Nov 28, 2023
Welcome back to another installment of our Random Thought series—part 2 of the social media investment goals and measurement series. In this post, we will identify the key metrics that you should use to measure your social media investment goals, which we previously identified as: a) building and growing a vibrant community of followers for your brand; b) enhancing and reinforcing your brand architecture; and c) generating direct revenue.
Without further ado, the following are the key metrics. But be reminded that while there are many metrics that can measure the ROI on each of the three core social media investment goals, we are only highlighting the key and important ones here to keep it concise:
Community Growth Measurements:
Total Followers Count (by individual social media platform): Assess the number of followers across your social media platforms, delving into the growth percentages month-to-month and year-to-year. Additionally, scrutinize this figure by individual social media platforms to determine where budget allocation should be optimized.
Post Impressions: While there is no way to know the exact number of users that have actively seen your posts, but this number tells you at least how many users is the post displayed to. Obviously, the higher the impression count, the greater the potential for community growth.
Engagement Rate: Measure the number of people engaging with your posts through likes, shares, or comments. This metric is indicative of post effectiveness and its success in converting followers. But be reminded again that engagement rate does not equal to the total number of users that actively engage with your posts, there are those who do not click likes, share or comment but still have actively seen your post.
Clicked Through Rate: Evaluate the number of users clicking on links in your posts. This metric reflects how effective your posts are in generating interest in your content and, consequently, your brand.
Conversion Rate: Specific to posts that entails follow up actions by users (e.g. post that gives a discount on purchase if clicked through by users), this metric gauges how effective your posts are in converting desired actions, such as signing up as followers.
Detailed Followers Segmentation Analysis: Though not readily available through standard social media analysis tools, conducting a detailed segmentation study is invaluable. Understanding the different segments of customers/ consumers you have as your followers would allow you to tailor much more effective social media marketing actions/strategies to each group.
Branding Impact Measurements:
Brand Mentions: Quantify the number of times your brand is mentioned across social media platforms, offering insights into brand awareness levels. Track this over time and correlate it with your social media actions to assess their impact.
Brand Hashtag Performance: Evaluate the frequency of your brand hashtag's usage. A higher positive usage signifies the effectiveness of your social media, or broader marketing actions.
Share of Voice: Calculate the percentage of total mentions in your industry that your brand owns. Although it must be reminded that this number does not tell you whether your brand occupies a positive or negative territory in users’ minds. It is imperative that you understand the reason behind your share of voice number. And if it is negative, then actions need to be taken to rectify it. But generally speaking, a higher percentage (in a positive context) is indicative of a stronger presence.
Brand Post Engagement Rate: Measure the rate at which users interact with posts related to your brand (e.g., likes, shares, comments). A higher rate, especially with positive comments, is desirable.
Sentiment Qualitative Analysis: Undertake a qualitative analysis by delving into user comments. Although this is quite time-consuming, but doing so would provide you with a deeper understanding of not only your followers but also the impact of your posts.
Revenue Generation Measurements:
Total Social Media Revenue: Calculate the overall income generated from all your social media platforms. Monitor the percentage of total revenue it constitutes to track its growth contextually.
Total Revenue and Average Order Value (AOV) by Individual Social Media Platform:Analyze revenue breakdowns by individual social media platforms, delving into the average order value. This provides insights into the effectiveness of each platform.
Total Revenue and Average Order Value (AOV) by Individual Posts: Explore the revenue and order value generated by each type of social media post. This information guides decisions on the types of posts that generate higher revenue.
Sales Conversion Rate: Determine the number of sales each post converts, offering insights into the most effective types of posts for driving sales.
Clicked Through Rate and Conversion Rate on Paid Ads: For paid ads, analyze clicked-through rates and conversion rates to gauge their effectiveness.
Return on Social Media Spend (Including Paid Ads): Track the total revenue generated from social media against the amount spent, specifically examining ad spend effectiveness versus non-ad spend.
Well, that’s all from us this week. As usual, I hope you guys find it useful. Again, please follow us on our LinkedIn account for more!
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