For some time now, you have heard that having a presence on social media is important. However, you’re not really sure why or how to prove it – does this sound like you? If so, then this blog post is for you. Measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) of online marketing activities is crucial not only to your success as a marketer, but also to getting buy-in from your boss. If you are able to successfully show how social media will benefit the company’s bottom line, then you are on the right track for getting the support you need to carry out your online marketing strategies.

Below I will share three tips for how to measure the ROI of social media.

As the end of 2014 approaches, it’s time to start mapping out your content strategy for 2015. I know first-hand that it is difficult to plan when you are also trying to wrap up the year. Before you know it, it’s National Manufacturing Day (more on that, below) and you are scrambling to get some tweets together. So, allow me to share some of my ideas for manufacturing content marketing in 2015, so that you are not stuck trying to catch up.

Side note: Even though this article is focused on manufacturing, planning a content strategy is important no matter what industry you are in. The ideas below can be applied to any industry.

Manufacturing Day: A 2015 No-Brainer

Trade shows and conventions still play a big role in a lot of industries, particularly in B2B markets such as manufacturing, construction, and technology. One of the top trade shows in America is the International CES in Las Vegas. The total number of attendees equals around 101,600 and the total number of exhibitors is around 3,300. Those are some great odds, with the potential for one in every thirty people to stop by your booth.

So, as an exhibitor, what are some ways to take advantage of this? How can you make sure that you get the right information from people? What will you do to remember and follow-up with the people who were only ‘kind of’ interested? How will you ensure that attendees don’t forget you? These are all great questions, and luckily, I have answers. Check out my 4 ideas for how to integrate digital marketing into your next trade show or convention:

“How long is your sales cycle?” It’s a foundational question that we ask all of our clients before we begin working with them. Why? Because it helps us to properly forecast, establish sensible goals, and calculate the ROI of Inbound Marketing.

Why Does it Matter?

Today, the B2B sales cycle can be anywhere from a couple weeks to a year long. This large time span is not only due to different products and industries, but also because with the Internet, buyers have the power and the luxury of controlling the length of their sales cycle. Salespeople can no longer control the flow of the sale. In fact, many sales milestones happen without the sales person even there.

Think about it: you know you have a problem, so you go online and look for a solution. You’ll probably explore multiple companies that offer the solution and dwindle it down to two or three that you want to explore further. You may watch a testimonial video, download a tip sheet and subscribe to the company’s blog. Right now, you’re a sales prospect and you haven’t even spoken to someone at the company.

Recently, my coworker Nadine and I implemented a lead scoring program for one of our clients. In this post, I share key considerations for getting started with a lead scoring campaign, how we determined our scoring system, and an inside look at how we assigned point values to our leads.