Measure twice, tweak!
This motto is a bit different than what we learned in shop or sewing class, yet for social engagement we need to measure our efforts then make adjustments to suit ever-changing audience interests.
In our industry we used to believe that all marketing could be measured strictly in ROI. How many “heads in beds” as the saying goes. As we move thru the transition to social marketing entwined with traditional marketing we’re finding that just measuring ROI is not as effective as measuring reache, reputation, relationships, engagements and referrals.
When considering what measuring tactics and strategies to implement, you may want to ask yourself these 3 social advertising questions.
Popular Social Metrics
Some popular metrics to measure across all social platforms include:
- Reach measures the number of fans, followers, blog subscribers and other statistics to gauge the size of your community. While this is easy to measure, avoid relying solely on this as most people would agree that a large and UNINTERESTED audience is not as valuable as a smaller VERY Interested one.
- Reach measurement on Facebook can be found in Page Insights and here’s how to navigate to that data. Select Insights from the navigation bar above your cover photo, then click Reach to see Organic vs. Paid Reach. Scroll down in this section to study “Likes, Comments and Shares”.
- Twitter reach analytics can be measured within your Twitter account and here’s how to find it. Navigate to Analytics and the Followers.
Other simple analytics for your Twitter account can be found here at Tweriod.
- Pinterest analytics are found here on your verified business account. In addition to graphs and chart about your fans you’ll also find some reach analytics here.
- LinkedIn connections can be viewed in the ‘Connections’ tab. To see who’s viewed your page recently, check this out:
- Engagement measures retweets, comments, repins, average time on site, bounce rate, clicks, video views, downloads and anything else that requires the user to engage. This measurement is crucial to understanding what is relevant to your audience. Social platforms, especially Facebook, value engagement highly when deciding what content gets more reach. The algorithm of social is now based more on engagement than ever before. Experts are always scrambling to encourage the elusive comment or share.
- Engagement measurement can be found here on your Facebook Page Insights. Navigate to Insights then Engagement will be shown. For more details, click the Engagement box.
- Retweet analytics are shown in the right hand column of your Analytics under the ‘Tweets’ tab.
- Repins from your Pinterest account can be analysed when you click ‘Repins’. The report looks like this
- Your website analytics may include time on each page of your site and bounce rate. If you’re using Google Analytics, please study your own dashboard.
- You-Tube video views and other engagement is found on your channel and looks like this. Metrics are provided for each individual video on your channel.
- Competitive data includes the brand’s “share of voice” across the web or sentiment. This means assessing how your company stacks up against similar brands. In addition, sentiment can be tricky as some tools are less sophisticated at measuring the true meaning of comments.
- Social Mention is an essential tool to measure sentiment. In addition, you can assess key words and recent posts when you use this tool.
- Sales conversions. Do you want to measure social media referral traffic to the top of the sales funnel or number of sales aided by social media efforts? These measurements require code to be included in your website. Keep in mind if your business is based on group sales or phone reservations you may want to ask clients how they found you and include “social” in your list of possible answers.
Other more in-depth metrics are covered in this short presentation.
Regular assessments are a good way to see what you’re doing right, what needs tweaking and how you can better serve your clients.
How will you use these metrics to your advantage?
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4 Tips to Expand your Social Presence
Social Marketing Strategies for Travel and Tourism
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