Just like working out in the gym, Social Media ROI requires putting in the hard work on a consistent basis. Here’s Business owners should think about the ROI of Social Media Marketing.
Transcript
Robert: One, two. 5 pounds.
Brad: 5 pounds? What’s the ROI on that?
Robert: Probably not much.
Brad: Not much. Not much on a 5-pounder.
Robert: So this is the Clarity Digital Marketing Clip of the Week. Robert Riggs, Brad Besancon talking about putting in the work.
Brad: You’ve got to put in the work. We’re here at a little gym, down in my little town where I live now, Midlothian, and one of the things about coming to a gym is you want some ROI. You want return on investment and that’s a major question we here in social media all the time, “What’s my ROI, Robert? Why am I doing this?” And you think about a gym and the ROI doesn’t come tomorrow, it doesn’t come next week—it takes weeks and sometimes months, and there’s these other factors that go into getting a return on investment when you’re in a gym. Like, you can’t come out here and work out for an hour a day, and then go home and eat junk food.
Robert: Yes, and when the ROI in social is audience building, 6 to 8 months if you’re just starting—6 to 8 months. You’ve got to understand the audience and what they’re doing.
Brad: You’ve got to take your time. You’ve got to put in the work.
Robert: Well, we always get asked, “What’s the ROI?” Well, okay, let’s think about some of the other things businesses take for granted. What’s the ROI on your business card?
Brad: It’s an expense, it’s an overall expense. It’s not a high expense, it’s not a big expense, when you pass it out, “Hey, Robert, I’m Brad. Here’s my business card,” what are you hoping for? You’re hoping they call you.
Robert: It’s also awareness.
Brad: And it’s all awareness.
Robert: So let’s think about what are the other things companies send out, they never ask this question about.
Brad: Newsletters. We had a client one time where we said, “You’re spending,” they had four staff members working on a newsletter, every day, a daily newsletter, four staff members, and we said, “So what’s your open rate?” And what was his answer?
Robert: “We don’t care. We don’t want to know and we don’t care.”
Brad: So what’s the point? Talk about an ROI.
Robert: Yeah, so, by asking upfront, what is the ROI, none of this alone leads to a direct sale, none of it. You know, if you go back to marketing, there is the sales funnel of awareness and leading them through the funnel. Well, social is the important part of getting them into the funnel, so you can start that conversation.
Brad: It’s conversation marketing. You are starting the conversation, you’re creating the conversation, you’re controlling the conversation, you hope, to a point, you’re engaging in the conversation. It is a dialogue; it’s not a monologue. And that’s the way you need to think about ROI and social is, is it’s a conversation, it’s like a happy hour. It’s like a business party. It’s sharing information, it’s talking to each other, it’s engaging with your customers, to eventually—holidays are coming up—we’re not saying you can’t run promos, we’re not saying you shouldn’t run them. You have to do those things and if you’re in a direct sales position, you need to do those things. But what we’re saying is you have to start the process and then do some specific things to attract the ROI. But it is an awareness campaign, it is a conversation.
Robert: Yes. And I’m out of television. I never heard our salespeople they get asked by everybody, “Well, what’s the ROI on these TV spots?” Look, it was taken for granted that if you have a mass brand, you need a mass audience. It was about brand awareness. And you don’t often see a direct, “Hey, come down and buy my couch,” there’s a sale, they’re showing the product. Well, social is a lot like this.
Brad: It’s a lot like that. It’s a lot like coming to the gym, putting in the work, and the return on investment, it comes weeks and months down the road.
Robert: Here’s what you should be worried about in terms of ROI as a business, if you’re not engaged win a conversation with your potential customers and your current customers online in social, hey, your competitor probably is.
Brad: What’s the ROI on not doing it? That’s the question.
Robert: You want to give them to Amazon, you want to give them to a competitor? That’s what will happen and you need to think differently about ROI.
Brad: Absolutely. We’ve got to get him back in the gym. These 5-pounders aren’t working.
Robert: Got to put the work in.
