how to measure value from organic social media
I will be the first to tell you that organic social media isn’t what it used to be. Forgive me for sounding a bit “get off my lawn-y,” but growing your audience, getting post engagement, and getting people to take action just isn’t what it was.
Butttttttttt I’m not saying to quit client organic social media. It continues to be one of the best tools we have available for marketing. It’s just about having a clear understanding of how to leverage and measure it for optimal client value.
It’s about shifting the measurements and conversations we have for a realistic outlook of the capabilities of social media.
HERE ARE 5 WAYS TO MEASSURE THE VALUE OF ORGANIC SM!
1. Audience Size
One of the easiest ways to communicate value with social media is by measuring and tracking your audience size. Social is just one marketing channel, so it should never carry the weight of your efforts, but slow, consistent and steady growth is a clear indicator that your efforts are working.
2. Reach/Impressions/Views
Many organizations file this under “vanity metrics,” but I disagree. Yes, someone coming into contact with your clients’ brands once won’t automatically make them start throwing money at you, but awareness is the first step on the client journey and one that you can easily start on social media.
3. Displaying Industry Expertise
Okay, this is a qualitative metric more than a quantitative one, but it still matters. One of the benefits of social is that you’re able to communicate your expertise and ability to change your users’ lives before you’ve even had a conversation. So counting the number of educational or thought leadership posts you’re scheduling each month is a great way to measure your expertise factor on social.
4. Engagement
Another vanity metric that doesn’t pay the bills, right? Kind of. But also no. I don’t use engagement as the value in terms of how it contributes to the overall business goals of the company. But I do use it to gauge what content resonates with our audience. So…value in terms of closed business? Not necessarily. Value in terms of navigation for the content strategy overall? Absolutely.
5. Link Clicks
Now we’re cooking with gas, people. Getting users from social to the website? Yes, please! The caveat is that I like to measure website visits & link clicks via a link tracker, UTM trackers, or Google analytics instead of via social media analytics because they all have a different definition of “clicking” and some of those definitions have nothing to do with links at all.
It’s Not About Making Organic Social Something It’s Not
Using organic social as a part of your overall strategy is a power move when implemented with full awareness of how it works and how it doesn’t work. Knowing which analytics to use and how to measure and communicate them is a part of the game with organic social. If YOU want help with this for your organization, we’re here to help. Click the link below to start!
