I have been working in social media marketing for quite some time now. I have found that the digital world is great with capturing metrics. Lots of metrics! Information overload? Maybe. The challenge is to determine which metric to follow and how these metrics meet the bottom-line, ROI.
How to develop metrics:
Before we can define the ROI and serve up a bunch of statistical information, we need to first determine what type of metrics we are looking for. A strong strategic plan [click here for a plan outline] will help to determine which method and which metric to focus on.
Here is an example of a set of objectives from Christopher Barger, the director of global social media at General Motors:
- Become more responsive to people/consumer audiences
- Incorporate audience/consumer feedback into your organization more quickly and effectively than has happened traditionally
- Make your brand a little more “human” to the outside world, and show people the smarts, personality and passion of the people behind your logo
- Increase awareness of the strength of your current product lineup, and provide perspective/accurate information about your company
Objectives provide a timetable and prioritization for implementation
Objectives define person(s) responsible for content
Objectives define the budget.
I hope this example turns on a light on what your brand can do online. The last statement brings me to the important issue of ROI. As much as we think that Social Media Marketing is free, there are human resources, technology and time to consider in a social media campaign. What are you giving up to afford a social media campaign and how will it out-perform what you gave up? And you can’t measure the success until the activity reaches a transaction. Adding 20% new fans each month is a perception trend. Who are these fans? What makes them valuable? If you haven’t already, develop FRY measurements.
FRY: Frequency|Reach|Yield. How OFTEN a customer makes a transaction, how MANY customers transact, and how MUCH do they spend per transaction? Measure the difference after the social media campaign is in place. Determine a goal point and monitor how you reach that goal. Adjust the campaign to more efficiently reach the goal. Differentiate ROI from perception trends. ROI can only be measured when the data reaches the transaction.
Developing pages on social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and others will help you to get valuable external links. External links are used by the search engines to associate your site with RELEVANT topics. On your social network pages use keywords in the content that you expect qualified customers will use in searching for solutions to their problems. That means ALL content. Add alt-tags and captions to images and media uploaded.
What do you want your social media campaign to accomplish? Links to your site, brand awareness, sign-up for an e-mail newsletter, purchase a specific item, or even call a unique 800 number. Give specific instructions on your social network on how to contact you. Create specific links usually following the URL with: /? You can add any code you want after the question mark and be able to track incoming links that way. Develop contests or other “interactive” events on your social network to drive traffic to your site.
Don’t rely on just one or actually any social media outlet to bring you instant wealth and fortune. Social media is entirely too new for that to happen. And, who knows with the volatility of the business climate, Facebook could be gone tomorrow. I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one or even a couple of baskets. Use the technology and the potential audience of these sites to drive traffic to something you have complete control, such as your own website. That should be the number one driver in your strategic plan. Direct traffic to the website that YOU control. From there you can measure the success of any campaign.
Where to find metrics:
Your web host can give you detail on the activity on your site. Most common pages visited, pages people exited from, and length of time on each page. Google Analytics can give you that data too. Google Analytics (GA) uses data you place on your website to track site usage, visitors, and traffic sources. Develop goals and conversions with Google Analytics. For example; if you want to track the purchase on your site. At the “thank you for your purchase” page, set up code so GA can report: Number of people clicked on your link and number of them went through the purchase process.
Depending on your social media channel of choice, you will find metrics in a number of followers, number of views, and their activity (clicks, comments, etc.). Most of these metrics are perceptive and don’t have a clear tie to ROI.
Facebook offers “Insights” which share impressions/feedback data on company fan pages as well as monthly active users, daily new likes, daily post views, and daily post feedback. Use this metric to determine content that is more appreciated by your followers.
LinkedIn offers “Network Statistics” which present your network of trusted professionals including two and three degrees away. Use this section to find more qualified connections. They also provide regional access data in your network. Including fastest growing locations in your network. Also provided are top industries in your network. These pieces of data can help you to consider expansion in growing markets and industries. LinkedIn Groups are another area where you can expand your reach. Start a group and be the authority in that arena or join and contribute to an already established group.
Know this: A social media campaign will not give you immediate riches. It will help you to communicate with your customer base, and help you to develop more qualified leads if done properly. If you break the trust of the social network and only talk AT the customer instead of listening TO the customer you will lose the game.
Click here to find an outline for building your strategic social media campaign. I am here to help, if you want more detail or discuss ways which we can help you build your brand awareness and social media campaign please don’t hesitate to call 949-584-5669.