You can’t ignore social media any more if you want your business to reach modern consumers. One of the common questions businesses have when hiring or evaluating their social media agency is “what exactly should be measured?" Is it more than just setting up a profile and seeing if anything happens? We would say yes, and it is essential to track the effectiveness of your social media accounts through measuring these 5 things:
#1 Reach
One key social media measurement is reach, which is the total amount of followers, fans, etc. that you have for your social media accounts. Reach is important because this is the amount of people who will be seeing what you post and potentially interacting with your company. It is also important because if someone has already followed you based on content that you share, they are already interested and therefore a more qualified audience.
#2 Engagement
Besides having followers in your social media accounts, you really want them to engage with your company. Engagement can include likes, retweets, comments, sharing – basically any time one of your followers interacts with your brand. This is a key part of social media since it allows a two way relationship between your followers and your company. Don’t forget that since this is a two way street, it’s important to engage with your customers as well and respond to their questions, concerns, comments, praise, etc. You don’t want to leave them feeling ignored. Make sure your social media agency has these bases covered and is tracking engagement.
#3 Visits
Here is where your social media not only benefits your brand, awareness, and customer relationships, but actually drives visitors to your website. Visits are different from reach or engagement because you are getting people one step further, ideally to a well optimized site that further cements your reputation as a reliable business that can provide what they are looking for. Tracking visits is important so that you can identify how much traffic social media channels are specifically driving.
#4 Leads
Once you have someone on your site and they provide their name and email (or any contact info that you request), you now have what is called a lead. This is someone who is interested in your products, or just finds your content helpful. Either way this stage allows you to identify who may become a customer, and that they came from social media.
#5 Customers
There’s no need for a lot of explaining here, but you eventually want your followers and visitors to become customers. This is the fruition of all of your social media efforts and when you can identify that your new customer came from social media, it is rewarding and reminds you that your hard work is worth it. It is also important to track if you have a boss or client to answer to and are trying to show why social media is worth it.
So there you have it, 5 things that your social media agency should be measuring. Through this process you have reached people, interacted with them, they have visited your site, been qualified as a lead, and eventually you have gained customers. This is the ideal way to use social media. Keep in mind that social media doesn’t exist in isolation (for example, social media can help your website rank on Google too).
Here at Half a Bubble Out, we don’t view any one part of marketing in isolation, but we use a holistic approach called inbound marketing. If you would like to learn more about our inbound philosophy, download the free offer below:
Since 2002, Half a Bubble Out has been dedicated to providing marketing, advertising and small business consulting that meet the needs of our clients. We specialize in powerfully telling stories through Inbound Marketing to grow your business filled with more passion and provision. Based in Chico California, we serve clients throughout Northern California and across the country to New York.
