Discover What Social Media Success Looks Like for Your Business
Why do I use social media? Chances are, if you’re looking at it from a personal perspective, your reasons are a combination of staying in touch with friends on Facebook, following newsmakers and celebrities on Twitter and Instagram, and advancing your career goals on LinkedIn.
Social media is fun – some would say addictive – and as popular as ever.
But your approach should change when you put on your business owner’s hat. Have fun with it, yes, but your best results using social media for business will come by setting defined and measurable goals for your social media marketing strategy.
Get Set For Success
What specific area of my business do I want to improve through your social media efforts? Is it increased traffic to your website? Is it converting web traffic into leads by gathering visitors’ contact information?
Perhaps you are simply looking to increase awareness of your brand, or expand your reach to new potential customers with whom you are not connecting through traditional media.
Defining your goals will set your social media strategy in motion and allow you to track success.
Mine The Data
How can I track the impact my social media program is having on my business’ overall marketing success? When setting social media goals, it’s important to think in measurable metrics. Goals that have open-ended timeframes or moving targets won’t give you the data you need to assess success and improve.
A goal of increasing traffic to your website is easily measured through site analytics. Your analytics can tell you which social media platforms are driving the most traffic to your site. If your goal is to increase awareness and reach, an increase in social media followers and mentions of your brand are good metrics to track.
Calculating Return On Investment
When do my social media marketing efforts start to show value? Before you can set targets for website traffic or increased reach, it’s important to know where you currently stand. Arm yourself with your baseline numbers before embarking on a social media campaign. Document your current audience size on the various social platforms, as well as your website traffic and how many visitors are converting into leads.
Combine these data points with information about how well your leads translate into sales and the average dollar amount per sale to calculate accurate return-on-investment data. Being able to prove the value your marketing efforts are providing to your business is key to creating a marketing strategy that continuously brings you closer to your goals.
Remember, set goals that are relevant and central to your business’ mission. Also make sure they are realistic and attainable by your team and have a clear end date when you will assess the results. A clear social media strategy will set you up for success and allow you to continually raise the bar of social media results.
Thanks for stopping by,
Laura
Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in March 2017 and has been edited and updated in January 2022.
