It’s safe to say that everyone knows you should be utilizing social media to some extent. But, measuring your social media ROI is admittedly tough. What do you measure? Are actual dollars tied to your efforts? What is the true benefit?
These questions, and more, can be answered. But first, you have to define what you want out of each platform. Success on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest cannot be measured if you don’t know what “being successful” means. And, how you define success may differ from platform to platform. For example, to Club Solutions, success on Facebook means more likes. In contrast, success on Twitter means more engagement — not necessarily followers. And sometimes, there are multiple units of success to measure!
In addition, ROI isn’t always 100 percent measurable. That’s OK — especially during the infancies of a social media campaign. It can take a decent amount of time and effort to get a platform off the ground. Building followers isn’t easy, and you constantly have to tweak strategies to ensure you’re providing your social audience with what they desire.
With that being said, start measuring social ROI by writing down each of the platforms you’re currently utilizing (or hope to.) Then, define goals or outcomes for each. Name the “why” behind the investment. Here are a couple examples:
Goal: To get more likes
Why? More likes, equals more potential customers
Investment: Facebook Ads ($1 per day/$30 per month)
Is this ROI measurable?: Yes.
Goal: To get more Retweets/comments.
Why? Engagement on Twitter means we’re truly engaging our customers, and expanding our reach by reaching our customer’s friends and families.
Investment: Time (spent Tweeting, sending Direct Messages, etc.)
Is this ROI measurable?: Yes.
Taking this step, to define how you measure success, is a great first step in beginning to measure social media ROI.
It’s also wise to try and keep abreast of the goings-on of the social media world. Acquisitions, updates and new platforms pop up every day. To test if you’re a social-savvy operator, take our quiz below.
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Rachel Zabonick-Chonko is the editor-in-chief of Club Solutions Magazine. She can be reached at rachel@peakemedia.com.
