TOURISM CORNER
Measuring
Social Media
Marketing
Social media is something that
businesses of all sizes should be
using. Social channels make it
possible to reach people who are
interested in the products and
services you offer. In addition to
reaching them, the ongoing nature
of social media means you can
build the necessary level of trust
that’s needed for someone to buy
from your business.
As a social media consultant, we
help businesses with all kinds of
issues related to social media.
Since this gives me an opportunity
to see how different businesses
are approaching their social
efforts, I’m able to notice trends
across multiple industries and
organization sizes. One issue
I commonly see is businesses
struggling to measure how well
their social media efforts are
performing.
Although it wasn’t that long ago
when getting concrete data from
social media platforms was quite
hard to do, the good news is
that’s no longer the case. These
platforms understand the value
that data can give businesses
and are happy to provide it.
However, just because data is
available doesn’t mean that
measuring social media marketing
performance is a breeze.
Not only is there the issue of
needing to measure results across
multiple platforms, but there’s
also the problem of trying to
figure out which metrics are even
meaningful. Without having a
clear way to measure results, most
businesses will struggle to find
traction with their social media
management. That’s why we want
to cover the why and how of three
social metrics worth measuring:
Likes and/or Shares
While social media can bring
customers to your business, it’s
important to remember that this
channel generally sits at the top
of the marketing funnel. That
means most people will want to
engage with your brand for awhile
before actually purchasing. You
can measure that engagement
through likes and/or shares. When
these metrics are used as internal
benchmarks, they go beyond
vanity metrics and provide insight
into what types of content best
resonate with your audience.
Clicks
Once someone is familiar with
your business, you want to get
them on social media and on
to your website. Clicks are an
ideal metric to measure for this
50 SL-YOU | It’s All About Business
purpose. You can see general
trends about how many people
are clicking to your site on a daily
basis, along with which specific
efforts are best at driving clicks.
Average Time on Site
It’s important to remember that
not all clicks are equal. That’s why
you should also measure how
much time people spend on your
site after clicking. If you suddenly
notice that a bunch of social
media visitors stayed on your site
much less than normal, it probably
means you pitched something on
social that didn’t actually line up
with the experience those visitors
had when they arrived on your
site.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michelle Hummel, a web strategist,
motivational speaker, social media
trainer, entrepreneur and the
owner of a Cincinnati web design
& digital marketing agency, can
help drive more leads to your
business with an integrated web
strategy. She also specializes in
creating a social media content
and digital marketing strategy
to help you reach your target
audience online.
www.slyoumag.com | September-October 2019