Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format. With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Few UK businesses measure social media ROI

The study, entitled 'Tackling the social challenge', found that while all figures point toward continued growth of the uptake of social media by British brands, the majority are still clearly struggling to measure its impact.

Over the past year, almost one third (29%) of UK businesses have set up a new social media channel and 52% have increased the amount of time dedicated to managing social media. One in five also expect to further increase their social media investment in the next 12 months.

Despite the fact few businesses are measuring their ROI effectively, many companies said that they have seen tangible benefits from their social media outreach. A quarter of businesses reported that they have seen an increase in website traffic, while one in five (21%) attribute an increased sales turnover to the active use of social media. Just under a third (30%) also said they've experienced increased customer loyalty, and 31% report heightened customer engagement.

Managing social media channels With an array of online communities, forums and channels for brands to take advantage of, many businesses are looking at implementing simultaneous outreach on multiple platforms. Facebook (65%) and Twitter (60%) are the most popular channels, but around a quarter of companies are currently managing more than one account on each. Marketers now spend an average of an hour a day managing social media, with only 6% managing multiple channels centrally.

The role of a community or social media manager is something companies are starting to consider but, similar to last year, they have largely failed to appoint dedicated managers. Only 22% of have a social media or community manager in place.

According to Maria Wasing, EPiServer's vice president of marketing for Europe, "While an increasing number of businesses are embracing social media, there are clearly areas for improvement if they are to take full advantage. Managing social media can be challenging and time-consuming, so it's vital to put in place a dedicated resource, along with the right tools and platforms to ensure multiple channels can be updated and managed with ease."

The key to effective measurement, Wasing says, lies in keeping it simple to manage: "Many marketers seem to be overwhelmed with multiple social media channels that need to be maintained constantly. But there are tools available - such as EPiServer's recently launched 'Social Reach' platform - that allow marketers to manage all the channels through a single interface, including segmentation and measurement tools."

The full report has been made available for free download from EPiServer's web site - click here (free registration required).

Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format.

With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

You'll learn to sell yourself, sell your products, and sell your brand on the internet, writing high-conversion landing pages, social media posts, and more. You'll start attracting customers you didn’t even know existed, and learn the top trade secrets for customer retention.

You'll become a lean, mean selling machine. See how the experts do it and learn to adapt what they've done for your own profit. You'll learn to write strong, powerful, effective sales copy, whether it's for a sales script, sales letter, flyer, insert, advert or just about anything else.

You'll learn how to sell whether you're selling by telephone, by mail, or even meeting prospects face-to-face. You'll find out how to size them up, present yourself, nail down their true needs, close the sale, and learn to tackle the tricky ones.

You'll discover the biggest secrets of successful direct mail sellers, sales letter writers, and how to segment and choose the right prospects for each campaign.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)