Social Media Metrics Beyond Feel-Good Moments

We all look forward to those feel-good social media moments.

We have a post that got retweeted. Or someone left a thoughtful comment. Maybe someone even became a subscriber because they found us on Facebook.

It happens every day. These small victories keep us excited, keep us engaged, and keep us glued to the screen.

But they don’t do much in the way of making the case for social media investment in the board room.

So, what social media metrics should we pay attention to? The question is much easier to ask than it is to answer. Thankfully, the big brains at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business are already on it, with their biannual CMO survey.

The survey polled hundreds of top CMOs to see what social media metrics they were currently tracking.

The results?

The most commonly tracked social media metrics seek to answer core marketing questions, like:

• How many people is social media sending to the rest of our web presence?

• How many people become loyal readers/customers or at least return for a second visit?

• How many people out of 100 take us up on any of our offers?

• How many people are we directly connected with on social media sites?

• How much money are people we connect with on social media spending with us?

• How much quantifiable buzz are we generating in social media?

• How does the cost of acquiring a new customer through social media compare to other methods?

• How profitable is our time spent on social media versus our gain in revenue?

• Is social media contributing to better customer service ratings or reviews?

Takeaways:

• The most obvious (and easiest to measure) social media metrics still win the day, and with good reason: social media can help expand the universe of people who have heard of you. Measuring visits, number of followers/friends, and web mentions may not lead to direct sales – but they all play a part in expanding the group of people who could one day be a direct sale.

• Like any medium, social media can help to put butts in seats and heads on beds, if used correctly. Five out of the top 10 social media metrics being used by top CMOs is all about that: driving directly measured business.

• The medium is young. The fact that none of these social media metrics are above 50% in terms of adoption means the medium has a lot of maturing to do.

What social media metrics do you pay attention to in your own campaigns?

[image: aussiegall]