Today we will attempt to tackle the mysterious question: how do you compute the return on investment generated by social media campaigns? Here are a few basic tools and indicators of Social ROI to review:
Built-in Social Media Platform Analytics:
Many social media platforms provide ways for businesses to measure how they profligate on that specific platform. For example, Facebook keeps track of how many likes and shares each post earns. Page administrators can view the number of visits, comments, etc. that a page generates within a certain time frame.
"Outsourced" Analytics tools:
These do much the same job as built-in analytics tools, but are often more comprehensive. Take Klout for an example. Klout draws from eight different networks, including twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and scores you based on how much influence you have among your social media circle, such as how many retweets you receive per tweet you send out. Klout also discerns between how meaningful these interactions are-that is, does this particular person retweet everything, or only select mentions?
Google Analytics:
Google is omniscient in the world we live in today. Google analytics tracks the total number of site visits your company receives per time period, what platforms lead prospective customers to the website, and where in your website people are visiting the most, as well as much more. Furthermore, Google Analytics monetizes Social ROI by having businesses set an indicator of a lead converting to a customer-such as downloading an e-book, making a purchase, etc. The business can also set the financial worth of these conversions.
Image from: google.com
How to use these figures:
At best, these numbers help track how far marketing messages spread; using these statistics, you can estimate how many people see your message. A fraction of these people may actually be interested in your offer, look further into your products, and eventually purchase from your company. You can multiply the number of people in this fraction by how much revenue they will earn you on average.
Non-quantitative return on investment:
Yes, the end goal of a marketing campaign is to convince leads to make a purchase decision. That being said, Social Media activity can also help establish a brand and spread your company's name. These effects cannot be measured, but definitely impact your product marketing.