Social media followers are not baseball cards, they're not meant to be collected. Their value does not increase with time, in fact, they have no monetary value whatsoever. You cannot sell them. The number of people you have in your network is not an indication of how profitable you will be. Why then do we work so hard to collect them?
In my book If Social Media is a Game, These are the Rules: 10 Rules for Building a Profitable Social Media Strategy, I discuss the importance of measuring your engagement rather than the size of your network. Contrary to our cultural euphemisms, size does not always matter.
If you follow the implicit rules of social media, the numbers will likely follow.
Social media is relational, not transactional. People must first be sold on you, before they can be moved from a relational environment (social media) to a transactional environment (your website or e-commerce site).
Here are 5 performance indicators and tools to measure your engagement:
1. Are you driving people from social media platforms to your website?
This is the most important indicator of your ability to profit through social media and often it's the least measured. Remember, transactions do not occur on social media networks... yet. You must build the requisite credibility that will allow you to move your network to a transactional environment. You can measure how you're doing with analytics. The most common is Google Analytics or WordPress plugins. Analytics provide you with a lot of data, including where your website visitors are coming from (which social networks, websites, search engines, etc). Test frequency and content on your social media networks and see what activates your followers to click.
2. Is the size of your email/ prospect list increasing?
When people migrate from social media networks to your website, do they sign up for email updates? It's important that you capture their information because it often takes several impressions before they will purchase.
If your list is not growing, then you are likely providing added value on social media networks but not on your own website. Consider incentivizing people for signing up with free resources or discounts: how much is a prospective customer worth? You can create great forms to capture data for your website visitors with programs like Mailchimp or FeedBurner that provide customized code you can embed in your website for quick and easy captures.
3. Monitor the sources of your sales.
This is a no brainer right? I am amazed, however, at just how many organizations do not track the sources that are driving their sales. If you can't use analytics to find out, develop a simple survey for each customer using SurveyMonkey. You must identify a way to assign metrics to your sales so you can process and evaluate what's working and what is not.
4. Are you activating your network with engaging content?
Is your network sharing your messaging and content? Are they clicking on links? Are they discussing your content with you and with others? Are you asking questions and are they providing answers? Are they asking questions and are you providing answers? Are you having any real dialogue on social media or do you feel like you're talking to a wall?
Use tools like Facebook Insights, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, or Buffer App. It's also a good idea to search for content you've shared on social media networks and on search engines. Since users may not respond to you directly, you may not be notified that the content is being shared.
5. Monitor the Number of Followers in your Network.
Yes, I know, I said numbers are not indicative of influence or profitability. However, large decreases in the number of your followers often indicates you've erred in a message. You need to identify where, correct the problem if necessary, and adjust future messages.
Social media is permission based engagement and it is the most effective marketing tool you have but you must be strategic. Social media should be treated no differently than an expensive advertising campaign - there should be a lot of planning, preparation, and allocating resources before executing.
Joshua Leatherman is the author of If Social Media is a Game, These are the Rules: 10 Rules for Building a Profitable Social Media Strategy.