How can companies determine the ROI for social media and content marketing programs? This presentation delves into the reality of measuring social and content ROI, and shares ten truths of the world of content marketing today. In addition to sharing information gleaned from years of working in social and content with clients both inside and outside the outdoor industry, Sara also takes a data-based approach to helping organizations make decisions about their social and content programs guided by real business goals. Originally presented at Outdoor University at Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, on July 31, 2013 by Sara Lingafelter, Director of Social Strategy at Portent, an Internet marketing company based in Seattle, WA.

1. Sara Lingafelter
@saralingafelter | @portent
slingafelter@portent.com
ROI WTF?
Content Marketing Today
In Ten Truths

2. http://portent.co/ROIWTF
(Yes, use .co, not .com)

3. Tweet this presentation:
#ROIWTF

4. First things
FIRST
Who AM I?
Why am I HERE?

5. Because I’m endemic…

6. … and I really, really love what I do …
"Sara
is
kind
of
like
our
social
media
therapist."
-­‐
A
former
client

7. … and where I get to
do it, surrounded by
other like-minded web
dorks…
…harboring a not-so-
secret love for data
and analytics.

8. And this is what we do.

9. BUT WHY THIS SEMINAR?
WHY ARE YOU HERE?

10. Before we talk about ROI,
Let’s warm up with
everybody’s favorite…

11. Pop Quiz:
Choose the best answer:
Content Marketing is all about
_______________.
a. Near-term revenue;
b. Keyword stuffing;
c. Cat memes;
d. The customer.

13. Building a relationship with your
customer.
Content marketing is about

14. h8p://bit.ly/15w5IvY

15. h8p://bit.ly/1406H7K

16. h8p://bit.ly/1ebK81L

17. 1. Scaled to suit your business;
2. Developed and targeted at
activating key customer
segments;
3. Tracked and refined over
time.
Content marketing can be:

18. Which part of the purchasing
decision does content marketing
affect?
Pop Quiz:

19. 1. Problem / Need
Recognition / Idea
2. Information Search
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
4. Purchase
5. Post-purchase Behavior

20. It’s not impossible to
demonstrate ROI for social &
content.
It’s just not necessarily easy.

21. ROI: actual return calculated after
the campaign.
Break-even or CBA: does it appear
this campaign will break even or
make a profit? Do the potential
benefits outweigh the costs?
Should we try it?
As a housekeeping matter…

22. BRING ON THE METRICS!

25. GETTING WARMER…
BUT REFERRAL TRAFFIC AND
CONVERSIONS ARE STILL ONLY PART
OF THE PICTURE.

26. THE METRICS THAT MATTER
ARE THE ONES THAT DRIVE
YOUR BROADER BUSINESS
GOALS.

27. Terrible
Great
Scale of Value as a Metric
Followers / Likes
Impressions
Reach
Clicks
Bounce Rate
Abandonment Rate
Conversation Rate
(or is that Conversion Rate?)
Economic Value
Lifetime Value
Based
on
a
recap
slide
from
Avinash
Kaushik
at
Mozcon
2013

28. So let’s take a closer look at
lifetime value…

29. Meet Jane.
• Jane
just
heard
about
this
new
thing
called
a
Fitbit
from
a
co-­‐
worker.
• “Track
my
steps
all
day,
and
help
me
lose
weight?
I’m
SOLD.”

30. See Jane Google.

31. See Jane Fitbit
• $91.77
later,
Jane’s
Fitbit
is
clipped
to
her
waistbelt
logging
her
steps.
• Six
weeks
later:
• She’s
bought
the
accompanying
scale
($126
at
her
local
Target
store,
found
through
Fitbit’s
Store
Locator)
• She’s
signed
up
for
Fitbit’s
$49/year
premium
service
and
• She’s
lost
five
pounds.

32. See Jane Talk to
Her Friends
• Jane
shares
her
progress
via
Facebook
and
Twi8er;
• Her
review
on
Amazon
is
most
helpful;
• She’s
happy
to
answer
quesdons
when
people
ask
her
about
what
that
thing
is
clipped
to
her
belt.

33. See Jane’s
Friends buy
Fitbits.
• Let’s
say,
only
five
friends
buy
a
Fitbit
One,
and
three
buy
a
Fitbit
Scale.
• Now
what’s
Jane
worth?

34. See Jane’s Value.
(or do you?)
• Jane’s
purchase
of
the
premium
service
may
be
all
Fitbit
knows
about
Jane.
• Is
Jane
a
$49
a
year
customer,
or
is
Jane
a
$1,076
customer
so
far
this
quarter?

35. See Jane’s Value.
(or do you?)
• And
now,
say
you’re
not
Fitbit.
• What
does
Jane’s
affinity
for
Fitbit
tell
you
about
her
potendal
interest
in
YOUR
brand?

36. And, if Jane does
introduce herself
Create
a
Facebook
Custom
Audience
and
add
Jane
to
it,
to
find
more
people
like
Jane.
Facebook’s
Lookalike
Audience
tools
are
gehng
solid
reviews
from
early
users.

