Are marketers misinterpreting what “return on investment” should mean for executive social media programs?
The Return on Investment in Executive Social Media Programs
Compared to other areas of your digital marketing program, determining the ROI (return on investment) of your executive social media program tends to be more difficult. Why?
Unlike other digital marketing activities like paid advertising campaigns or search engine marketing (SEM), there are fewer “tangible” metrics to consider with organic executive social media content — and most of these are what we call “vanity metrics” that don’t impact the bottom line. An example is the number of “likes” on a post. These vanity metrics don’t do a good job of painting the bigger picture or capturing the intangible impacts of an executive social media program.
With paid social media advertising for a brand, marketers can more easily analyze ROI — the number of website visits, the number of conversions, the cost per click, and so on. They can put a dollar amount on different actions, whether it’s a click or a form fill-out.
With executive social media, digital marketers must rethink what is considered “valuable” regarding ROI.
What is it that makes executive social media so beneficial that over the years, almost 75% of Fortune 500 are now online?
The Benefits of Executive Social Media
The benefit of launching a strategic executive social media is that it can help drive toward objectives in a way that complements and strengthens your existing digital marketing program. There’s intangible value in positioning your company executives on social media. These include:
Read our article, What is Executive Thought Leadership (And Why It Matters), to learn more.
Which Metrics Matter for Executive Social Media?
Executive social media is an investment in long-term relationship building, which pays off over time and may not be immediately reflected in social media metrics. While many of the benefits are intangible and not easily measured, there are certain metrics that are important. Here is how we help executives with their social media presence:
Increased Impressions
We research, develop, and create engaging, optimized posts for executives that are seen by more social media users.
Growing Followers
We strategically engage in network expansion activities to grow your executive’s network of potential clients and customers.
Improved Content Posting Cadence
We provide white-glove social media management and content creation services to support executives who want to be on social media but lack the time to devote to their presence.
CASE STUDY
Supporting a company’s IPO with its CEO’s social media presence
The world’s largest online marketplace for plant-based foods was set to go public. To support the launch, their team wanted to establish a stronger, more strategic social media presence for its CEO and co-founder. Read why they choose Influential Executive.