What is the Purpose of Your Social Media Presence?

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In the modern world of the Internet, businesses are almost inundated with data. From your website to your Facebook business page, you can track the metrics of how many posts get comments, shares, what time of day is the most successful time to post, and the demographics of who is posting on your page. It’s possible to figure out just about anything that you want to know about your social media accounts and learn whether it works for your business.

When you can know anything at all, how do you know what’s worth knowing?

Know Your Goals
What is the purpose of your social media presence? Are you hoping to build a community with your followers? Do you want to see them click through to your website and purchase your product? Do you want to be seen as a thought leader in your industry? Different goals require different strategies to meet them, and different measurables and deliverables to ensure that you are meeting your goals.

Understand Which Metrics Will Lead You Towards Those Goals
Once you know what your goals are, you can start deciding what you need to track in order to meet those goals. For example:

• If your goal is to build your reputation as a thought leader, whether your business is in makeup tips or content marketing, you may be more interested in seeing engagement on your posts and content. Are your posts being liked, shared, commented on, or engaged with?

• If your social media presence exists to drive sales, you may want to look at what happens with your sales in the hours and days after you make a post. By using specific sales codes, you can find out if customers are viewing your posts, and if they are then clicking through to make a purchase.

• If you want to see a community arise around your content, you might begin to notice the number of comments given on any particular post, as well as the reblogs and references that occur to it on other social media.

Measure Those Metrics
Once you know the goal that you are trying to achieve, and the process you need to follow to get there, the next step is to actually measure the effect that you’re having. Some items to look at:

• What time of day gets you the best results? There are many common times that are generally considered good for getting lots of views. Early morning, after dinner, and first thing on the weekend can all be positive. But ultimately, what works for your business might vary, which is why it’s important to keep track of your own results and do what works for you.

• What sorts of posts have the most responses? Does your audience react positively to you sharing and commenting on industry news? Do contests prompt a big reaction? What about sharing behind-the-scenes pictures of your business? Once you know what sort of media prompts engagement with your audience, you can give them what they’re looking for.

• Remember that there are a wide variety of tools that can measure just about anything you’re looking for. If you don’t know exactly how to measure a particular feature on your site or social media account, ask other professionals in your industry. Odds are that you’re not the first one to wonder about this particular detail, and there’s something out there that can give you what you need.

Forget The Rest
This may be the hardest part.

Once you know what you’re tracking, let go of the rest. If you’ve found that it makes no difference to your sales how many comments you get on a particular post, then stop chasing comments. If your goal is to get click throughs, not shares, then don’t share something inflammatory just so that your post gets spread around. Know what your goal is, and work to achieve that. When someone else starts telling you about how they got thousands of likes or hundreds of shares, if you know that these things don’t affect your bottom line, resist the urge to compete. There are too many possible goals in social media measurement; you can’t win them all.

By taking a hand on approach to your company’s social media presence, you can make sure that your brand is precisely targeted, and reap the benefits of the Internet and our connected society in your business.

Margarita Hakobyan
CEO and founder of MoversCorp.com, an online marketplace of local moving companies and storage facilities. Business women, wife and mother of two with bachelor's degree from the University of Utah with a concentration in International Studies and a Masters Degree also from the University of Utah with a degree in International business.

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