How do you measure the value of social media marketing? What criteria do you use?
If you're like me, you often get a skeptical frown when you suggest your clients/bosses conduct social media marketing/promotions efforts. The reason I'm often given is that they don't know how to measure the ROI on such campaigns.
In my mind, however, there's several tangible ways (though somewhat "soft" measures) to tell whether your social media efforts are working -- see http://tinyurl.com/67v6mp . I'd love to know what you think of these measures and how we can improve upon them!
Clarification added September 10, 2008:
For those who aren't used to TinyURLs like the one in my post above, the "real" URL for my existing proposal is at:
http://whatmattersonline.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/measuring-social-media-marketing-for-web-sites-time-to-try/
Good Answers (9)
Juliann G
Vice President of Marketing, Telesian Technology, B2B Marketing Consultant
Best Answers in: Public Relations (2), Internet Marketing (1)
Anne,
We do get those comments too, it's the question of the week.
I just went to a marketing event yesterday that discussed this topic. A direct example was one Laura Fitton gave when she launched Pistachio Consulting www.pistachio.com on Twitter @pistachio - it landed her NY Times and 2 other national newspapers. So for one, it can make an impact on the PR front in the form of hard publicity. So that is #1.
# 2. Grow your email lists. By using multiple mediums - like a blog coupled with a twitter-like application, and the blogs deliver valuable information (this last part is the biggest factor), then a direct result will be an increase in email addresses and RSS feeds.
#3. It creates mini-communities for users, brands, products and services that is free to use and participate. It provides a company with a direct ear into their markets - the kind where honest conversations can happen. Companies like @JetBlue and @HomeDepot use Twitter to gain insight into buyers behaviors, and also provide timely information to customers. They float ideas out to people and get feedback. It's a new, less expensive focus group.
3. It can result into Sales and we should track this. We need to remember that social media today is about working with smaller groups of people, not necessarily the masses... at least for now. It has the potential to develop into more masses, we need to manage expectations and be pleasantly surprised. One of the panelists at the event yesterday was a manufacturer of a household appliance and discussed a campaign that did result in a number of sales. It's all evolving.
The only way we can improve on any measure is to continue to experiment with various approaches and see what works. After all, that's what us marketing folks love to do and social media adds a whole new dimension in business communications.
Nicholas K
Digital Integration Manager at Maddock Douglas, Author of ADMAVEN - http://admaven.blogspot.com
Best Answers in: Internet Marketing (2), Viral Marketing (1), Non-profit Management (1), Web Development (1)
I discuss these subjects in depth and include outside resources in ADMAVEN - The Interactive Advertising Blog (http://admaven.blogspot.com).
Links:
Hey Anne,
We recently started tracking our Social Media campaigns the same way. Since it's really impossible to measure ROI, Social Media is truly a branding tool. However, using the tactics that you've described, you can easily see who is engaging in your media campaign and measure the interaction. It seems almost obvious to those of us who use social media for personal use, for many people who haven't been exposed to it outside the business world, it isn't as easy to see the amount of rich, raw data that is available even to a casual user. I think you've laid out a very nice plan of action to show that tracking social media can be fruitful.
---Megan
Social media, in my view, is another tool for public relations - which has it's own image issues with measuring ROI. Like PR, I suggest starting at the beginning. Before implementing a social media program, look at what you want to do - and what you hope to accomplish. As Julianne mentioned above, there are many positive outcomes for utilizing social media. Setting clear goals at the beginning will help measure effectiveness on the back end.
Flyn P
LinkedIn Guru and Networking expert - Allow me help. Learn how to reduce your marketing costs while increasing revenues.
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I would say that you measure it in terms of sales/revenue.
There are ways to track social media results -- videos, articles, and other social media can all be directed back to your site through tracked links and you can then determine specific results for specific media efforts.
In my 12 years of working with online communities and social media I have found these base metrics good indicators:
Length of time on site (you should be above 15 minutes
Number of new registered users (20-40 percent increase month over month), SEO impact (set baselines and then track)
Page Views (an average community member will generate 23 pages of activity per month)
Measuring "viral" impact is still up for grabs...
Links:
I think that the measurement depends on the tool. For instance, you would measure your efforts on Digg and StumbleUpon differently that you would measure your efforts on Twitter and FaceBook.
It also depends upon your organization. Obviously, choosing where you spend your social media resources would impact the measuring of value.
Jordan W
Digital Strategist at Work at Play
Best Answers in: Mentoring (1), Advertising (1), Internet Marketing (1)
Similar to TV and Radio, marketing with social media marketing is tough and hard to measure.
However, as you know, technology on the web permits tracking of visitors, conversions, purchases, etc -- which is easier to measure. However, there are "hard to measure" intangible benefits such as brand awareness and reach.
Social media is a great tool because you get that double package: The ability to track incoming visitors from the campaign, as well as the 'bonus' of brand awareness and reach.
I've included some links below that I think will be valuable to you (and to those who search and find this post):
Lots of links on social media measurement:
http://delicious.com/kamichat/Measurement
Also, here is a tool that can help you measure your social reach:
http://howsociable.com/
Jordan Willms
Links:
I can actually measure refferals from ads on facebook with Google Analytics and Conversion tracking. In additional we are able to track visitors from other social sites like chat rooms, bebo...the same way. Once we have enough data we can calculate and ROI since we also use tracking phone numbers and know which ones sold. See my blog on ROI.
Links:
More Answers (1)
M. Joyce M
"Chief-of-Quite-A-Lot"
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I read your blog... good work... but did I miss the part about tracking site/referral conversions obtained through social/professional media?
