands that he/she must "do something" in social media but is not really sure what that is. It all starts with a strategy... Anyone interested in a copy of the social media survey report (800 plus organizaqtions surveyed) or a social media strategy white paper can request a free copy from www.globalstrat.org

• Ruth Portnoy 1 year 10 months and 17 days ago

  

  Well said, Adam. I am in the nonprofit sector, and all I hear is "show us results." But the truth, as you point out, is that it's an ENGAGEMENT tool. Another point of entry to involve potential volunteers and donors - and to create a little buzz about a project, event or cause. Sigh. We always want the "magic pill." There is none. Relationships take work and, ultimately, human contact. Ruth Sternberg Portnoy, development & communications advisor

• Victor Cheng 1 year 10 months and 17 days ago

  

  I totally disagree with the idea that social media doesn't need to be held accountable for return on investment. I'm frankly sick and tired of all the buzz and hype around facebook and twitter as huge lead generators for business-to-business marketing purposes.Here's my advice to all the social media experts out there - take a finance class.Business are build on profit margins and cash flow generated by doing business with customers who you treat really well. End of story. If it doesn't produce cash flow, it should either not be in your marketing mix at all or it should be less than 20% of it. (Example: PR isn't very trackable, so doing some is okay, but not more than 20% - my 2 cents)A follower or a fan is NOT the same as bonafide customer who pays you cash. They are simply not the same thing.This is especially true as you go into higher end, more expensive b2b sales - $50k+ per transaction. As CEO coach, I work with people many people who are b2b buyers. At the C-level, unless you're in an Internet industry (and 99% of C-level executives are not), these people simply do not use twitter or facebook (though interestingly in my research they all DO use linkedin). How do I know this?I ask them. You know, old fashion, talk to your customers face-to-face market research (and of course looking at my own stats). Finally, this is not an indictment of all social media for b2b purposes. I've found blogging and linkedin to be useful lead generation sources (again by looking at my ROI and via customer interviews).I have been looking for real case studies of b2b ROI via facebook or twitter that's not focused on social media consulting/education, and for the life of me can not find one. The data CLEARLY shows ROI in this case is the exception, and most definitely not the rule.-Victor ChengBusiness Coach

• David Cherry 1 year 10 months and 17 days ago

  

  Totally agree Jamie!! Communication is key! I do realize that lead generation is important for any company. However I find social networking very important for brand awareness and customer service! Both of which can lead to new business if kept up!

• Jamie Lynn Morgan 1 year 10 months and 17 days ago

  

  Adam, I totally agree with you on this. Any business looking for that "quick" lead return with social media is going to be disappointed, but I also thing the companies that are aren't engaging and communicating either. It is the businesses that are having the conversations that will ultimately reap the rewards.Jamie Lynn Morganhttp://getsocialsite.com