An effective social media marketing strategy has become essential for businesses seeking to drive new sales in a cost-effective way. However, measuring return on investment (ROI) can be difficult when dealing with social media. The general goal of marketing on social media is usually to initiate a conversation that eventually leads to a sale. Unfortunately, this means that most sales result from activities that are not directly related to social media. Therefore, it is essential for businesses to identify secondary metrics that indicate the effectiveness of a social media marketing campaign.
Qualitative Metrics
It is often necessary to measure social media ROI on the basis of qualitative factors. For example, a post on social media might result in one or two customers giving a business a call. Due to the low statistical significance of this activity, it may be necessary for the business to consider the type of products that were eventually sold or the nature of the customers that made the call. These qualitative factors could then be used later down the road to determine potential areas of interest that could be used for more quantitative information gathering.
Measure Engagement
A quantitative metric that many businesses choose to use is engagement. This is effective for businesses that seek to develop a relationship with their customers through the use of social media. Engagement will not directly lead to sales, but it may lead to sales later down the road when potential customers become exposed to other marketing channels. Engagement can be measured on the basis of total comments, shares, and other metrics. Effective engagement management can improve the results that business owners can expect to obtain from a social media marketing campaign.
Follower Growth
Many business owners choose to monitor their total number of followers because this has the potential to significantly increase reach. A higher number of followers can also improve a company’s reputation within an industry. However, it is important to not exaggerate the importance of followers to get results on social media. Purchased followers or followers that are not targeted are unlikely to lead to eventual sales. In contrast, followers that fit prescribed demographic criteria can lead to eventual sales results. Therefore, it is important to measure subsets of followers to obtain more actionable metrics.
Website Traffic
An effective social media marketing campaign should be expected to drive a significant amount of website traffic. In many cases, a website will continue to gain the majority of its traffic from search engines. However, search engine optimization and social media marketing are increasingly becoming interrelated. Therefore, it is important to differentiate between general website traffic and page visits that are the result of social media activities.
