A report from 33Across suggests that the use of prospect data to inform new media marketing campaigns is the most important task and biggest challenge for marketers. More than 75 percent of respondents to the survey said finding the best ways to apply this data to website content and other marketing efforts is currently more pressing than maintaining a presence on social networks.
While social media marketing and other channels have helped businesses drive sales, 33Across suggests web marketers are at a crossroads. As more channels have arisen for use in web campaigns, the amount of information about target audiences has grown substantially. However, companies have struggled to apply this data to efforts across the web.
According to the study, fan engagement is more important to marketers than simply generating Likes and shares on social networks. However, developing the type of social content that will stand out and engage users is becoming increasingly difficult as more companies move into social media marketing. Many marketers believe they have the answers to drive engagement in the customer data, but 70 percent don’t know if they apply the information most effectively. Further compounding the problems for marketers, 73 percent said they’ve struggled to use data and trends from campaigns in a channel to inform their efforts in other channels.
Brafton has reported that companies are best positioned to build influence when their campaigns are multi-channel with a common message and targeted audience for each. Keeping social strategies separate from website content or email outreach can prevent a company from optimizing their web marketing for success.
Additionally, 91 percent of 33Across respondents said they’re very concerned about demonstrating the success of their campaigns through concrete metrics showing ROI. Even companies that are seeing progress aren’t exactly sure how to judge the effectiveness of their campaigns. Brafton highlighted this issue in the past, reporting that 28 percent of marketers use their own intuition to determine the value of their social strategies despite the availability of analytics services that can provide marketers with the data they need to demonstrate value and inform their efforts. Brafton recently highlighted a case study from Google that found a company improved web conversions by more than 30 percent by using analytics data to strengthen their campaigns.
