Tips to Amplify Your Lead Gen with Next Gen Social Data (#contentmarketing info) Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes courtesy of Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes courtesy of Rosalyn Lemieux, CEO of Attentive.ly, a next generation social media listening tool which enables modern marketing teams to leverage rich social behavior data to personalize marketing content to their customers. Are you still having trouble nailing down an ROI from social media? You aren’t alone. The number of experts providing “advice” from a handful of case studies and hastily prepared articles is enough to make anyone want to return to the pre “social” days of media, when marketing spends had a sufficiently predictable rate of returns. Current incumbents have enough examples of failed social networks in their rear view mirror that all of them are pushing monetization hard, which means selling advertising like its going out of style. At the same time an ecosystem of experts, consultants and “gurus” keep hawking their latest theories with all the fervor of a preacher trying to convert the skeptical. We have good reason to be skeptical. Despite all the hype and theories, actual conversion rates from social networks are still hard to quantify. During the last 10 years, when social has become ubiquitous there’s been one channel that has consistently brought home the bacon for brands: Email. Email generates far higher returns - a 4,300% conversion rate - despite apparent rumors of its apparent demise at the hand of social media, according to the DMA. Why is email getting more challenging? Email overload is reducing historically high conversion rates. Nine out of 10 marketing emails go unopened. Customers are churning more frequently, which in turn damages their relationships with brands. Many could lose these customers forever. There’s no silver bullet. There never is in marketing. But there is a series of smart moves you can make which will safeguard email lists and put those conversion rates back on an upward trajectory. The best way is to make your customers feel they’re one in a million, not just one of a million. Here are some tips to infuse next gen social data in email marketing to improve ROI: 1. Segmentation. Social data gives you the ability to find out what really matters to your audience. With enough data you can create a unique profile of each customers: from demographics through to who influences them and who they influence. You can then listen for keywords around which you can create personalized automated campaigns, whether through email, social or targeted ads which will grab their attention at the right time with the right message. 2. Personalization. Personalized emails generate a 244% increase in open rates and 330% higher ROI per campaign, according to Certona. Customers value feeling like you are talking to them directly, not everyone on your database. Doing this right means having the right content assets in place before launching a campaign. This will give you the ability to trigger automated campaigns according to when your customers are talking about campaign keywords, your brand, competitors or any number of terms that impact your customer relationships. 3. Automation. Customers have multiple touch points between thinking of making a purchase and actually buying a product or service. This means campaigns can no longer measure success based on single hits. Instead you are in a continual dialogue with customers across multiple channels. Some brands, like Amazon, do this very well. Many others haven’t started to implement it, despite knowing the benefits, because it can seem difficult. Which is why we put together an eBook, Amp your Lead Gen with Next Gen Social to help brands understand how segmentation, personalization and automation can increase email marketing ROI. Check out Attentive.ly’s Social Behavior SparkPlug in the Eloqua AppCloud to learn more.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:55:46 +0000