Frankly, we got social media wrong a lot, says QuantIQ CEO

Stuart Fenton says social media marketing has been key to the Microsoft partner's growth since he took over in 2013 as he appoints former Insight stablemate Ashley Gatehouse as new CMO

The CEO of a fast-growing Microsoft Dynamics partner that now claims to be generating several hundred leads a quarter via social media has warned the medium can be a "waste of time and money" if certain steps aren't followed.

Former Insight UK boss Stuart Fenton and his team took the helm of the UK division of global Microsoft ERP specialist QuantIQ in 2013 with the intent of "trailblazing how ERP and latterly CRM projects are won and delivered".

This includes using social media to build brand awareness, a strategy QuantIQ has doubled down on with its appointment of Fenton's former Insight stablemate Ashley Gatehouse as CMO.

The London-based outfit claims to have grown by an average of 34 per cent over the last five years, with 2019 revenues forecast to hit £25m.

QuantIQ initially saw social media as a low-cost way to build a brand, but was immediately surprised by the leads the tactic generated, Fenton explained.

However, he flagged lead quality as an inevitable downside of social media selling and marketing, even if this can be alleviated to an extent.

"We now generate several hundred leads a quarter as a result of social media, yet quality is mixed," he said.

"The effectiveness of the leads turning into opportunities directly relates to the originating social media item the lead is responding to, the targeting of the message and the speed of response by the sales team.

"Get any of these wrong, and it's a waste of time and money. Naturally, many of the leads are lower quality - competitors seeking info, recruiters and generally low quality - this is the downside of social media, regardless of the targeting quality.

"Frankly we have got it wrong at lot but over the years, we have improved the sophistication of our messages and commenced some initial steps using the more advanced social-engagement marketing features in order to target industries, roles, locations and even companies."

Fenton claimed that QuantIQ's competitors have flattered it by mimicking its go-to-market tactics, meaning it needed to "raise the bar" by appointing former Insight and Crayon director Gatehouse (pictured, below).

"We have probably been more focused in the last three months than we were in the last three years on social in terms of very targeted messages, the language used, measuring the response and converting the learning into actions," Fenton said.

"It's been a huge priority for me and I have recently leveraged Ashley's knowledge to make it more effective and it made sense for him to join if the opportunity presented itself…and it did."

Fenton said using the more targeted tools and paid social advertising calls for an entirely different marketing mindset.

"In fact, it leverages old-school direct marketing skills with modern community management processes," he said.

"Today, I cannot imagine buying a list of email names, or ‘enriched' data from data providers since the data is usually wrong whereas social media tools give you live, current data and access to people currently in role, which is more useful than perhaps some obsolete data capture."