A recent research conducted by Sprout Social revealed that there is a significant gap between what marketers post on social media and what really consumers want brands to post. The research shows how marketers should realign and redefine their social strategies and how serving audiences contribute to the bottom line. Read the below brief to understand what ROI means in social marketing and how marketers align with consumer preferences:

Redefining ROI

• 55% of social marketers, surveyed, indicated that measuring ROI is a top challenge for them.
• 80% said their key strategy is increasing engagement across their social channels.
• Just 14% of marketers say they are able to quantify the revenue from social.
• 30% of consumers surveyed wanting links to more information from brands on social, and most preferring discounts, sales and educational posts (more on that later).
• 3 in 5 social marketers aren’t having regular conversations about ROI with their boss.

A Graph Shows the Biggest Goals of Social Marketers in 2018

Social Content preferences in 2018

• Marketers are focused on posts that teach (61%), tell a story (58%) and inspire (53%).
• In contrast, consumers are looking for discounts and sales (73%), posts that showcase new products and services (60%) and posts that teach them something (59%).
• Consumers are 13% more likely to engage with entertaining brand content than share it with their audiences.
• Consumers are equally likely to engage with and share inspirational content, while they’re 31% more likely to engage with storytelling content than share it.
• Consumers are 24% more likely to engage with promotions and deals than share them, while they’re 150% more likely to engage with employee advocacy posts than sharing them.
• Consumers are 90% more likely to engage with posts that showcase company personality and announce company happenings than they are to share with friends on social.
• Consumers also are 50% more likely to engage with posts showcasing new products and offerings than share them.

A Graph Shows the Brand Content Consumers Engage With vs. Share on Social in 2018

Methodology:

Data is based on 1,253 consumer respondents and 2,060 social media marketer respondents. The survey conducted between April 12, 2018, and May 1, 2018.