Tips for Measuring the ROI of Social Media

Focus on the 1-3 metrics that drive the bottom line: In the boardroom, the brass want to see how social media contributed to the health of the business, provides new sources of prospect traffic, collects valid leads and drives money. Consider measuring key performance indicators such as subscriber growth, share of conversation, inbound prospect traffic and offer conversions.

Measure what matters and analyze changes: Measuring share of voice, for example, which shows where you stack up against competitors, can provide value, but Payne stressed that it’s important to delve into your numbers. Why has your share of voice—or your competitors—increased? Do that extra bit of homework to actually understand it.

Measure and plan social activities within the media mix (not in a silo): Campaign success can be measured and reported by closely analyzing both quantitative and qualitative results on a monthly basis, ranging from traditional media and blog impressions to tweets and group participation.

Be disciplined and consistent reporting progress against goals: When the goal was to double Salesforce.com’s subscribers  year over year, the goal was broken down to a less-daunting and consistently measurable goal of increasing subscribers 6% mother over month. Give really direct guidance to teams to tell them what direct success is.

Fix any leaky plumbing to measure the pipeline from social offers: Salesforce uses campaign IDs—anything that gets pushed out via social can be tracks back to pipeline using campaign IDs via bit.ly.

Track each content offer with a unique ID: Salesforce uses a four-part measurement strategy:

  1. People click on the URL in a Facebook post;
  2. The tracking ID is captured when that person fills out a form;
  3. Inside your CRM (customer relationship management) software the source of the lead is tracked as Facebook and
  4. Report on leads and pipeline attributed to that campaign.

Create your own social ROI executive dashboard: Today’s  social scorecard has fans and followers, social mentions, prospect traffic and valid leads.

Don’t forget the human side of analytics: The tools are only as effective as the person using the tools.

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