Are you trying to determine if your social media is working for your business? Many local business owners think if someone told them they saw it on Facebook then it is working and if they do not hear those words then it is not working. Others look at their sales and where they are coming from. Do you have effective social media practices? There are effective strategies that make determining if your social media is working for you but overall there are somethings you should be looking at to help better determine if and how well is your social media marketing working for your business.
Conversions – everybody wants to convert somebody visiting their site or entering their store into a customer. We all want more sales. Your social media will drive people to your website/landing page/squeeze page but is it designed well so people will enter their info? Is your call to action strong enough? Is your special offer something people want? These all will effect your conversions. So watch/track for increased traffic to your website, watch/track for those who enter their email for your special offer, watch/track new customer entering your store. If your overall sales is increasing chances are your social media is working but there are others things to watch for to determine effectiveness.
Engagement – What is the value of a like, comment or share? Some will tell you not very much as it is all about conversions. Others see it differently. If you want to remain top of mind with your audience or community then like, comments and shares are important. It means you are able to relate to them on a personal level and they find your content compelling. Reviews are also important when it comes to engagement. Do you monitor them, respond to them? How are your handling less than positive reviews?
Your Audience – these are your followers or likes. If they are growing on their own/, that is what you want to have happen. Are your current/new customers clients liking your page or following you. Sometimes as a business owner you get so focused on getting new customers you loose sight of the importance of your current customers. They are the ones who talk about you online and off. They can be your greatest advocate. What are you doing to reward them?
ROI – Rate of return on investment. First you have to stop thinking that social media is free. While the platforms are free to use, your time is valuable. So you want to be sure your efforts are effective. Investing your time and effort will pay off however this is in the long term. You want to be sure your content is effective, that your ads are getting the results you desire, that you are meeting your goals. So make sure you are paying attention to your analytics on your social platforms. You may find it more effective to hire a social media manager to handle this for you so you can focus on other aspects of your business.
You have to look at your overall big picture and not just one of the metrics mentioned above. You have to look at all your metrics and analytics over the course of time and not just a month or a week. We are such an impatient society these days and we want instant results. Social media is not a short term solution to a long term problem. It is effective when done properly over the course of time. It is effective when you have goals and strategies. It is effective when you have a plan and implement that plan.
