One of the most often pointed-out critique of social media is its difficulty of measurement. How do you know if you are a social media success or social media bomb? Are you doing it right or are you digging yourself deeper into a pit of Internet marketing failure?
Mershon notes that an important aspect of any social media campaign is to pinpoint your business goals. This will help you decide which tools and metrics are applicable to you. This is especially important for smaller businesses with fewer resources to avoid money- and time-wasting missteps. Do not be in a hurry to jump into the technologies of the campaign. Always start by defining your business goals in relation to your social media objectives. Once you have done this, you can now use Altimeter’s Social Media Measurement Compass which identifies “six major business goals that social media can help influence.”
1. Brand Health. What do customers think or feel about you? As a small to medium entrepreneur, it is vital that you are aware of your market’s perception. The article points out that although people may find it easier to complain directly to a big brand or company, they may be more hesitant to do the same with a smaller company. Monitoring your brand’s health can help you hear what customers are telling their friends about you (but are not telling you directly). The tricky part is that the sheer volume of content and the elaborate privacy settings on social networking sites may prevent you from hearing all of the social media conversation. What you need to do is to soldier on–prepare yourself for what you might hear or read and make that effort to ask your customers (whether online or offline).
2. Marketing Optimization. Monitoring your social media campaign can help you fine tune your search for your target market. Find out what people are looking for and where they are coming from. However, it is important to realize that the same people act or share differently depending on which social media platform they are in. As the article cites, people wanting to be known as food critics are more likely to be critical on Yelp compared to when they are on Facebook or Twitter.
3. Revenue Generation. Social media should not be expected to directly boost your sales. What it should do for you is generate leads and conversions. Social media does this by influencing your audience’s purchase behavior, search results, and customer loyalty. Always have a tracking system in place for each social media channel you utilize. Try different campaigns on different sites and observe which one drives repeat business best and is most ideal to maintain customer relationships. There is no standard equation for determining which platform works best; it really depends on the type of business and audience that you have.
4. Operational Savings. If you are successful in converting your customers into brand advocates, you will find that social media allows for some hard and soft savings to your business. Social media platforms are also inexpensive alternatives to managing your customer relationships if you can find a dedicated person to listen to real time, online conversations.
5. Customer Experience. The article cites an example of a major food manufacturing company whose social media monitoring team discovered a trend on words like “cut”, “blood” and “salad dressing.” It turns out that the company’s new salad dressing bottle caused customers to inadvertently cut themselves. Without social media, this major product turn-off would have gone unnoticed and could have drastically affected the company’s product sales. This proves a “direct correlation between social media and customer experience that translated into improved brand health, increased revenue and cost savings.”
6. Innovation. Find ways to listen to your customers for insights into your products and services. It does not have to be grand and expensive. It can be as simple as following statements on Twitter that express customers’ feelings (e.g. “I like”, “I hate”, “I wish”) or asking your customers on Facebook. The article suggests having an “Idea Wednesday” where you spend time on your page looking for innovative ideas.