37. What if Fitbit actually
encouraged Jane’s
ambassadorship?
Now what I want to know is:

38. 1. The next time Jane visits Fitbit.com (with
social login enabled), Fitbit can prompt
her to complete her account (if she hasn’t
already);
2. Track clicks in social shares to determine
users who meet a threshold for influential
activity;
3. Email invitation to a special members-
only community for extra support;
4. Interview super-Janes for blog posts, to
help personalize the brand;
5. Reward Jane with gifts from affinity
brands to surprise and delight her…

39. I COULD DO THIS ALL DAY!

40. So, what’s Jane’s
value NOW?
• Create
segments
around
customer
demography
and
behavior
• Understand
your
customer
types
and
likely
social
behavior
and
value
beyond
the
inidal
sale.
Think
bigger
about
social
and
content
ROI.

41. Besides…
Isn’t estimating SOMETHING
better than what you’re doing
right now?

42. A recap…
Individual
Tracking: Jane
• Loyalty
rewards
• Surprise
and
delight
• Actual
customer
reladonship-­‐building
• At
the
influencer
level,
they’ll
rise
up:
it
won’t
take
tracking.
Customer
Segments: Like
Jane
• Lifedme
Value
• Content
Planning
&
Targedng
• Adverdsing
Targedng

43. • Portent measured results across 100
client accounts and found that social
media investment broke even or lost
money in the near term 85% of the
time.
• Eighty. Five. Percent.
What about near-term ROI?

44. QUICK! FIRE THE INTERN!

45. NOT SO FAST.

46. Not so fast.
blah
Over
30
days,
social
is
the
third
most
influenOal
correlaOng
factor
when
you
define
conversions
broadly.

47. But wait, the fun’s not over yet!
there are even more hard to quantify
returns to consider!
1. Customer Service Value
2. Brand Awareness
3. Customer Retention
4. New Customer Acquisition

48. Now, with even more mathiness!
h8p://portent.co/18LXqS6

49. WOW! That’s almost as mathy
as my mass media ROI!

50. So where are we now?
1. Social and content benefits extend
beyond last click conversion.
2. There is value to your brand of fostering
and encouraging conversation, even if it’s
hard to measure.
3. If it’s too hard to measure, at least model
and estimate in a way that makes sense
for your organization.

51. Because, let’s be honest.
When, over time, customer
retention, loyalty, and customer
lifetime value goes up, who’s
complaining?

52. TEN KEY TRUTHS
Content Marketing Today

53. #1
You’re either a publisher, or
you’re awesome.
(or both)

54. Who has the highest referral
traffic from social sources?

55. Who has the highest referral
traffic from social sources?
5.41%
.98%
1.54%
3.91%
3.24%
6.02%
6.47%
6.99%
7.79%
7.81%
9.96%

56. Outdoor Research is crushing it.

60. Social signals correlate to
search performance

61. #2
It all starts with Google.

63. #3
The customer is in the
driver’s seat.
Yes, I already said that.
It’s important enough to be
repeated.

64. #4
Get used to the search earth
moving under your feet.

65. A tip: this isn’t a blog post title.

66. Straight from the Google’s mouth
h8p://portent.co/1bIoxSH

67. #5
You’re wasting time asking
what the “next Facebook” is.

68. The Conversation Prism 2008

70. What matters:
Who and where is your
customer?
Early adoption isn’t strictly required in
social: it’s okay to be a fast follower.

71. #6
Get comfortable with
transparency.

72. Transparency means saying I’m sorry
when and how you should.
This
is
not
an
apology.

73. Transparency means saying I’m sorry
when and how you should.
This
is
an
apology.

74. Transparency means saying I’m sorry
so well, the response is positive.

75. Transparency means operating on the
customer’s schedule
h8p://portent.co/13niAox

76. Transparency
means sharing
your corporate
values.

77. #7
People’s names are the new
black.

78. Which link
would YOU
click?
Implement
Google
Authorship
ASAP.

79. #8
It’s still about who your
friends are.

80. You need inbound links (and
social mentions) from real
friends, not link spam.

81. You need inbound links from
real friends, not link spam.
This
link
is
worth
its
weight
in
gold.

82. #9
If you build it, they won’t
necessarily come.

83. This makes me sad.

84. This makes me happy.

85. #10
Get familiar with your
audience’s random affinities
(or at least start thinking
about affinities).

86. Random affinities
h8p://portent.co/13A3s2A

87. That’s all ten truths!
WHEW!

88. But wait…

89. SO TRUE IT HURTS
I’ve got a Spinal Tap fact:

90. #11
You’re the roadblock to
determining the ROI of your
content and social programs.*
* but you don’t have to be. So get on that.

91. THANK YOU
FOR ATTENDING

92. LET THE
content
awesome
COMMENCE!
#ROIWTF

93. Me:
@saralingafelter
@portent
an Internet Marketing Company
http://portent.co/ROIWTF
#ROIWTF