Have You Overlooked This Simple Way to Measure ROI?
Did you know the average person has 5.54 social media accounts? As people around the world increasingly continue to reach for social media channels to keep up with friends, digest the news and to find, research and connect with companies, services and products, businesses are increasingly realising the value of marketing on social networking forums.
A SMO survey, which looked at social media spending from 2009 until 2017, found that out of businesses’ marketing budgets, social media accounted for 11.7%, with spending increasing 234% during this eight-year period.
The ROI of social media essentially describes the monetary return companies get back from the time, money and resources they put into social media marketing.
The ROI (return on investment) of social media remains a hot topic of the constantly evolving world of online media. This is due to the fact that measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing campaigns is not that straightforward.
What is less ambiguous is that businesses involved in social media marketing efforts, need to measure the ROI of the campaign in order to have a clear understanding of what’s working, what’s not working and where changes can be made to improve the effectiveness of social media marketing.
By measuring social media ROI, businesses can help avoid wasting their time, resources and money. As Sprout Social notes in its guide to measuring social ROI, companies need to quantify ROI to gauge where they can improve their efforts, decide which channels are working more effectively and bringing in more revenue than others, and to have an understanding of how specific changes can impact social media objectives.
With measurable data to hand, marketers and those involved in running social media campaigns can adjust tactics. Gaps in strategies can be identified and relationships with followers, fans and customers can be improved, leading to a more effective, engaging and fulfilling social media strategy.
So, how do we measure social media ROI?
In order to efficiently measure the ROI of social campaigns, the goals of the campaigns should be defined and mapped out. These goals should be linked to specific aspects of the campaign, such as encouraging Twitter followers to sign up to email marketing lists, or improving sales figures through Facebook advertising.
Social media marketing objectives can be based on a number of aims, including refining customer acquisition or lead generation, building brand awareness and improving the customer experience.
These different objectives will represent which social channels will help your business achieve them. Hootsuite recommends using the SMART goal framework, centred on goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timey.
By having goals that involve social media followers taking measurable action, businesses and marketers are able to track and measure the metrics of the action.
Tracking and measuring the goals can be achieved efficiently by using Google Analytics. By turning insights into action, Google Analytics helps businesses get stronger results across their social media channels.
Google Analytics users can easily track their social goals by using the Acquisition>Social>Conversions tabs on the dashboard.
As Google states:
“Goal conversions are the primary metric for measuring how well your site fulfils business objectives. A goal conversion is registered once a user completes a desired action on your site, such as a registration or download.”
In order to make the most out of social media and the almost unlimited opportunities it creates for businesses, it is imperative businesses of all sizes and sectors take the time and make the effort to measure their social media ROI.
When social media objectives and ROI is measured and tracked, businesses will be able to make informed decisions about which platforms and tactics will be the most effective in getting their message to the public and building brand awareness. Consequently, all social media campaigns they run will be conducted with greater productivity and ultimately better financial reward.
If you would like the digital marketing experts Disruptor Media to get involved in your social media marketing campaign efforts, get in touch with our team today to discuss all your social media marketing requirements.