How to Measure Success on Social Media

Social media has come to be accepted as a helpful tool for businesses, but some wonder if it’s possible to accurately measure its success. While measuring the ROI of social media may not be as straightforward as other business endeavors, it can and should be done.

Outline Your Goals

First, outline your goals. Do you want to build brand awareness? Do you want to find out your audience’s preferences? Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Set yourself reasonable, numerical goals (increase engagement 5% in 3 months or drive 1500 visitors to your website next month). You may have more than one goal, and while they may not be monetary, establishing goals for your social media efforts is an important step in not only guiding your strategy but determining success.

Identify Metrics to Gauge Progress 

If brand awareness is your goal, you will want to keep an eye on engagement and your number of followers. Engagement comes in the form of comments, likes, shares and clicks. An increase in followers shows more people know who you are, and an increase in engagement shows your brand’s message is getting through to your audience.

Keep in mind, however, not all forms of engagement are created equal. A share or retweet is the highest form of social media engagement, whereas a like or a favorite is the lowest.

Driving visitors to your site is a good goal to have, but it shouldn’t stop there. You should consider what action you want visitors to take once they land on your site. Are blog views a priority? Are you trying to build a subscriber list through a contact form? Determining a desired action will help you know what numbers to look at when it comes to analyzing the data.

Analyze the Data   

Once you’ve determined the metrics you’ll use to gauge progress, you will need to track them. Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest have their own built-in analytic tools that show you numbers for reach, engagement and impressions.

Hootsuite is an example of a third party social media scheduler that also features an analytics reporting tool. It generates a customizable report that includes follower/page growth, click-through rates for individual posts on multiple social media platforms, and demographics. It also denotes key influencers and brands you should be watching.

For any data associated with website traffic, you should use Google Analytics. With this tool, you’ll be able to track the path a visitor takes from your social media platform to and throughout your website.

Make Adjustments

The numbers you uncover in your analyses tell a story. Are your followers not engaging with your Facebook posts? Then it’s time to change up the content you’re sharing. Through continuous analyzing and adjusting, you’ll discover the approach that will help you achieve your goals, and once you do, it’s time to set new ones!

Want to learn more about social media marketing? Check out this great article on what not to do on social media.

Are you interested in seeing what social media can do for your business? Call Orlando digital marketing agency Chatter Buzz Media today to schedule a free social media marketing consultation.