One common challenge for marketers is measuring the ROI of social media programs. With a multitude of metrics to gauge performance, social media ROI isn’t as clear cut as other types of marketing campaigns. It’s difficult to determine how much revenue last week’s Tweet will generate or if your last blog post boosted your bottom line. In fact, 60 percent of marketers say measuring ROI is the most challenging aspect of their social media programs.
Three Key Performance Indicators
The main challenge with social media marketing is that there is no common denominator to measure its ROI. Although marketers know it is an essential component to any marketing program, the effectiveness of social media is typically measured haphazardly at best or even not at all. Here are three areas to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of your social media initiatives:
- The first place to start is measuring the number of people impacted by your social media content. Examples of reach metrics include the number of followers on various social media channels, connections on LinkedIn, and subscribers to your blog and YouTube channel. These metrics are simple to measure without third-party tools or complicated analytics. To increase reach, know which social media channels your target markets are using and focus on those outlets. While a large audience is good, reach only tells part of the story.
- This metric evaluates the number of people who interact with your social media messaging. Engagement is measured in likes, retweets, shares, comments and ratings. A network of engaged followers can extend the reach of your efforts and lead to additional exposure, prospects and sales. To boost engagement, tag others in posts when sharing their content, spotlight customer success stories and feature shareworthy visuals such as infographics and videos. Like with reach, engagement statistics can be tracked manually or through third-party services.
- Here’s where social media starts to impact business development. Conversion metrics tell you how many people took the next step and provided information to enter into your sales funnel and your marketing database. These metrics include registration for content downloads, participation in webinars, subscriptions to newsletters or blogs, phone-in leads and online requests for additional information. In the conversion metric, the website becomes the hub of social media content. Always link social networking posts back to the content to allow for detailed tracking information through Google Analytics. Additionally, leverage campaign tracking in Google Analytics to build trackable links that will directly tie social media posts with conversions.
When developing a social media marketing program, remember that it takes time to make the connection between posts and sales. But unlike other forms of marketing content, social media builds momentum over time and pays dividends far into the future. To speed up the cycle, develop a strategy that aligns social media objectives with overall business goals. Commit the necessary resources including finances, time and manpower. Determine which metrics are important for achieving those objectives, measure them consistently and tweak efforts as needed. To learn more about developing a social media strategy that drives bottom-line results, contact Trade Press Services today.