Measuring Social Media

Friday, 23 December 2011 Posted by Encore TeleSolutions Category Services


So you've set up Google Analytics and you've been looking at the reports to get insight as to who is visiting your website. Great! But what about your Facebook fan page and your Twitter page? Maybe you have created profiles on several other social media platforms and you want to measure these too. But what do you measure? Let's look at how social media is different from a website, what activities you should be engaging in and how to measure them.



Social media is different than a website because people engage in different types of activities than they do with a website. Much of the content for a business website such as about the company, product or service category and contact information is more static than the kinds of content on a social media site. People using social media want to know what is new and they want to know frequently. When you post a piece of content, it is visible to your network and shows up in their feeds. If people in your network like it, share it or comment on it, (or whatever the equivalents may be for a given social media platform), it shows up in in the feeds of their network. The more frequently you post, the greater chances someone in your circle will see that post and like it, share it or comment on it. So this calls for a different way of measuring social media. Social media metrics can be broken down into three basic categories:

The number of social connections The quantity of brand content The amount of direct brand engagements
The number of followers you have is important, and the amount of content you have provided for your audience is even more important, but the ultimate goal is direct brand engagement. Increasing the number of fans or followers you have does not necessarily help you reach your business goals. Getting five hundred people to like your page, never to return again is not going to build a brand or increase your sales. Getting followers to participate in the evolution of your brand will however encourage people to build relationships with your brand. Providing informative or entertaining content will get people coming back to your profile. People who are members of a social media community generally want something in return for their engagement such as games, contests and promotions, and comments and in return, their conversations about your company, product, or service will help build brand awareness with others in their networks. Hearing good things about a brand from someone in your social media circles can have a more positive impact than a paid advertisement. Successful companies rely on referrals. Just think of social media as a way to build new relationships and dialogues within highly personalized environments. Just remember that if you are asking your audience to participate, try to make it easy for them and give them something in return, after all they are creating a buzz about your brand in return. The quality of your content also counts. People will be more likely to engage a well written blog post or content that is relevant to them or others in their network. Creating unique content on each of your social media pages is also important because it will help boost your search ranking as there is more content available and for different types of audiences on the internet. You may also find that you can engage customers more effectively with Twitter, or maybe Facebook just generates more leads. You will have to measure to know which ones to focus your efforts on and which ones don't have a place in your online strategy. Useful Things You Can Measure: Activity Metrics Page Views Unique Visitors Fans/Followers/Members Conversation Rate = # of Audience Comments /Replies Per Post Amplification Rate = # of Shares/Retweets per Post Applause Rate = # of Favorite/Like/+1s per Post Economic Value = Sum of Short and Long Term Revenue and Cost Savings Facebook has a built in analytics tool called Insights. Once you have logged into Facebook and you are on Home, select the arrow in the top right and use Facebook as your Facebook business page. On the far left click on "Insights" and you will have a choice of details for Users and Interactions. Here are some other free measurement tools you may find useful: http://www.howsociable.com http://socialmention.com http://crowdbooster.com http://www.facebook.com/insights/ http://www.hootsuite.com/ http://www.tweetdeck.com/ http://www.edgerankchecker.com/ https://www.twentyfeet.com/ http://twittercounter.com/ http://tweetstats.com Clearly articulate what it is you want to achieve with your measurements, and don't track anything that is not helping you to make better business decisions. Sources: http://www.mobilegroove.com/dearken-how-the-heck-do-i-measure-my-social-media-roi/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engagement_marketing http://mashable.com/2011/11/15/social-media-roi-measure/ http://socialtimes.com/social-media-metrics_b2950 http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/category/social-media-measurement/ http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-social-media-metrics-conversation-amplification-applause-economic-value/ http://rhappe.typepad.com/thesocialorganization/social-media-metrics.html http://www.radian6.com/blog/2011/12/how-to-encourage-social-media-participation-in-3-small-steps/ http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/08/selling-sales-metcalfe-law-leadership-managing-advice.html http://socialmediatoday.com/steve-olenski/412114/major-disconnect-between-brands-and-consumers-when-it-comes-social-media?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29