Is Your Social Media Marketing Working? How to Measure Your ROI
Social media marketing can be one of your most powerful marketing tools; however, like all other aspects of your strategic market plan, it’s important to learn how to track the success of your social media writing so you can make adjustments as necessary. Social media writers can help you tailor your marketing efforts toward your target audience, but without measuring your return on investment, you won’t be able to determine if your efforts are driving more sales.
The Importance of Measuring Success
Some companies mistakenly believe they will automatically know if their social media marketing is generating increased sales; however, there are many factors that can affect whether you are getting more sales and finding out which areas of your strategic market plan are succeeding is essential to expand upon that growth. For instance, if it’s your blog that is generating more of your sales, you need to make adjustments to other parts of your marketing plan and consider improving certain elements. Paying attention to your return on investment for social media is just as important as tracking the success of your other marketing methods.
How to Measure Social Media ROI
Measuring the success of your social media writers is often different than determining the performance of other aspects of your marketing efforts. In addition to social media writing, your content marketing provider should also help you track your success.
Set Goals
You won’t be able to measure the success of your social media marketing if you don’t know what your goals are. Therefore, the first step in tracking your return on investment is to set your goals. Some of the most popular objectives for social media include:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Promoting new products or services
- Converting leads to customers
- Generating new leads
Once you determine what you want to accomplish with your business social media, you will know whether your efforts are helping to achieve your goals.
Choose the Platform
There are many platforms you can use to reach your target audience. While Facebook and Twitter seem to be the two most popular options, others, such as LinkedIn, Pinterest and Google+, can all be effective options, depending on your target audience. Experienced social media writers can help you determine which platforms will provide the level of success you’re looking for. If you use more than one platform, it’s also important to use different social media writing for each one. Understanding the right format and rules for each platform will increase your chances of success.
Determine What to Track
It’s easy to see how many people like, comment or share your posts, which can be an important aspect of determining your return on investment; however, social media is about more than these factors. You may also want to track:
- How many people actually see the post
- How many people click on the links within the post
- Who asked for more information as a result of visiting your site
- How many people signed up for your newsletter, downloaded a coupon or completed any other action
- How many sales your social media campaign generates
Track Your Progress
Finally, you are ready to start tracking the success of your social media marketing campaign. There are many online tools available that can show you the information you are looking for to help you determine if you need to make any changes to your strategic market strategy. Regardless of the program your social media writers choose, you should review the reports on a regular basis so you can make regular adjustments to ensure the success of your social media campaign.
Data is an important element in determining the return on investment for any aspect of your social media marketing. In addition to knowing how to collect the relevant data, it’s important to know how to read it so you can ask your social media writers to make adjustments. If you use social media writing in conjunction with relevant, compelling content for your website, you will see improvements in the number of sales your marketing campaign generates; however, without regular analysis, you won’t be able to tell if your social media efforts are paying off, which can lead to wasted money.
If you are looking for a team of social media writers to help you measure the success of your social media marketing, contact us. We can help you create an effective social media campaign that appeals to your target audience and increases sales.
