At this point, most business owners recognize the value of social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. However, very few small business owners understand the importance of making social media measurable. Earlier this week, I blogged on How to Measure Marketing Effectiveness Using Google Voice as well as How to Measure Marketing Effectiveness of Email Marketing & Banner Ads. Today, we’re going to tackle social media, which can utilize the tools I mentioned in the aforementioned posts. Since this is a lengthy topic, I’m going to cover this in several blog posts.
First, you have to know what you are measuring. This will vary based on your specific social media goals. Below are ten items that you may want to measure:
- Change in number of connections/contacts/followers
- Number of views
- Number of interactions (comments/feedback/likes)
- Number of message shares
- Number of mentions
- Demographic information
- Overall influence score
- Number of clicks
- Website visits from social media
- Number of people who took a particular action such as making a purchase
What you measure will vary based on your specific goals, type of organization and social networks that you are utilizing. For instance, if you represent a non-profit organization, your goals may be to spread awareness and gain additional contributions. You would want to measure all of the above. If you are an organization that exists simply raise awareness or spread news, you would not need to measure #10.
Why should you care about measurements? Tracking this data will let you know if you’re actually reaching your target market, if they care about what you have to say and if they are taking the actions you want them to take. Keeping a close eye on this data enables you to modify your approach to gain your desire outcome and reach your goals!
Here are a few tools that you can use to measure your marketing effectiveness and ROI (return on investment) on Facebook. Wait, I can already hear (in my mind) someone saying “Facebook is free! What are you talking about Crystal?” True, some people do not purchase ads or pay someone else to maintain their Facebook presence. However, nothing that requires your time is free. Your time is money!
Facebook Tools:
- Facebook Insights– This is a free tool provided by Facebook for Facebook Page Owners. Pages with over 30 likes gain access to review in depth analytical data including information on demographics, views, fans and interactions (clicks, comments, shares,etc.).
- HootSuite– Both the free and paid version give you access to link tracking information. In other words, if you create an update or post with a link to a website, HootSuite will track the number of clicks the link receives as well as provide you with some basic location demographic information. The paid version will also pull your Facebook Insights information.
- 1ShoppingCart (Marketer’s Choice)- I am an affiliate of 1 Shopping Cart because I use it myself! If you want to track purchase conversions, make your Facebook Page an affiliate. It will have its own unique tracking code, enabling you to track purchases made on your site as a result of a post on your page.
Stay tuned for How to Measure Marketing Effectiveness of Social Media- Part II Twitter.