How companies evaluate the ROI of social media marketing programmes: insights from B2B and B2C

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand and compare how business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) companies evaluate the return on investment (ROI) on their social media marketing (SMM) programmes and how the investment is handled in these type of marketing programmes. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach involving multiple cases and a survey was used. Data were collected from personal interviews with eight professionals responsible for SMM management, from four B2B and four B2C companies, complemented with responses to a web-based survey by the other 28 companies’ marketing managers. Findings The results show that there are some differences between B2B and B2C companies regarding SMM evaluation and investment but in general marketing managers for both types of firms use simple metrics to evaluate their SMM programmes. The main measures used relate to awareness, engagement and reach and most of the metrics identified are interaction-related. Research limitations/implications Given the complex and sensitive nature of the subject, more research is needed focussed on providing additional evidence from a larger sample of B2B and B2C organizations to allow the extension of the finding to the population as the non-probabilistic nature and size of the current sample impose that the findings should be interpreted carefully. Future research should focus on understanding what the firm’s characteristics predict the importance and level of effort placed in SMM and the barriers to ROI measurement in SMM programmes, especially in B2B firms. Practical implications The current findings confirm that the topic of SMM ROI evaluation is not a priority for B2C or B2B companies. There is a need for an update of their online marketing strategy, namely, on budget definition and allocation. Furthermore, companies should increase the autonomy of SM managers, as they are dependent from marketing managers and hire specialized professionals devoted to SMM in both B2C and B2B companies. Originality/value The findings of this study contribute to improve the understanding of the evaluation of SMM and to extend the literature on the subject. It also provides a relevant advance into the assessment and understanding on the measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of SMM programmes by offering a comparison on how B2B and B2C use metrics and allocate resources to the SMM management.

ROI as a financial and non-financial Indicator trough Applied in Application to Social Media Marketing

“…Dalam pengukuran ROI pemasaran media sosial, Hadley (dalam Silva et al, 2020) menjelaskan dalam mengatur sasaran utama penggunaan social media marketing terdapat dua hal yang dapat mempengaruhi efektivitas pengukuran ROI yaitu mendefinisikan tujuan SMM yang konsisten di semua perusahaan departemen dan menyelaraskan strategi SMM dengan strategi bisnis secara keseluruhan. ROI SMM dapat diukur dengan cara finansial dan non-finansial.…”

“…Untuk mengukur ROI dalam finansial perlu untuk mengetahui berapa banyak uang yang keluar ke dalam social media marketing perusahaan dan berapa banyak uang yang sudah di dapatkan perusahaan, khususnya dari SMM investasi yang tidak mudah ditentukan. Ketika merek menjual langsung ke konsumen online maka secara eksplisit menautkan SMM kampanye untuk hasil keuangan, tetapi ketika merek tidak menjual langsung ke konsumen online sulit dimengerti apakah pendapatan benar-benar berasal dari SMM (Ray et al dalam Silva et al, 2020).…”

“…Sesuai dengan penelitian yang dilakukan oleh (Silva et al, 2020) hasil imbal balik dari investasi sosial media marketing dikategorikan menjadi dua, yaitu; non-financial dan financial measures. Hal tersebut dapat digambarkan pada matrix di bawah ini.…”

The Potential of Digital Marketing Tools to Develop the Innovative SFSC Players’ Business Models

“…In their case, the website, SEO, and social media stay in the first three places. A further study [10] investigated B2C companies' attitudes toward advertisement focusing on social media. The surveyed companies believed that paid advertising in social media is essential, especially for effective communication; however, they were not satisfied with the coherence and transparency of these sites.…”

Mobile instant messaging apps as an opportunity for a conversational approach to marketing: a segmentation study

“…This is also due to a scarcity in the research dealing with the topic (Pandey et al , 2020) in particular that of electronic marketing orientation and the effectiveness of value co-creation. Companies do not actively evaluate the performance of digital marketing and measurement, in general, is not considered important even if it is important to establish how B2B organizations perceive the effectiveness of social media in the commercial sector, as this can very often determine investment choices and their mode of usage (Eid et al , 2019; Silva et al , 2020). It is, therefore, necessary to understand how much the perception of the effectiveness of IM used for relational and commercial purposes is perceived to be effective for the achievement of marketing objectives, both in B2B and B2C firms.…”