Top Performers are using all sorts of KPIs to measure the performance of their social activities, and have become experienced enough to use data from early campaigns to guide future deployments. The best data, naturally, comes from the most thorough and integrated tools, which means that brands with the wherewithal to deploy the high-end social media management suites are examining the deepest data. That said, marketers with smaller budgets are also able to assemble data that suits their business needs, even if some of the work is manual. Despite the widespread use of social engagement platforms which are capable of deeper turnkey analytics, the most common measurements of social media engagement remain basic volume and engagement metrics.
One key takeaway from Top Performers however is an overwhelming propensity to use a litany of different metrics to measure the success of social media. There really isn’t a silver bullet metric for justifying social media efforts.
Click here to read more about all of the social engagement metrics.
Level of customer engagement and content sharing.
Even in the early days of the social web, content sharing was presumed to be a key indicator of marketing success. Consumers who shared a marketer’s content helped spread the word about that content and the marketer, and increased the potential audience. These days, all kinds of content is shared, liked, commented or otherwise engaged with. Understanding the details behind this engagement – the kind of content, the topics involved, the time it’s published – is useful in both the short- and long-term.
Volume and sentiment of relevant online conversations.
Tracking social participation and sentiment can provide marketers with insight about the long-term effectiveness of their overall marketing as well as shed important light on the attitude toward their products and services. Measures in conversation volume can be captured for specific time periods, not simply to measure campaign success but even the success of a product’s launch.
Social media marketing reach.
Measuring reach in social media is something like measuring the reach of paid media, it’s a useful metric that tells what the potential audience is for a particular campaign or piece of content. Top Performers measure both paid reach and organic reach, with an emphasis on looking at whether social media consumers are pushing the content to their networks. Having visibility on the number of people who have actually participated with content is a useful metric because it shows a level of engagement and can guide future campaigns.
