Social media is all around us—take conferences, seminars, articles and now even books that constantly hold forth on the power and wonder of social media. Despite this buzz, several people and most definitely business builders, are still left asking—it sure seems interesting but how do I drive ROI out of it? For newer, fast-growing businesses, ROI is an even more pressing concern.  So, how does one take social media to the next level, and what does it take to drive ROI through this medium? First, it takes a change in approach, which does not mean fancy, tech-type jargon. Marketing on social media, much like marketing in the traditional medium, works on logic and understanding your customer. Here are eight tips to drive the maximum bang for your buck by using social media for your brand: 

Social media is about building dialogue, and like any other dialogue, everything from marketing, customer experience, HR policies, or even your supply chain can come up for discussion." - Saurabh Parmar

Focus on the who: One of the most common metrics a social media practitioner will throw at you is the number of “likes”, followers and views gathered on different social media platforms. Of course, that’s fine. But “how many” isn’t enough; never fail to ask them “who”. Are they among your target audience or do they have a direct influence on your target audience? If they don’t, their numbers become irrelevant, much like selling your products in India, but running your television commercial in Africa or Australia. Relevant numbers is the key. In fact, more than any other medium, social media allows for relevant targeting—on the basis of age, gender, location or even the kind of workplace.

Decide the “about what”: Imagine if someone asks you about your brand and you start talking about music, movies or food instead. You are having a conversation, of course, but is it useful if it’s not really about your brand? This may sound quite silly but that’s exactly what most brands do on their social media pages. By “liking” your page, your customers choose to listen and talk to you. Yet most brands miss out on this great opportunity by not sharing content related to the brand, or not being able to articulate the very behaviour traits that define their brand. Create a content strategy which directly connects to your brand strategy.

Emphasise the tone of voice, not the share of voice: Would you rather have more people who have heard about your brand, or a smaller group made of those who are more inclined to buy it? Seems like a no-brainer right? But, most companies still tend to focus on the “share of voice”—more consumers talking about them, or liking them—rather than bringing a fewer, more relevant group closer to purchase. One way to do this is to concentrate on your brand’s influencers i.e. people who like your brand. Your marketing agenda should be to spread their word and convince other potential customers through them. Detractors or those unhappy with your brand offer a great opportunity as well. Solve their concerns and turn their negative experiences to positive ones. When people come to your page or search for it, they need to be convinced of its value. Doing this well on social media is the key to foster connection, eventually leading to sales. 

Start by listening: Everyday, there are many customers talking about your brand or your category. In today’s digital world, a large part of these conversations take place on social media and can be detected and responded to. Instead of reaching out to everyone, brands need to target those who are already talking about similar issues. For example, think of a customer who is deliberating about buying a laptop and asking others for recommendations, or even somebody who has just posted a negative review of her new laptop. These conversations can serve as leads which can be mined to provide brilliant insights, and help identify influencers. The operating cost of doing this is lesser than the cost of traditional outbound marketing, market research or PR. 

Share and facilitate: The best social media campaigns have primarily been by brands that go beyond sharing their own promotional or marketing messages to understanding their consumers’ passion points. That makes your marketing more real and dynamic as it tailors the message to what people are talking about anyway. Brands like Skittles, Lego, Skullcandy and Jet Blue have built themselves using this approach. When your brand can be relevant, helpful, funny or interesting to your customer, it leaves a distinct impression. 

Use social media to drive your campaigns: The primary medium you usually choose for your marketing is the one with the largest target audience base. Earlier, that wasn’t social media. But things have changed. Facebook recently claimed it crossed 50 million users in India; Twitter has around 15 million followers and LinkedIn has about 10 million members. Compare this to print media, where the The Times of India stands at 7.85 million readers, and Dainik Jagran at 16.4 million. Even the most popular TV channels have an audience base smaller than Facebook. This reach is not just restricted to the popular 18-34 demographic group. The 45-plus age group accounts for five per cent i.e. 2.5 million of the users, which is more than the readership of the top two business papers put together.Also, because social media is more viral in nature, the cost of advertising is cheaper and your incremental cost decreases with the growth of the community. There is even greater ROI in driving your campaigns through this media because campaigns are not just about contests, they are about exploring what can be done by getting people and your brand together. When your customers are involved in the campaign from the word go, their impact and spread is much greater.

The best social media campaigns have primarily been by brands that go beyond sharing their own promotional or marketing messages to understanding their consumers’ passion points.

Understand social media is horizontal, not vertical:  In most organisations, social media is typically restricted to a marketing checklist. But that’s a very narrow approach. Social media is about building dialogue, and like any other dialogue, everything from marketing, customer experience, HR policies, or even your supply chain can come up for discussion. Instead of embracing this opportunity, brands tend to focus only on the marketing aspect which constricts the impact, and consequently their campaigns’ ROI.Recently, we helped launch a restaurant chain on social media. One of the comments we received from a regular patron of the restaurant was that the restaurant shuts at 11.20pm. The restaurant management was surprised by this feedback because the official closing time was midnight. When they looked into the matter, they realised that the outlet’s local staff had begun to shut the restaurant 20-30 minutes before the normal closure time. This was a critical learning as by fixing it, the restaurant chain increased its operations time which led to increased revenue and consequently an increased ROI from the campaign. Integrate your social media into all your divisions.  

Choose the right metrics: Measuring helps you to evaluate the efficacy of your approach but the key is choosing the right metrics relevant to your approach, such as the relevant number of “likes”, reach by not the number of followers but follower-following ratio, relevant content, frequency of response, and tonality. Yet, the biggest metric is understanding whether you are connecting with your customer or not. Social media, like any other brand building mechanism is not a short-term numbers game but a question of building value for your customer.