So, you’ve been successful deploying social media channels and aligning the appropriate marketing programs to apply the new approach and meet your overall objectives.   

Hasn’t anyone noticed? What more do you need to do to prove the validity of the channel and the worth of all of your efforts?

Here are a few learnings from recent deployment, program(s) development and stakeholder validation that may be just what you require within your company.

Setting the stage

Where are you today and where do you plan to be once you’ve executed your innovative marketing program? We looked at several of our social media channels and developed some new ones to build out our presence to scale for volume.

The proof is in the tweeting

It all starts with a hypothesis: what’s the one you’d like to prove? Our hypothesis was based on finding net new prospects at a lower cost than traditional marketing. 

A healthy mix of social media channels keeps them guessing.

We built an approach where essentially we couldn’t lose. The important levers such as buzz, awareness, engagement, lead generation, all required different channels so having that mix made it possible to achieve all. 

The MyVenturepad community (SAP is a sponsor) provides a platform for 2-way conversations, and as well, LinkedIn fosters engagement through featured questions, discussion forums. Our twitter channels, such as SAP4SME contribute to buzz, drumbeat, awareness, fast feedback, ability to monitor who’s participating, and Facebook and YouTube provide a venue for additional content. Be sure to check out the SAP Customers Facebook page as well as the SAP Customers YouTube channel for some terrific customer storytelling.

Here’s the sales pitch to your stakeholders

What were the takeaways? Can you isolate a few examples where the numbers bear truths, for example: 1 tweet by an influencer drove X re-tweets which engaged 6000 prospects and 25 became leads? Go back to your original hypothesis, and emphasize where your innovative approach beat out traditional media hands down.  

Now for lasting impact

Where do you go from here? You’ve now built a mix of innovative channels to align with marketing programs. Try out some new hypotheses and aim for meeting objectives to reach other teams and your sales channel. Branch out beyond the original proof point, and your colleagues and management will find new ways to deliver on and validate not only ‘experiments’, but true innovative marketing.