Brad: That’s the Clarity Digital Marketing clip from Dallas, Texas, guys. See you next week.
Brad: 5 pounds? What’s the ROI on that?
Robert: Probably not much.
Brad: Not much. Not much on a 5-pounder.
Robert: So this is the Clarity Digital Marketing Clip of the Week. Robert Riggs, Brad Besancon talking about putting in the work.
Brad: You’ve got to put in the work. We’re here at a little gym, down in my little town where I live now, Midlothian, and one of the things about coming to a gym is you want some ROI. You want return on investment and that’s a major question we here in social media all the time, “What’s my ROI, Robert? Why am I doing this?” And you think about a gym and the ROI doesn’t come tomorrow, it doesn’t come next week—it takes weeks and sometimes months, and there’s these other factors that go into getting a return on investment when you’re in a gym. Like, you can’t come out here and work out for an hour a day, and then go home and eat junk food.
Robert: Yes, and when the ROI in social is audience building, 6 to 8 months if you’re just starting—6 to 8 months. You’ve got to understand the audience and what they’re doing.
Brad: You’ve got to take your time. You’ve got to put in the work.
Robert: Well, we always get asked, “What’s the ROI?” Well, okay, let’s think about some of the other things businesses take for granted. What’s the ROI on your business card?
Brad: It’s an expense, it’s an overall expense. It’s not a high expense, it’s not a big expense, when you pass it out, “Hey, Robert, I’m Brad. Here’s my business card,” what are you hoping for? You’re hoping they call you.
Robert: It’s also awareness.
Brad: And it’s all awareness.
Robert: So let’s think about what are the other things companies send out, they never ask this question about.
Brad: Newsletters. We had a client one time where we said, “You’re spending,” they had four staff members working on a newsletter, every day, a daily newsletter, four staff members, and we said, “So what’s your open rate?” And what was his answer?
Robert: “We don’t care. We don’t want to know and we don’t care.”
Brad: So what’s the point? Talk about an ROI.
Robert: Yeah, so, by asking upfront, what is the ROI, none of this alone leads to a direct sale, none of it. You know, if you go back to marketing, there is the sales funnel of awareness and leading them through the funnel. Well, social is the important part of getting them into the funnel, so you can start that conversation.
Brad: It’s conversation marketing. You are starting the conversation, you’re creating the conversation, you’re controlling the conversation, you hope, to a point, you’re engaging in the conversation. It is a dialogue; it’s not a monologue. And that’s the way you need to think about ROI and social is, is it’s a conversation, it’s like a happy hour. It’s like a business party. It’s sharing information, it’s talking to each other, it’s engaging with your customers, to eventually—holidays are coming up—we’re not saying you can’t run promos, we’re not saying you shouldn’t run them. You have to do those things and if you’re in a direct sales position, you need to do those things. But what we’re saying is you have to start the process and then do some specific things to attract the ROI. But it is an awareness campaign, it is a conversation.
Robert: Yes. And I’m out of television. I never heard our salespeople they get asked by everybody, “Well, what’s the ROI on these TV spots?” Look, it was taken for granted that if you have a mass brand, you need a mass audience. It was about brand awareness. And you don’t often see a direct, “Hey, come down and buy my couch,” there’s a sale, they’re showing the product. Well, social is a lot like this.
Brad: It’s a lot like that. It’s a lot like coming to the gym, putting in the work, and the return on investment, it comes weeks and months down the road.
Robert: Here’s what you should be worried about in terms of ROI as a business, if you’re not engaged win a conversation with your potential customers and your current customers online in social, hey, your competitor probably is.
Brad: What’s the ROI on not doing it? That’s the question.
Robert: You want to give them to Amazon, you want to give them to a competitor? That’s what will happen and you need to think differently about ROI.
Brad: Absolutely. We’ve got to get him back in the gym. These 5-pounders aren’t working.
Robert: Got to put the work in.
Brad: That’s the Clarity Digital Marketing clip from Dallas, Texas, guys. See you next week.
