Know your metrics and take action for maximum results
It’s easy to be on Social Media! A new channel is created in just minutes, but then what? Every marketer will tell you “Content is King”, and they are right.
If your social channels are neglected and stagnant, there is really no point having them. Social Media is about two-way communications and engagement. Interact with your followers and show that you care about what they have to say. Minimize your promotional messages and instead, utilize your social channels to create your brand personality.
Businesses are increasingly turning to social since it’s free marketing. Plus, if your clients are social and are talking about your brand, you are wise to join the conversation. While it doesn’t cost you anything to create your profiles, it takes time to build your online personality and to feed those channels with unique and meaningful content. So the question arises: Is there any return on investment? And can you track your social media ROI? The answer to both questions is ‘yes’. Let’s discuss details and look at an example:
- Define your objectives: Prior to creating social profiles, outline your objectives. Are you trying to gain consumer insights, do you want to build your brand personality or are you simply aiming to promote your products and services?
- Know your metrics: In order to measure your social ROI, specify which metrics are most relevant: Reach, Engagement, Traffic, Conversions?
- Measure your metrics: Pull Analytics stats straight from the social channels or use third party providers.
- Check your results against your goals: Monitor regularly and consistently and also compare results from one campaign/event to another.
There are ways to maximise your social media ROI. To give you an example, let’s look at the Grand Opening Gala of the Infinity Convention Centre, which took place here in Ottawa on October 13, 2016.
Create a unique hashtag for your campaign or event (#InfinityOttawa) and encourage people to join the conversation to amplify reach. If feasible, provide free WiFi and display the event hashtag along with social media handles of the venue, key speakers, entertainment, sponsors etc. on table cards or digital monitors. A live Twitter/Social Media Wall can also be very powerful to encourage user generated content. Lastly, and very importantly, acknowledge what people are saying about you (positive as well as negative) by engaging with them.
The Infinity Convention Centre Grand Opening Gala “Putting on the Ritz”, emceed by special guest Ben Mulroney, generated an incredible media buzz with estimated impressions of 1.0 million. These were generated from just 97 users and 287 Twitter mentions, demonstrating that the guests in attendance were powerful social influencers. Overall Engagement Levels were high, with 51% of those 97 users posting more than just 1 tweet. The Buzz Graph is 100% positive, featuring keywords such as “stunning”, “fabulous”, “beautiful”, “great” and “amazing”.
Knock on Wood Communications + Events is social, and we have implemented many social campaigns as well as integrated campaigns featuring social elements. Ask us about details and our take on social media ROI.
Photo credit: Andre Gagne
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