For most B2B organizations actively involved in a social media program, the bottom line is this: is the social media program getting results: Are more visitors visiting the site? Are those visitors turning into sales?
This question needs to be answered and answered continually because social media is always changing and evolving. However, when determining program effectiveness, the first thing we must do is wait. Usually, it takes six to 13 months for a social media program to show results.
Some of the social media metrics to watch are these:
Increased Web Traffic
When our company social media program began in July 2017, Google said we had 475 visitors to the company website. By January 19, 2020, that had jumped to more than 2,100 visitors. That is more than four times more web visitors in six months.
Digging deeper, it’s important to notice when you are getting most of your visitors. This can vary. With Facebook, it could be during the day. With LinkedIn, it could be during the middle of the week or in the evening. You may have to do some investigating, but knowing this information helps you determine the best times to post for each social media platform.
Social Media Clicks
This is the oldest metric and is still one of the best. One click on a social media post means that one person was interested enough to click on the post. The more clicks, the more influential the posts. But once again, dig a bit deeper. When are most of those clicks coming in? What days and times? And note what channels.
Regarding Comments on Your Social Media Post
If someone comments on one of your posts, acknowledge them and thank them for taking the time to comment. Additionally:
- Consider viewing the comment as a door opener, a way to introduce yourself to that person.
- Read their profile and start a conversation.
- View these as 1-on-1 interactions. This is the human side of social media.
Also, comments breed more comments, which means your social media platform will get more visitors. The program’s algorithms will view the site as important and direct more visitors.
Social Media Reach and Views
The value of reach and view metrics is that they give you an idea of what is popular on your website. For instance, once, I wrote a blog for a food service client about the importance of monitoring the temperature of food left out after cooking. Bacteria can build up in food that cools too quickly or is left out too long. Interestingly, that one post experienced a broad reach– viewed by visitors from all over the world – and was viewed more than any other post on the site at that time. The subject matter was not unique, but we learned the way the blog was written and presented helped make it popular.
Followers and Page Likes
Social media metrics can be deceptive. Many visitors to a platform begin to follow the company or will like a post even though they have little or no interest in the company or its products. Something just caught their eye. Furthermore, there are a lot of fake profiles on social media. What they are up to is anybody’s guess. These are not metrics in which we are interested.
Social Media Impressions
This is not a metric at all. As an advertiser on a social media platform, if the analytics indicate an ad had 1,000 impressions, this identifies the number of times your ad – or post if it is not an ad – appeared on someone’s newsfeed. It lets you know how often your ad or post was visible on that platform.
Robert Kravitz
www.alturasolutions.com