1. How to Integrate Social Media and SEO to
Drive More Leads and Increase Marketing ROI
Drive More Leads and Increase Marketing ROI
Sergio Balegno
Director of Research
i f h
MECLABS Primary Research / MarketingSherpa

2. Today’s speakers
Brian Carroll
Executive Director, Applied Research, MECLABS
Executive Director Applied Research MECLABS
Brian Carroll is Executive Director of Applied Research at MECLABS.
Brian is also co‐founder of InTouch (now part of the MECLABS Leads
Group), a B2B marketing firm and one of the first companies to provide
Group) a B2B marketing firm and one of the first companies to provide
lead generation services for the complex sale.
Author of the popular book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale
(McGraw‐Hill), Carroll is a leading expert in lead generation and he s
(McGraw Hill) Carroll is a leading expert in lead generation and he's
profiled and regularly quoted in numerous publications. Brian also
speaks to 20,000 people a year on improving sales effectiveness and
lead generation strategies.
@brianjcarroll
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3. Today’s speakers
Sergio Balegno
Director of Research, MECLABS/MarketingSherpa
Director of Research, MECLABS/MarketingSherpa
Sergio manages a team of analysts who conduct studies of marketing
practices, publish content in the form of benchmark reports, how‐to
handbooks and training curriculum, and present findings at industry
handbooks and training curriculum and present findings at industry
events, training workshops and webinars.
He has worked in marketing since 1980, first on the brand‐side as Vice
President of Marketing in the airline industry, then on the agency side as
President of Marketing in the airline industry then on the agency‐side as
a founding partner of a B2B marketing communications firm.
@SergioBalegno
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4. Today’s agenda
• How social media and SEO drive inbound leads
• MarketingSherpa case study
g p y
• Social marketing architecture
• CMO priorities and perceptions
• Calculating social marketing ROI
Calculating social marketing ROI
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5. Annual research cycle improves marketer know‐how
• Publish research on what’s working
(and what isn’t) for marketers
•Benchmark Reports, Case Studies
• Identify best practices and
formulate practical methodologies
formulate practical methodologies
•Handbooks, Special Reports
• Teach marketers how to apply best
practices and methodologies
•Summits, certification training, webinars
• Repeat cycle for continuous
Repeat cycle for continuous
improvement / knowledge transfer
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6. How social media and SEO drive inbound leads

7. Social impacts organic traffic and conversion rates
• Chart: Conversion rates from
organic search listing traffic
• Search marketers who integrate
social media achieve a 59% better
rate of conversion. Why?...
• Rankings are driven by relevance
• Relevance increases credibility
• C ed b ty d es co e s o s
Credibility drives conversions
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8. Social media and search integration is essential
• 76% agree that “many
natural search listings today
natural search listings today
are linked to social media
content, so the integration of
social media and SEO tactics
social media and SEO tactics
is absolutely essential.”
• Search algorithms focusing
on younger, relevant content
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9. Together, social media and search accelerates
inbound lead capture and conversion
i b dl d d i
• This synergistic relationship worthy
This synergistic relationship worthy
of a title: Inbound Marketing
• Chart: Q. Are you integrating social
media and SEO tactics to increase
inbound lead generation?
• Nearly half using this synergy to
N l h lf i thi t
improve inbound marketing KPIs
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10. But, 11% don’t know what Inbound Marketing is
• Inbound marketing is a strategy
that focuses on being found by
prospective customers, as opposed
to finding them (outbound).
• Inbound leverages earned media –
I b dl d di
social media, SEO and content
sharing – to attract customers
• Social marketing architecture
Inbound marketing helps customers find you required to drive leads to you
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11. MarketingSherpa case study

12. Delivra’s inbound strategy pulls in 70% more
leads and doubles annual revenue per account
l d d d bl l
• Delivra: email service provider
Delivra: email service provider
• Challenge: list fatigue and limited budget for
outbound tactics = declining qual/quan of leads
g q /q
• Objective: improve quality and quantity of leads
with inbound strategy using existing resources
gy g g
• Gap: lack of content and a social marketing
architecture to accomplish objective
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13. Building a strategy for inbound marketing success
Five‐step strategy:
1.
1 Created guidelines to align brand
Created guidelines to align brand
messaging across old/new channels
2. Designed a social marketing architecture
with a plan and purpose
3. Produced high‐value, search engine
friendly content for lead conversion
friendly content for lead conversion
4. Leveraged automated marketing for
rapid response
5. Analyzed and optimized for ROI
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14. 1. Guidelines align brand messaging across
h l f i i
channels from conversation to conversion
• Push to create content for attracting
leads looking for email marketing
leads looking for “email marketing”
• Content guidelines describe services
and competitive differentiation
p
• Applied across channels – all online,
customer service, sales reps, etc.
• Pace of adoption was “shocking”
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15. 2. Design a social marketing architecture
• Hub sites for content and
conversion
•Blog
•Website
• Spoke sites to build communities,
p ,
relationships and engagement
•Facebook
•Twitter
•LinkedIn
•Local social network
• Spoke sites direct traffic flow into
Spoke sites direct traffic flow into
hub sites to be captured/converted
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16. 3. Add content designed for SEO and conversion
• Two types of content produced:
1. Open access – keyword‐rich blog posts
and how‐to articles to lift search rankings
and establish subject matter expertise
2. Premium content behind registration
2 P i b hi d i i
form – highly relevant exchange of value
(whitepapers for contact information)
• Form data integrated with CRM
system for further qualification and
sales hand‐off process
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17. 4. Leverage auto‐response marketing
• Nurturing process for inbound leads
different than paid outbound
• The faster inbound leads were acted
on, the faster they converted
• Inbound leads more likely to have
interacted/requested info from co.
• Inbound leads receive auto‐response
confirmation email, but not 5‐part
series paid outbound leads receive
p
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18. 5. Analyze and optimize
• Key inbound KPIs analyzed
•Number of leads captured
•Ratio of leads to sales
•Average value of sales
•Average return on investment
• ROI – prove financial return to win
skeptics who control budget
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19. Results of Delivra inbound marketing strategy
• Quarterly revenue increase 25‐40%
•Annual revenue/account doubled
• Inbound leads increased 70%
• Website traffic increased 20%
•Cut SERPs for major keywords by half
• Blog now generates 3‐4x more
Blog now generates 3 4x more
traffic than the website
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20. Social marketing architecture

