1. GuEST column
BY Saurabh Parmar
Saurabh Parmar is the founder and CEO of Brandlogist, a Delhi-based
digital branding consultancy. He also teaches digital marketing at the
Indian Institute of Mass Communication and 9.9 School of Convergence.
How to drive better ROI from social media
Don’t just treat it as a bullet point off your
marketing list. Think different.
Social media is all around us—take conferences, seminars, articles and now India, but running your television commercial in
even books that constantly hold forth on the power and wonder of social media. Africa or Australia. Relevant numbers is the key. In
Despite this buzz, several people and most definitely business builders, are still fact, more than any other medium, social media
left asking—it sure seems interesting but how do I drive ROI out of it? For newer, allows for relevant targeting—on the basis of age, gen-
fast-growing businesses, ROI is an even more pressing concern. der, location or even the kind of workplace.
So, how does one take social media to the next level, and what does it take Decide the “about what”: Imagine if someone asks
to drive ROI through this medium? First, it takes a change in approach, you about your brand and you start talking about
which does not mean fancy, tech-type jargon. Marketing on social media, music, movies or food instead. You are having a conver-
much like marketing in the traditional medium, works on logic and under- sation, of course, but is it useful if it’s not really about
standing your customer. Here are eight tips to drive the maximum bang for your brand. This may sound quite silly but that’s exactly
your buck by using social media for your brand: what most brands do on their social media pages. By
Focus on the who: One of the most common metrics a social media prac- “liking” your page, your customers choose to listen and
titioner will throw at you is the number of “likes”, followers and views gath- talk to you. Yet most brands miss out on this great
ered on different social media platforms. Of course, that’s fine. But “how opportunity by not sharing content related to the
many” isn’t enough; never fail to ask them “who”. Are they among your target brand, or not being able to articulate the very behaviour
audience or do they have a direct influence on your target audience? If they traits that define their brand. Create a content strategy
don’t, their numbers becomes irrelevant, much like selling your products in which directly connects to your brand strategy.
14 | INC. | september/october 2012 illustration by Shigil N

2. guest column
Emphasise the tone of voice, not the Jet Blue have built themselves using this logue, everything from marketing, cus-
share of voice: Would you rather have approach. When your brand can be rele- tomer experience, HR policies, or even
more people who have heard about your vant, helpful, funny or interesting to your your supply chain can come up for dis-
brand, or a smaller group made of those customer, it leaves a distinct impression. cussion. Instead of embracing this oppor-
who are more inclined to buy it? Seems Use social media to drive your cam- tunity, brands tend to focus only on the
like a no-brainer right? But, most compa- paigns: The primary medium you usually marketing aspect which constricts the
nies still tend to focus on the “share of choose for your marketing is the one with impact, and consequently their cam-
voice”—more consumers talking about the largest target audience base. Earlier, paigns’ ROI.
them, or liking them—rather than bring- that wasn’t social media. But things have Recently, we helped launch a restau-
ing a fewer, more relevant group closer changed. Facebook recently claimed it rant chain on social media. One of the
to purchase.
One way to do this is to concentrate on
your brand’s influencers i.e. people who When your brand can be
like your brand. Your marketing agenda
should be to spread their word and con- relevant, helpful, funny or
vince other potential customers through interesting to your customer, it
them. Detractors or those unhappy with
your brand offer a great opportunity as leaves a distinct impression.
well. Solve their concerns and turn their
negative experiences to positive ones.
When people come to your page or search crossed 50 million users in India; Twitter comments we received from a regular
for it, they need to be convinced of its has around 15 million followers and patron of the restaurant was that the res-
value. Doing this well on social media is LinkedIn has about 10 million members. taurant shuts at 11.20pm. The restaurant
the key to foster connection, eventually Compare this to print media, where the management was surprised by this feed-
leading to sales. The Times of India stands at 7.85 million back because the official closing time was
Start by listening: Everyday, there are readers, and Dainik Jagran at 16.4 mil- midnight. When they looked into the
many customers talking about your lion. Even the most popular TV channels matter, they realised that the outlet’s local
brand or your category. In today’s digital have an audience base smaller than Face- staff had begun to shut the restaurant
world, a large part of these conversations book. This reach is not just restricted to 20-30 minutes before the normal closure
take place on social media and can be the popular 18-34 demographic group. time. This was a critical learning as by fix-
detected and responded to. Instead of The 45-plus age group accounts for five ing it, the restaurant chain increased its
reaching out to everyone, brands need to per cent i.e. 2.5 million of the users, which operations time which led to increased
target those who are already talking about is more than the readership of the top two revenue and consequently an increased
similar issues. For example, think of a business papers put together. ROI from the campaign. Integrate your
customer who is deliberating about buy- Also, because social media is more social media into all your divisions.
ing a laptop and asking others for recom- viral in nature, the cost of advertising is Choose the right metrics: Measuring
mendations, or even somebody who has cheaper and your incremental cost helps you to evaluate the efficacy of your
just posted a negative review of their new decreases with the growth of the commu- approach but the key is choosing the right
laptop. These conversations can serve as nity. There is even greater ROI in driving metrics relevant to your approach, such as
leads which can be mined to provide bril- your campaigns through this media the relevant number of “likes”, reach by
liant insights, and help identify influenc- because campaigns are not just about not the number of followers but follower-
ers. The operating cost of doing this is contests, they are about exploring what following ratio, relevant content,
lesser than traditional outbound market- can be done by getting people and your frequency of response, and tonality. Yet,
ing, market research or PR. brand together. When your customers are the biggest metric is understanding
Share and facilitate: The best social involved in the campaign from the word whether you are connecting with your
media campaigns have primarily been by go, their impact and spread is much customer or not. Social media, like any
brands that go beyond sharing their own greater. other brand building mechanism is not a
promotional or marketing messages to Understand social media is horizon- short term, numbers game but a question
understanding their consumers’ passion tal; not vertical: In most organisations, of building value for your customer.
points. That makes your marketing more social media is typically restricted to a
real and dynamic as it tailors the message marketing checklist. But that’s a very nar-
to what people are anyway talking about. row approach. Social media is about Contact Saurabh Parmar at saurabh@brandlogist.
com. Follow him on Twitter: @saurabhparmar.
Brands like Skittles, Lego, Skullcandy and building dialogue, and like any other dia-
september/october 2012 | INC. | 15