How to Measure Social Media

Mariya

Nov 21 2011

Measuring social media is a big challenge for a lot of companies. There is no magic tool that can give you all the pros and cons of your social media campaign, estimate the value and count the exact number of dollars generated because of social media. However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t measure social media. As we all learned during our last social media lunch and learn session, measuring social media is about finding the balance between your approach and the tools that are available on the market.

Here are some most important steps on the way to measure your social media campaign.

1. Any kind of measurement starts from the beginning. You have to start with clarifying your goals and objectives. Without this step it will be way more difficult and complicated to understand the success of your social media activity and measure your ROI.

2. Consider and test various metrics and different measuring tools. By experimenting with them you will find the ones that work for your company, and remember, it’s not about measuring everything, it’s about measuring the right things. Below are some of the digital tools that you might consider for your measurement process:

3. It’s important to understand from the beginning the frequency of your social media activity. Are you putting enough effort into your social media campaign in order to achieve your goals? To answer this question you need to measure your actions. Here are some of the action metrics:

Number of tweets
Frequency of your updates
Amount of blog posts
Number of videos shared

4. The next step in measuring social media is to understand if people are interested in your postings and updates and if they participate in your online conversation. It’s time to figure out the value of your social media engagement. Engagement metrics include:

Number of fans and followers
Number of interactions
Tweeter re-tweets
Replies and comments
Mentions
Contest entries
Organic search ranking
Keywords
Traffic
Number of clicks
Page views
Bounce rate

5. As much as you may prefer to count and analyze everything, social media measurement has a certain limit. It’s important to remember the qualitative metrics in your measurement system and include such samples as positive tweets and comments from your Facebook or blog that show the value of social media marketing.

Measuring ROI can seem like a daunting task. However with these tips and being sensitive to the qualitative metrics, you can ensure that you are getting the value you desire from your social media marketing efforts.

What approaches do you use in measuring social media?

Mariya Newman

Follow me on Twitter (@MariyaNewman) and add me on LinkedIn!

Internet Marketing Strategy, Social Media Metrics and Measurement, Social Media Tools

How to Measure Social Media

Here are some most important steps on the way to measure your social media campaign.

What approaches do you use in measuring social media?

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