21. Without a social marketing architecture
Random acts of marketing
R d f k i
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22. With a social marketing architecture –
hub and spoke framework controls traffic flow
h b d k f k l ffi fl
• Hub sites for content and conversion
• Spoke sites for building communities,
relationships and engagement
• Directs traffic flow in and out of hubs
• Number of sites not important
Number of sites not important –
a plan and purpose for every site is
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23. Plan and purpose for hub sites
• Websites have become hub of
overall marketing strategy – primary
point of conversion
• Blogs have become hub of social
marketing strategy
k ti t t
• Dynamics of timely, keyword‐rich,
multi media content is search
multi‐media content is search
friendly – lifts rankings and traffic
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24. Plan and purpose for spoke sites
• Social networks, microblogs, forums,
content sharing and other social sites
content sharing and other social sites
• Each provides a specific purposd for a
• Purpose: spoke sites drive traffic to
hub sites for content and conversion
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25. CMO priorities and perceptions

26. Priorities for social media are changing –
now it’s “show me the money"
i’ “h h "
• Social channel monetization factors
are top‐of‐mind priorities for CMOs
• Goal of social channel monetization:
Measureable return on investment
Measureable return on investment
• Strategic phase organizations are 80%
more likely than Trial to prioritize ROI
• Why? Trial phase organizations don’t
have a process for performing social
marketing or measuring ROI
marketing or measuring ROI
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27. Perceptions driving social marketing investment
• If social marketing perceived to
produce ROI, investment follows
• Strategic phase 4X as likely as
Trial to produce measureable ROI
• Why? No process, no proof of
ROI, no investment
• Think social marketing is free?
Think social marketing is free?
You’re destined to get what you
pay for!
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28. The promise of social marketing ROI a reality
• When ROI equals a positive %,
earning more than costing
earning more than costing
• Average social marketing ROI 95%
• One‐in‐four CMOs are doubling
O i f CMO d bli
their social investment (100% ROI)
• Overcoming the myth that social
g y
marketing ROI isn’t measureable
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29. Calculating social marketing ROI

30. ROI is a measure of financial value returned on
every dollar invested
• Formula: Return on Investment =
(Value gained from investment – Cost of investment)/Cost of investment
• Tracking the right metrics for determining the values and costs of social
media marketing can be a challenge
media marketing can be a challenge
• “Around 10% of our social media activity directly translates to bottom‐line
results, making ROI easy to determine for that portion. However, 90% of the
work has to do with people building their reputation online and helping
others, so they can effectively promote the brand online. That big chunk of
work is impossible to measure in terms of ROI.” –CMO insight
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31. When it comes to calculating social media ROI,
some metrics matter more than others
• Qualitative, non‐financial metrics CAN be measured
• Quantitative, financial metrics SHOULD be measured
• Financial values are metrics that matter most for calculating and proving ROI
•Return on engagement, return on innovation, etc., mean nothing in the C‐suite
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32. Values CMOs can use to calculate the Return
• Many values can be measured
• Estimated value of quantitative
E ti t d l f tit ti
social media metrics
•Likes/Fans
•Followers
• Estimated value of qualitative social
media metrics
•Sentiment
•Awareness/Voice
• These metrics useful to monitor
ese et cs use u to o to
audience but not to measure ROI
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33. Values CMOs should use to calculate Return
• Actual sales on ecommerce sites can be tracked to social media engagement
• Most organizations know the estimated value of a qualified lead – use it!
• There are two ways to gain value – increasing income and reducing costs
There are two ways to gain value increasing income and reducing costs
•Not factoring social media’s ability to reduce customer support costs is a missed opportunity
• Which values can and should you use to calculate social marketing ROI?
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34. Costs CMOs are using to calculate Investment
• Investment side of ROI equals costs
associated with social marketing
i d ih i l k i
• Social falls into two main media
categories – earned and paid
g p
• Earned media time intensive tactic
requiring more human resources
• Paid media cash intensive tactic
requiring fewer human resources
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35. Formula for calculating the ROI of social marketing
(Value gained from investment – Cost of investment)/Cost of investment = ROI
• ROI analysis: Social lead gen campaign
ROI l i S i ll d i
Value Gained
• Value: 500 qualified leads tracked to
Minus Cost social at est value $150/lead = $75k
$ / $
• Cost: Staff plus other expense = $15k
Divided
by Cost
by Cost
• ($75k ‐ $15k) / $15k = 400% ROI
Equals
ROI 35
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36. Quick Recap
• How social media and SEO drive inbound leads
• MarketingSherpa case study
g p y
• Social marketing architecture
• CMO priorities and perceptions
• Calculating social marketing ROI
Calculating social marketing ROI
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37. Next Steps and Resources
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• B2BLeadBlog.com/Linkedin
4. Connect and share
• B2BLeadBlog.com
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• Twitter @B2BLeadBlog
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38. Join the MECLABS team
• We are currently looking for star
players to join MECLABS
• Opportunities available include
• Lead Generation Specialist
• Research Analyst
R hA l
• Key Account Representatives
• Major Account Sales Trainee
• Online Marketing Manager
l k
MECLABS.com/Careers
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39. Thank You