INBOUND ACCELERATOR

What do you want your social media marketing to achieve in 2023?

When HubSpot asked marketers about their top priorities, over the years, one of the perennial top contenders has been the need to prove the ROI of marketing activities. (See more insights in the State of Inbound report.)

We all constantly set goals, some informal, others documented for our reference and for others. As a runner, I’ve seen many different approaches to setting goals. Some runners have very specific time goals—such as meeting the qualifying time to be able to run the Boston Marathon — while others take a less disciplined approach with goals to simply finish the race and enjoy it. I’ve even seen a runner whose goal was to pet 200 dogs in the course of a half-marathon as a fundraising endeavor.

Every runner sets goals based on what he or she wants from the race. It makes it easier to stay focused during the months of training leading up to the big event.

In some professions, you have to do the dirty work to set up a project for success. Building the tallest skyscraper begins with making sure the ground is prepped and a solid foundation in place. Creating the most delectable dessert begins with making a mess in the kitchen. It takes some dirty work before the genius can be seen.

In marketing, it’s not so much dirty work as it is data work.

Measurement is a key step in any successful marketing program. It is important to know the numbers in order to track performance of your overall marketing strategy, as well the performance of individual elements, so that you can increase the use of elements that work, and improve those elements that aren’t meeting expectations.

Along with metrics such as website traffic, social media followers and reach, and blog post views, you need to track the performance of your calls-to-action, including those that are part of emails, blog posts, website banners, and social media content.

I’ve said many times that analyzing metrics is how marketers prove and improve: How we prove the value that our marketing strategies bring to the company (in real customers and dollars) and how we improve our strategies on a continual basis.

I’m not the only one saying that.

When it is time to put in your budget request for the upcoming year, and fight for the funding you know your marketing strategy needs, will you have the data to back up your request?

While marketing teams may be convinced of the value of their work, the executive suite may not have the same perspective, and other departments will be vying for the same dollars. That means it is essential for marketers to prove that they are providing a return on investment.

Some see marketing and communications as an art. And it definitely can be: crafting creative text and images that elicit emotion and drive action requires creativity, vision, and an understanding of how words and visual elements work together. That’s the art.

But, it is also a science. Marketing success relies on data, as well. That includes both the data that help tell your brand’s stories (see more on using data in marketing content here: 5 Ways To Use Survey Data) and analyzing your own performance data to find ways to improve future campaigns.

When was the last time you reviewed your blog analytics, or checked on the conversion rates of your top-performing landing pages? How do your numbers match up against your documented goals?

For many marketers, one of the biggest challenges is proving the effectiveness of each marketing channel, tactic or message. In fact, in the annual State of Inbound Report, “proving ROI” consistently ranks at the top of the list of challenges.