ADR: The Secret to Social Media Marketing Success

There are two major problems that brands face when entering the realm of social media marketing:

1. They get caught up in that “new car smell” and they try everything with no planning
2. They plan, but they bite off more than they can chew

Both of these issues lead to problems. At best, you find yourself with lackluster results. At worst, you fail miserably in your social media marketing endeavors.

We avoid this problem with a very simple solution: ADR. ADR stands for Awareness, Demand, and Revenue. Here’s a good ol’ fashioned Venn diagram to show you how it works.

This isn’t astrophysics, but I can tell you from experience that this diagram will help you reach greater success in your social media marketing efforts.

The Rules:

• Every social media initiative you undertake must fall into at least one of the circles
• When I say “fall into,” I don’t mean that you think your Facebook Page will drive demand, I mean that you have to be able to measure it and prove it. You have to be able to prove that your digital PR is driving awareness. You have to be able to prove that your iPhone app is driving revenue. “Thinking” that something is working doesn’t count.
• As you begin building your social media marketing campaign, you brainstorm. Every idea that comes up must be able to provably exist somewhere in the diagram.
  • If an idea falls into one circle, it’s good.
  • If an idea falls into two circles, it’s great.
  • If an idea falls into all three circles, it’s a bulls-eye
  • And if the idea doesn’t fall in any circles, IT DOESN’T GET DONE

The reason this very simple system works is that it ensures that the social media marketing campaign you undertake is made up of components that measurably affect at least one of those key marketing areas: awareness, demand, or revenue. This puts you in a fantastic position when it comes time to report on the success of your social media efforts to you client and/or boss.

Epilogue:

This past weekend I gave a talk at PodCamp Philly 2010 (#pcphilly2010), and I talked about the importance of ADR in campaign planning. I also spoke about the various metrics that can be used to measure the effect your efforts are having on awareness, demand, and revenue. The presentation led to a fantastic discussion and I want to thank all involved for making the session so interesting and dynamic. For those of you who requested the deck, I have uploaded it to Slideshare an embedded it here:

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3 Responses to “ADR: The Secret to Social Media Marketing Success”

1. Nick Stamoulis says:

   October 12, 2010 at 12:43 pm

   So many people think that in order to get involved in social media they just have to sign up to all social media sites and create profiles, well that just won’t get you anywhere. A good social media strategy will direct you to social media outlets that will best work for your brand and foster your growth to meet your goals. Again great social media success takes time, and hard work, but will pay off if done right.
2. Naomi says:

   November 16, 2010 at 1:15 pm

   This is an amazing article. Thank you so much for this.