“How do you know it’s working?”
It’s likely the #1 question asked to social media managers – and it doesn’t have to be difficult to answer.
Social Media ROI (return on investment) is an important business metric; measuring the success of your campaigns is the only way to understand it’s level of efficiency. HOW to measure those campaigns is where things could get tricky. Social media ROI has proven to be difficult to measure because more than anything, it’s a branding tool.
The key to keeping your clients happy and feeling accomplished is setting the right expectations for success. It’s not just about “likes” anymore; here’s how to measure social media ROI:
Design | Execute | Analyze
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Track the time you spend working on your posts and visual assets. Include research (like reading this post). Your platforms will track the money you invest in ads, but only you can keep tabs on the man hours.
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Create custom links for your social media posts so you can see your best traffic referrers. Use bit.ly or google custom URLs if you’re fancy!
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Use Google Analytics to see which platforms send the most traffic. You’ll be able to tell because of their robust metrics paired with your custom links.
Some of the other metrics you might consider are brand mentions, eCommerce conversions, profile/post engagement, customer service call reduction and more.
There is no “standard” for measuring social media ROI; each company should define their key objectives to determine which metrics to track.
A great place to start are these four areas:
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Financial: Have sales increased or operations costs decreased?
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Brand: Has more credibility been established?
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Audience: Is your audience happy and are you better serving them?
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Digital: Have your efforts increased the company’s overall digital impact?
Belle Strategies is a boutique Social Media Marketing company based in South Florida. Our team mixes innovative strategies with attention to detail for an online presence that produces tangible results. For assistance growing your brand on social media, contact us!
With nearly two decades in the industry, Belle Strategies’ owner, Rachel Creveling, is a seasoned business consultant who crafts comprehensive frameworks that integrate operations, marketing, sales and HR to position her clients for optimal success. She excels at incorporating trending tech ethically and studied Strategies for Accountable AI at Wharton.