Comments on: Why Is Measuring Lead Gen in Social Media So Hard?

By: Zoe Sands

Zoe Sands — Thu, 28 May 2009 09:53:00 +0000

I think social media is all about engagement and awareness, which is at the top of the sales funnel and therefore I don’t believe that you can add this to the lead generation toolbox for B2B marketing, but I do truly believe that it is part of the sales process by enabling engagement within specific communities of people. With the advances in third party tagging and campaign tracking URLs this should help assist in proving the ROI of social media, showing the impact it is having within the sales funnel and help identify the relevance of this communication channel in the decision making process for B2B. For B2C direct selling that’s completely different scenario and Dell has proved this with the Dell Outlet Twitter account http://twitter.com/DellOutlet, this social media activity has provided Dell with a new sales channel, which can be tracked through unique promotional codes for the Dell Outlet Twitter account.

By: Elaine Fogel

Elaine Fogel — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:47:34 +0000

Paul, as with anything innovative, I think it will take time before we really know how social media pans out. Since it’s user generated, it has a life of its own and continues to morph as new users come on board. So, even if some believe it has value as a lead generation tool, there are others who claim it to be purely social, or purely informational, or purely to build brand awareness…
It’ll be an interesting journey to see where it goes in the next couple of years.
Just my 2 cents as a plain old marketer.

By: Paul Dunay

Paul Dunay — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:40:06 +0000

@ Paul – I agree very much with David’s theory on the world wide rave – but I don’t think it has to be mutually exclusive to lead gen

By: Paul Chaney

Paul Chaney — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:28:21 +0000

To quote David Meerman Scott, social media is about the spreading of ideas and less about generating leads.
Lead generation is not its native language. However, to satisfy the ROI legitimization factor, lead gen is foisted upon it. And so it must be.
That’s not to suggest that it can’t hold it’s own. For example, blogs are great tools for lead generation, so long as advertorial content isn’t mixed in with editorial. Prominently placing a strong call to action in the sidebar could suffice.
Consider what Chris Baggott is doing with Compendium Blogware. That’s a lesson he’s trying to teach.
I think forcing lead generation upon social media is tantamount to putting a square peg in a round hole. But, again, it must be. Maybe some pizza guys from Nawlin’s would be good role models to show us how. Next time I’m over there, I’ll let you know!

By: Sonny Gill

Sonny Gill — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:11:43 +0000

Great example of how traditional marketing campaigns have been measured in the past and how closely it relates to the new media tools we use today.
The tools and strategies may be new but at the heart of our marketing efforts, there are still many similarities from the traditional days…and as Lewis mentions, the results of combining traditional and new media strategies together are much greater than doing without.

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:58:24 +0000

Paul,
You are absolutely correct; tracking lead generation by embedding calls to action (800 numbers, discount coupons, code, etc.)are as old as marketing. We didn’t start using the techniques with the web, as you know. We have been using them forever within our profession.
I think this is but one example of when new media is used by those who either don’t know or don’t care that when new tools are melded with traditional solutions, the results are far more powerful.