As marketing technology has improved we are starting to see, understand and analyze the impact social is having on our businesses and through this evolution, a new marketing buzz word has blossomed…
Attribution. Social attribution to be more specific.
Social attribution is the process of assigning business outcomes to social marketing channels and campaigns. It’s a way for marketers and C-Level Executives to understand how social media influences the businesses growth and impact.
Social attribution is the reason why marketers can no longer leave social out of major marketing conversations and why we will start seeing more technology and measurement practices that make it easier to understand social’s impact on revenue.
Why?
There is no doubt that there have been some mumblings about attribution over the past year but I am sure that in 2017 attribution will be the word and way of marketing measurement for social. Why am I so confident?
- C-Level Executives– Are going to take more interest in what marketing is doing, which means you are going to need reports that let them easily understand that without all the marketing jargon. Their primary concern is how social is influencing their businesses value and revenue, and social attribution will let them know just that.
- Understand Your Audience- Because of Dark Social, it is hard for marketers to really understand what their audience wants, who they are, and how they are influenced. Marketers are missing out on loads of data, but social attribution will let you look at all of this!
- Get Credit- Social attributions lets you take a look how social has influenced other marketing channels like email subscribers, newsletter signups, podcast listeners and webinar watchers.
- Figure Out What Matters- Social attribution unlocks a lot of those doors that social has been hiding behind. Once you can analyze social media patterns, you will have so much more information to help shape your marketing strategy.
Where To Go From Here?
Social attribution doesn’t just happen. If you’re thinking about moving forward with this solution you need to start asking these questions:
- Which conversions matter to your business?
- What are your conversion goals?
- Which financial values should you be placing on those conversions?
- Do you have various audiences or one target audience?
- Which content appeals to your audience?
- What does your customer journey look like?
- What is the lifetime value of a customer?
- Do you understand your customer beyond social?
- How can you relay the value of social attribution to the rest of your team?
- How much social traffic is coming to your website?
Wrap It Up
Marketers have realized that engagement metrics are not enough! The challenge for marketers is accurately measuring and attributing social’s impact on those conversions.
Through attribution, you will gain an understanding of social’s impact on your business, drive more conversions, evaluate social media effectiveness and social will finally get the credit (and budget) it deserves!
Want to read more posts like this? Make sure you read, 4 Things That Could Go Wrong With Marketing Measurement.