One common struggle of marketing agencies and chief marketing officers (CMOs) face is measuring the success of the business in terms of social media ROI. MDG Advertising discovered that 28 percent of marketing agencies admit they grapple with quantifying the impact of their social media marketing campaigns. 55 percent reported they can somewhat measure their social media marketing campaigns. Only 17 percent of those surveyed could definitely provide data about their social media.
These figures aren’t really that shocking due, in large part, to the path to the data not always being clear. Let’s find some clarity.
Social media ROI
ROI stands for return on investment. For a traditional ROI, the measurement is usually in terms of money. However, with a social media ROI, it’s what your business gets back from the features that go into a social media marketing campaign, including set up and working time, monetary investment and human resources. Along with a traditional monetary ROI, social media ROI can also include things like:
- Brand visibility
- Customer list
- Downloads
- Email subscribers
- Sales
- Traffic
ROI matters
It’s important for businesses to measure both kinds of ROI because many businesses run a social media marketing campaign and expect to immediately see an upturn in their monetary profits; however, social media marketing isn’t always profitable just in terms of money made. Moreover, social media popularity does not always equal profits.
Businesses that track their social media ROI will better understand what aspects of their social media campaign is working for their business and what aspects are just costing them money. Yes, this even means that free or low-cost social media efforts can cost a business profits due to the time and effort put into running the campaign.
Tracking ROI
After your business determines the goals you expect from your social media marketing campaign, your next step is to turn your thoughts to tracking the metrics for your social media. Luckily, there are handy tools that can make this process easier. First, consider using Google Analytics. It’s a free tool that will allow you to track:
- Bounces
- Click through rates
- Conversions
- Landing page traffic
- Video views
There are also tools, like simplymeasured.com and sproutsoical.com that specifically track social media metrics.
For more tips for strengthening your business, continue reading our blog.