We've gone past convincing ourselves that digital marketing is the most efficient marketing tool available. Today, this no longer is a theory but a well-known fact.
In the past few years, we've seen how brands leveraged on the benefits of social media marketing both to increase awareness and sales. Social Media has also been instrumental in extending the reach of customer support, giving people and brands a chance to connect and engage at a level that never was achieved before.
Today, as technology and online trends develop at an increasingly exciting speed, social media marketing is pushed to be even more efficient and effective. Counting likes and gathering followers are no longer enough to measure its effectiveness.
Here's a list of social media metrics you should be looking at:
Comments - Being present in social media, means being social and this is one measure of people embracing your presence in their own social circle. A proactive social media work should be able to generate comments from an brand's social network.
Mentions and Retweets - Being able to identify people who mention you in their own social pages are important people you should take note of. These people are influencers in their own right and could possibly be your own brand ambassadors. Connect with them.
Shares - Measuring the number of shares you get from content you post should be a key metric. Shares can tell you what sort of content resonates with your network and allows you to enjoy both organic visibility to your followers network as well as digital recommendation from those who share your content. Shares gives you free online mileage.
User Engagement - An indicator of social media growth is being able to measure the growth of engagement. Social Media is a platform that is meant to engage customers and potential customers. More time and effort spent in social media should mean a wider base to engage with and a deeper understanding of what kind of content engages your market. Engagement should be progressive.
Private Messages - Another metric to consider are private messages. People sending you messages directly is a good indicator of your social media efforts reaching customers who are merely "followers" of your page but those who are genuinely interested and engaged with your product.
Sent Messages - We've been mentioning about monitoring shares, likes, retweets and private messages but let's also not forget about paying close attention to how your social media team reacts to those who connect with you. While it is not necessary to reply to every mention or private message you get, there should be a standard and a check and balance between the incoming and the outgoing messages. Acknowledge and respond when needed.
Being present in social media requires you to be social. These metrics measure your brand's "social" effectiveness maximizing the time, effort and money you invest in your digital marketing campaign.