Is your social media agency using the correct software?

Think back to a mere five years ago, when including Twitter, Pinterest and a range of other social media channels into your marketing strategy was almost unheard of. As social media agencies sprung up, in order to meet the demand of a market who conduct a large portion of their lives online, it was a case of 'making do'. The available tools were rudimental at best.

Today's marketing software has made it infinitely easier for social media agencies to create and post content across multiple platforms, but surprisingly, many agencies still rely on outdated and inferior methods.

Whether it's a hesitancy to embrace something new or a case of 'don't fix what isn't broken', social media agencies have been slow to adopt the use of software that speeds up the process and elevates the success of their campaigns. Far too many agencies are still reliant on stand-alone solutions that entail logging in and out of multiple programs with complicated dashboards and limited functionality.

The definition of a successful marketing campaign is now all down to the numbers

In the past, establishing whether a campaign resulted in ROI was a guessing game at best. With no accurate way to measure whether a campaign actually resulted in conversions, social media agencies would resort to equating the number of likes with increased brand acknowledgement.

This supposedly, led to increased ROI. Unfortunately, most likes or retweets don't actually translate into your market spending money on your brand. In order to determine whether your social media spending resulted in ROI, sophisticated analytics tools are required. These tools will give you an accurate overview with detailed data about the performance of a campaign.

It's pointless having analytics tools at your disposal if they aren't incorporated into a multi-functional CMS

Social media campaigns that garner the highest ROI are created and implemented via one tool. Yup - just one. Having to conduct the simultaneous use of several programs does not make a successful (read: profitable) campaign.

For one, you'll spend way too much time having to manually manage them. Secondly, your social media channels of choice won't be able to leverage off each other. Using isolated social media management tools is akin to cooking a stew in several different pots. If you cooked each ingredient in isolation, you'd not be making a stew, you'd be making boiled carrots, sautéed beans, gravy, fried potatoes and roasted lamb.

These dishes would be way tastier if they were given the opportunity to mix with each other in the same pot. Using different programs for each social media channel is exactly the same - while each set of content may be good on its own, it's missing out on the opportunity to be great.

Social media agencies who want to prove that their efforts result in ROI can't leave their clients hanging

You'd never begin to tell a friend about the latest instalment in your love life and walk away half way through, so why get your market to click on a Call To Action (CTA) and then leave them hanging? Tracking your click throughs and linking them to a buyer's journey, that'll nurture a lead until they're prepared to become a customer, is key.

Make sure all of your campaigns focus not solely on reach, but on how this engagement can facilitate ROI. An integrated CMS is crucial in order to provide a thorough social media campaign that takes every single step of a person's journey from point of contact, to lead, to customer. Effectively guiding someone along this path entails the use of a variety of contact provided on several different channels. You'll need a set of tools that allows you to perform multiple tasks that all have the same end goal in common.

A multi-functional CMS that contains an array of tools enables social media agencies to up their offering. Instead of merely posting content on social media channels, you'll be able to offer your clients an all-encompassing solution. Ensure your agency is equipped with software that's up to the challenge.