Social media marketing is one of the greatest tools you can use to put your business in the spotlight, and to bring in more leads. But whether you have just started using social media marketing, or have been using it for some time, have you actually been making sure that your efforts are paying off? Are you really bringing in more leads, or should you reconsider your marketing efforts? The best way to answer this and push your business towards success is by measuring your social media efforts, or your return on investment (ROI). Find out just how you can measure your social media marketing efforts and what you can do, or change, to get a better outcome.
The Metrics
First, let’s look at the metrics you should use when analyzing your social media marketing efforts:
Activity Metrics– Includes page views, site visitors, and how many people are following you.
Engagement Metrics- Measures the level of your customer’s involvement, attention, and commitment. Examples include the percentage of Facebook or Instagram followers who “like” or comment on your posts.
Business Metrics– Measures business outcomes, such as KPIs (key performance indicators), or ROI (return on investment). These numbers include lead generation or direct sales through a social media platform.
Next, you should take the following steps to make sure you’re getting the most out of your social media marketing:
Use Different URLs
Having accounts on multiple social media platforms is a great idea for growing your business. If you choose to have more than one social media account, though, you need to make sure you are making different URLs for each platform, which will allow you to see where your traffic is coming from. If you’re unsure what to use when creating a URL, consider something simple, such as a sub-domain URL like Benepath.net/Twitter.
Also, consider structuring your URL to pre-fill a “How did you hear about us?” field, so you’ll always know which platform is the one that brought a customer to you.
What is the point of having social media accounts if there is no way for customers and leads to connect with you? You could rely on direct messages, but a more professional way to keep the lines of communication open is to have links to your website on your pages (for example, underneath your Instagram picture and bio). Having a link will make it easier for people to go to your site, read about what you have to offer them, and request a quote or schedule an appointment.
Use A/B Testing
A/B testing (also known as split testing or bucket testing) is a method of comparing two versions of a web page or app against each other to determine which one performs better. A/B testing will help you determine important information, allowing you to optimize your business online. This type of experimenting will help you figure out:
When to post– Test out different days of the week and times of the day to see which day and hour produces the most engagement.
What content to post and how long your posts should be- By testing this out, you will find out how social media platforms handle content differently. Posts on some platforms will get more engagement with fewer words, while others require fewer words and more hashtags or pictures.
What images & video to use– Posting videos to Instagram and Facebook might get you more engagement than it will on Twitter, while you might get more engagement on Twitter by posting pictures. The only way to know is to post different kinds of images, such as infographics, videos, and funny memes, etc. on each of your social media accounts. This way you will find out which kind of posts more people will engage with on each platform.
Getting a big payback from your social media efforts can take a while, but you need to keep at it and continue to check, measure, and analyze your efforts to make sure what you’re doing is working. In the meantime, if you are looking for more ready-to-buy leads, come to Benepath. When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part: we provide you with real-time leads through a secure process, and give you a customized thank you page so your leads will be ready for your call. To get more information, fill out the form above, or call 866-368-0377.
