CMOs Fail to Go Beyond Brand Awareness on LinkedIn & Prove a Clear Social Media ROI

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Recent studies show 87% of B2B sales and marketing leaders are using LinkedIn and other social media platforms but less than 1 in 5 can clearly prove and demonstrate social media ROI. I believe it’s because the attention and efforts are on the top of the funnel instead of thinking about the complete buyer’s journey.

A recent MarketingLand.com article, “5 CMOs Who Are Turning To LinkedIn”, shows how CMOs at Xerox, Lithium, Wiley, XOJet and G2 Crowd are focused on brand awareness and brand engagement instead of buyer engagement. Below I analyze their ideas, thoughts and actions – and show you how they are focused on the top of the funnel.

Xerox is Focused on Reaching Prospects with Their Content – Not Engaging Prospects Using Content

Xerox CMO John Kennedy mentioned that they are using LinkedIn to share content with their followers. Through company page updates and sponsored updates, Xerox is supplying their audience with e-books, SlideShare presentations, and blog articles that offer advice on how to work better. He stated that “hopefully, we’ll provide useful resources that can help those who follow us perform better; and as a result, engender interest in the Xerox brand along the way.”

That’s a lot of hopefuls. Hopefully, prospects will find and read Xerox’s content, hopefully, they will find it useful and hopefully, the content they read will generate interest in the Xerox brand in the process. You see, John is using the word “hopefully” because he cannot directly tie these LinkedIn actions to sales opportunities or even revenue.

Because they are just focused on reach and getting brand awareness, there is no predictive marketing. However, when you focus on the complete funnel and pay strict attention to the next step actions prospects are taking as you build the relationship, you can put a process in place that you know will lead to revenue.

Wiley is Focused on Click-Through Rates and Leads (Even if the Leads Do Not Move Further)

Wiley’s CMO, Clay Stobaugh, mentioned that they’re focused on sponsored updates and sponsored Inmails, since they are getting amazing click-through rates. He’s just focused on leads and getting people into the funnel. Focusing just on leads causes misaligned goals with sales (leads vs. revenue) and marketing teams optimizing for cost per lead rather than true business growth.

It seems like there is misalignment here as Clay does not mention how many of the prospects who clicked through became paying customers and how this paid media opportunity is driving real business growth.

Forrester reports that 99% of leads don’t convert and LinkedIn says 87% of leads don’t convert. So it doesn’t matter how many click throughs are becoming leads if they are not moving forward. By focusing on the top of the funnel, you may get a low cost per lead but your cost of business growth will be high (and that’s the metric that should count!)

Lithium is Using LinkedIn to Fill the Funnel and Then Letting Marketing Automation Programs Take Over

Their CMO, Kathy Keim, understands that the volume of leads from these updates are less than other social media platforms. And, she says that marketers should spend less time on volume at the top of the funnel and more on what is driving through to a qualified sales opportunity. I totally agree with that but I don’t agree with how Lithium is driving prospects to a qualified sales opportunity. They’re letting marketing automation programs take over once they get a prospect into the funnel using updates.

But what about those leads that are resistant to sales and marketing messages and do not want to move forward without a real relationship? What about those B2B buyers who are looking for vendors that can turn their vision into a clear path to value? You can only do that if you take the time to build a real relationship instead of treating prospects like a lead – which is exactly what you’re doing when you let your marketing automation take over.

By just using LinkedIn for a top of the funnel tool instead of using LinkedIn to directly engage and interact with their prospects on a 1-on-1 more personal level to help grow relationships, Lithium is missing out on opportunities. Prospects are using LinkedIn throughout the complete buying process to make their buying decision, which means you should be thinking beyond the top of the funnel.

XOJET and G2Crowd is Using LinkedIn For Brand Building and an Extension to Their Website

XOJET CMO Shari Jones is currently utilizing LinkedIn for two core functions – brand building and recruitment. Their marketing efforts are concentrated on their company page – which is top of the funnel. She’s failing to understand that LinkedIn is not about engaging with brands! B2B buyers on LinkedIn are looking for access to broader networks that can help them (not brands – but with actual visible experts) and they want relevant context to connect with those vendors.

G2 Crowd’s CMO, Adrienne Weissman, stated that they are using their LinkedIn company page as an extension to their website. On their company page, they are sharing relevant content with their followers and specific audiences.

These companies are taking the first step to building long-term value using LinkedIn. They are building a following and establishing their brand as an expert resource with the content they are sharing on their LinkedIn company page. But, building long-term value that leads to ROI and revenue requires further educating your prospects via a nurturing flow and real relationship building that has prospects comfortably moving forward.


These Marketing Leaders Are Not Realizing the Real Power of LinkedIn:

“The Ability to Target Key Decision Makers, Build a Relationship and Leverage Those Relationships to Transition These Prospects Through Each Stage of the Buying Cycle”

LinkedIn marketing is simply becoming a numbers game. My recent LinkedIn marketing study shows this. I asked sales and marketing leaders as well as some well-recognized, trusted social media marketing experts and firm owners: What metrics are most important to you? What are you paying attention to?

Most of the sales and marketing leaders and social media experts chose clicks, profile, and platform post views, website traffic and superficial metrics like shares, comments and likes. They chose these metrics over:

• Next step actions beyond the click, like and comment
• Marketing qualified and sales qualified leads
• Revenue

That’s why most of the sales and marketing leaders were mainly getting visibility and reach and that’s about it. The sales and marketing leaders who were regularly driving demand and creating sales opportunities (not leads but actual opportunities that went past the initial interest stage) were focused on revenue objectives. They were focused on having the right tools, content, and processes to helped them meet revenue objectives using LinkedIn.

Remember, you can’t create a path to LinkedIn revenue and ROI if all of your focus is on how much you expanded your network, how many people you’re reaching with your content and sales messages and what your click-through rate is on sponsored updates.

Kristina Jaramillo
Kristina Jaramillo (President of Personal ABM) helps sales, marketing, and GTM teams win, protect and expand key tier 1 accounts that would make up the 20% of accounts that can deliver 80% of today's and tomorrow's revenue growth. By changing sales and marketing motions, Kristina reversed no positions with enterprises like UPS, created $2M wins with accounts that were unresponsive for 5+ years, protected accounts like P&G, and expanded contracts with global organizations like Sephora. Go to personalabm.com to learn more

3 COMMENTS

  1. very interesting article. I often connect to professional people and I realize that it is more about using it to enhance your position (add value). But very few people can do this, and yet are under so much pressure to make the next dollar that they “fake it until they make it” and take their chances.

  2. I loved this article. Drilling into the specific programmes of tech firms has produced some great insights. Two things really caught my attention. The drive for cheap leads by Wiley speaks volumes about the often dysfunctional relationship between sales and marketing.Lithium’s approach is one that a lot of B2B marketers fall into (let’s be honest me included in the past!) and it is very tempting for those using platforms like HubSpot that provide an integrated platform to manage the process from LinkedIn click through to email follow-up. I think HubSpot’s championing of ‘inbound sales’ provides a clear opportunity for a more intelligent and human approach that avoids some of the problems that you have described so well. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for your thoughts on this development.

  3. The reality is that LinkedIn is a person to person network, it is great for sales teams to generate interest and engagement, but as marketers LinkedIn can be challenging. Content reach per post is diminishing over time, and the cost to increase that reach is going up.

    Business need to focus on what LinkedIn and other social sites are truly good for, person to person connection.

    Content will get a better result if its posted to a blog or website, and then shared by individuals on the social sites.

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