3 Tips to Understanding Your Social Media Marketing Effectiveness

Love it or hate it, a whopping 3.2 billion users log on to social media every day to share, tweet, snap, and connect. With so many consumers on social media, it’s become an exciting tool for digital marketing. Although measuring the results of these efforts is a top priority, determining which metrics are the most important to analyze can be confusing. The expert team at Front Porch Solutions has three tips to get you started on measuring your social media marketing effectiveness.

Making Sense of Your Social Media Marketing Effectiveness

Social media can be an incredibly powerful tool. Start making sense of your social media effectiveness with these tips.

1. Figure Out What “Effective” Means for Your Business

   Every business defines social media effectiveness differently. With differing goals, business models, and assets, there is no one-size-fits-all model. Are you trying to get more leads? Build brand awareness? Increase revenue? All of the above?

   Clearly define what you want out of your social media marketing. While it can be hard to choose, it’s essential to focus on a clear-cut goal. Figure out a definition for what effective means to your business right now, and remember that it’s okay if that answer changes down the line.

2. Develop SMART Goals

   With a clear definition, you can set specific targets to hit with SMART goals. “SMART” is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. By specifying your objective, and setting out how to measure it, SMART goals set you up for success.

   For example, if you’re brand new to social media marketing, your initial definition of social media effectiveness could be to increase brand awareness. Then, you specify your goal; to focus on trying to drive new visitors to your website. Finally, you determine an attainable (but challenging) metric to hit within a set time frame. Your SMART goal would be something like;

   “Over the next three months, I will attract 75 new visitors to the company website by posting to the company’s social pages twice a week.”

3. Stop Chasing Metrics that Don’t Impact your Business

   Once your SMART goal is in place, you can implement your strategy and start analyzing metrics. Try to focus on data that can help you make future decisions and understand patterns. Be mindful of vanity metrics. These are figures like follower count, which look good on paper but often don’t tell you anything meaningful.

   For instance, having millions of followers on Facebook might be a nice ego boost. However, followers don’t mean much if they aren’t interested in your product or service. Click-through rate, sign-ups from social campaigns, and shared content usually hold more meaning. Still, the specific focus will depend on your social media goals and business model.

Seeing what’s working (and what’s not) is an important step towards leveraging your social media efforts to help your business. Are you ready to start making sense of your social media? The Front Porch Solutions team is eager to help with a breadth of social media marketing and management experience. Contact a member of our team today to get started.