Determining the success of a social media campaign comes down to an issue of metrics. The following are the top three metrics you should be looking at when gauging the success of your social media strategy.
The
“Like” numbers or active participation: A quick
snapshot of any social media campaign is to look at the number of users who are
accessing your social media profiles. With Facebook, it would be the number of likes
or comments. With Twitter, it would be the number of followers or retweets. Each
of those numbers will tell you who has taken the time to join your social media
campaign and are participating actively.
However, these numbers aren’t the only
ones you should be studying. Go deeper. For instance, Facebook provides its
page administrators with a detailed analysis of not only how many new likes
occurred but also the percentage of comments generated and views. The other
networks have metrics such as page views and mentions that can also indicate
the kind of volume your company is attracting.
Your
bounce rate. Are your visitors arriving at your
site from your social media profiles but leaving immediately? Take a look at
the time spent on your website from your different traffic sources. If you find
that visitors are spending less than a minute on your website, then maybe your
landing page needs better copy. Or maybe you’re attracting the wrong audience.
Conversions: You want social media campaigns to convert, either into
subscriptions, sales or any other items that you’re offering as part of your
sales funnel. If your sales increase
after launching a successful social media campaign, then it worked. However,
those numbers can also be used to determine the return on investment when it
comes to expanding your reach. For instance, if you have a 5% increase in sales
with a 10% increase in site traffic then it follows the more traffic, the more
sales.
Not all of the metrics are simple to track
and may require some advanced tools. It’s very important to take the time to
have the right measurement and analytical tools in place before you start a
social media campaign. Without the right tools, you won’t be able to determine
if your campaigns were successful or an abysmal failure.
