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Measuring the ROI of Social Media Campaigns |
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Written by Teenum Chudha
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Thursday, 10 September 2009 |
 Social media is generally used by brands as a PR platform to encourage positive associations with their brand and develop customer loyalty. The lack of metrics make it difficult to measure the effectiveness of any efforts. There is no set method for measuring any return on investment (ROI) as it is ultimately the objectives that determine what it is you are measuring.
Below are some of the methods for measuring the ROI of social media:
Quantitative
Campaign specific metrics can indicate how people are responding to particular drives on social media platforms.
- Website traffic can be monitored through site analytics tools such as Google Analytics . What most people here would be looking for is an increase in traffic coming in from the social media sites with their brand profiles. Success would entail a rise in new unique visitors navigating around the website rather than simply bouncing out.
- Most social media drives are aiming to increase sale conversions, which can once again be measured using analytic tools that track how a visitor from a social media site navigates around the site and if they convert to a customer.
- The response to individual links can be measured using URL shortening and tracking services such as bi.tly or su.pr. In addition to this, any inbound links to your site can be marked for specific campaigns and tracked.
- The size of your community can also indicate the popularity of your brand on social media, but is not an accurate indication of how successful your efforts actually are. User participation, the number of posts, conversations and interaction are the signs of successful social media investment.
- SEO metrics, including inbound links and page rank, can also be used to quantify efforts. Tools such as Xinu can be used to get an indication of these measurements.
Qualitative
This is the real measure of any brand presence on a social media platform, it requires a great deal of listening to what people are saying about you as well as starting and getting involved in conversations yourself.
- Brand reputation involves finding out what people are actually saying about you and determining whether the comments are positive or negative as well as any associations they have with your brand.
- Public opinion on your product is vital. People search out reviews and user opinions before they decide who or where to buy from. This can also serve as valuable feedback to guide the development of any future products.
- How people use your community is the main indication of a successful social media community. A successful community is made up of people regularly posting questions, answers and conversations. The community may develop around a shared ideal or opinion, such as The Body Shop's Facebook fan page, with people getting involved in movements that have little to do with cosmetics.
Any social media strategy needs time to grow and evolve, any short term drives on these platforms can only succeed if supported by a solid community built around a brand over a period of time. The most accurate results come from a combination of qualitative and quantified results analysed over a period of time.
If you require more information on social marketing, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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