By Sergio Balegno, Senior Analyst

Objectives that are Targeted and Measured, by Social Marketing Maturity


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Defining specific objectives for a social marketing initiative is only half the battle. The other half is aligning those objectives with corresponding metrics. This alignment is important because it enables an organization to measure its progress in achieving the objectives and proving ROI. While obvious, this step is often overlooked.

This chart breaks out the percentage of organizations targeting and measuring social marketing objectives by their social marketing maturity status. Regardless of any specific objective, an organization in the strategic phase of social marketing maturity is much more likely to align their objectives with corresponding metrics than organizations in earlier phases.

Social marketing maturity has been defined by the practices of an organization during three logical phases of development.

o Phase I: Trial -- no process is used and social platforms are implemented first.
o Phase II: Transition -- an informal process is used and performed randomly.
o Phase III: Strategic -- a formal process is used and performed routinely.

The goal is to demonstrate the disparity in the performance of social marketing programs by organizations in each stage of maturity.

For additional research data and insights about social marketing, download and read the free Executive Summary from MarketingSherpa’s 2010 Social Media Marketing Benchmark Report.