We have already established that social media is an absolute necessity for the 21st Century business. The key is understanding how to measure the effect of your social media campaign. This is the tricky part, as you must identify and quantify relationships. As we move forward,it is important to remember:
LIKES + SHARES ≠ SALES
In other words, it is not enough just to have an abundance of likes/fans/shares. You must be able to determine the amount of sales generated as a direct result of your various social media outlets. So, how do you go about measuring this? Here are some “variables” in the equation.
BRAND AWARENESS: As I stated before, likes and shares alone are not an adequate measure of success. However, they still form an important part of the equation. Here are some key ways to measure your company’s online brand awareness:
- Website traffic
- # of followers/subscribers
- Content views
ONLINE “MARKET SHARE”: In other words, this is the measurement of the number of conversations about your brand versus your competitors. You must closely monitor all of the conversations about your brand, whether they are positive or negative, so that you can measure the overall public image of your company.
ENGAGEMENT: Another way of measuring success is through engagement. One-sided conversations are NEVER good for a business. In order to truly be successful, you must entice people and get them to interact with you. If you are able to establish true rapport with your followers, success will surely follow.
Trying to measure all of these aspects can prove to be very complex, especially for a small business. Luckily, there are several tools that will assist you in the monitoring of your social media. Some examples include:
- Radian6
- Lithium
- Trackur
- Google Analytics
- And many more…
Cliff Carter 