Do you know exactly how social media is impacting your business? Are you spending your time in the right places online?
Many people think that social media is hard to measure. But the truth is, it’s one of the easiest forms of marketing to measure but you have to set up the right system!
We had a great conversation about how to set up these systems in our recent SocialTalk LIVE show and had fun in the process! Take a listen to the 3 Keys to Measuring Social Media ROI.
I also recap the biggest points of our conversation here:
#1 Determine Your Key Performance Indicators
What does success look like for you? What do you want out of your social media campaign? Obviously sales is the biggest reason people are using social media but there are other things to consider on the way to getting those sales.
Measure the steps along the way to getting that goal. Usually I’m focusing on using social media to grow my e-mail list and then using my e-mail follow up sequence to do the selling.
Big Picture Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
- Increase in Sales Volume
- Increase in Revenue (people buying more expensive products)
- Decrease in cost
Smaller Steps to Achieving KPIs:
- Increase in Likes/Followers/Fans (awareness)
- Better Engagement – open rates, click thru, comments
- More website traffic
- More Subscribers
#2 Determine How You Will Measure Your KPIs
If you have a goal for using social media to increase your sales, then you better know how you will track that! It can’t be a “feeling” or overall comparison of this month’s sales to last month’s.
Some of the ways you can measure your personal Key Performance Indicators are:
- Social analytics
- Google Analytics
- Google UTM links
- Google Goals
- Separated E-mail lists to track activity
- Brick and Mortar: Coupon codes, Ask at checkout, special deals
- Higher end products: SimplyMeasured/Hubspot/Marketo
So we spent a while talking about the big benefits of having Google Goals (pictured) and then using UTM links to post to each different social site so you are tracking those sites independently.
Then you will know which social site got you to your goal. There is a great explanation of UTM Links on the Buffer blog.
#3 Review Your Stats Regularly and Adjust
Not only do you need to track but make sure you are reviewing at the right intervals and making adjustments in your strategy.
I often run controlled experiments on my Facebook Page or on Twitter. And I do a deep dive into my stats about once a quarter.
You don’t have to spend hours each day reviewing numbers but know which stats you are going to check weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly.
We also mentioned a couple other sites in the training – one was Hubspot’s LeadIn to help you create optin pages and track (I also like LeadPages for that).
And I gave a link to a review of Nicole Kelly’s Social Media ROI session at Social Media Marketing World a couple years ago (along with a link to her book that I love).
So how about you – are you using Google Analytics to track your social activity? What is working best for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!