Our numbers, metrics, and ROI quest continues.
In Part One, we talked about how hard and soft metrics measure up when evaluating your social media efforts. For Part Two, we’ll dissect Brand Awareness. This may be one of the top reasons companies decide to use social media, and for social
For Part Two, we’ll dissect Brand Awareness.
This may be one of the top reasons companies decide to use social media, and for social marketers, it’s the easiest way to show a soft return on investment (ROI).
Measuring Brand Awareness
When we talk about the “what” of ROI, we are often referring to Brand Awareness. It envelops traffic, interaction, sharing, conversations, reach … am I forgetting anything?!
There’s a lot to measure here, so let’s jump in.
Ways to Measure Traffic:
- How many visitors are coming from social outlets to your website?
- Fan and Follower count: Are you growing steadily, or are you stagnant?
- How many fans do you typically gain in a week/month?
- Are you using organic or paid measures to reach new fans?
- What do your viral numbers look like?
- Google Analytics is a great, FREE, way to measure traffic on your website
Ways to Measure Conversation:
- At B Squared, we measure conversation and disclosures very closely. You can see more about how we do that by reading my honors thesis.
- How are people talking about your brand (think sentiment)? You can use socialmention.com to measure your brand affinity.
- Engaged users under Facebook Insights will show you what content your Fans like the most. Create more of what they like to keep engagement high!
- Shares on Facebook will allow Fans to ‘create a story’ about your brand. You can measure your shares under ‘Post-level Data’ on Facebook Insights.
Ways to Measure Reach:
- Download ‘Post-level Data’ from Facebook Insights to check reach levels by post
- Use a site like Bit.ly to obtain click rates on links you share
- Analytics programs, like Sprout Social, have the ability to pull click rates for your social sites so you can see what information is resonating with your audience.
- Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon or Delicious allow you to search your own brand or company name to see how many ‘hits’ you get. In other words, how many people are bookmarking your particular links?
We’ve talked about several ways to measure Brand Awareness – but there are certainly more!
What are some of the ways YOU measure Brand Awareness? Please consider letting us know in the comments section below so we can all learn and spread social GOOD.
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18 Comments. Leave new
Thanks for the great information Brooke! I often wonder if people are less inclined to click on an abbreviated link such as bit.ly or whether it makes a difference in the clickthrough rate.
You’re welcome, Jen! I’ve read reports saying both … people will click … people won’t click. I’ve found we get decent click rates, and it’s REALLY nice to know when people ARE clicking since they don’t always like or comment on the post. Just my .2 cents!
Thank you Brooke! Inspiring tips as always
Thanks, Eddie! 🙂
Packed with great information and insight! Looking forward to reading your honors thesis. Nice post!
Thank you very much, Nancy! Fair warning: My thesis is written in a very educational tone (as required). Hopefully it won’t bore you to tears!! 😉
Valuable info! Measurement is so critical to what we are trying to accomplish with social media marketing. Thanks for these great tips!
You’re welcome, Martha! More to come in parts Three and Four … 😉
I’m going to go out on a limb here, Brooke, and do something risky …
I’m going to openly admit I’m horrible at studying and staying on top of my social media analytics. Numbers crunching is not my ‘thang’ even though I understand the importance and the value of knowing the metrics.
Let’s just deem your post a gentle little kick in the pants. 🙂
Melanie, I know it can be a daunting task! If it were easy everyone would do it. And perhaps your clients aren’t as strict about ROI and analytics. In any case, I hope in some small way I was able to generate some “number crunching” ideas (don’t worry – numbers aren’t my ‘thang” either!!!) for you. 🙂
Hi Brooke,
Great article, as always:) I have been using Sprout Social for the last 30 days My trial is just about over and I have since sent out customized reports to all of my clients. They were very impressed. Thanks for the tutorial on Sprout Social and thanks for your enlightening blogs. Keep them coming!
You’re so very welcome, Heather! Only happy to help (and really glad you like Sprout!). 🙂
Awesome info, thanks Brooke. I’ve been paying a lot of attention to my engagement of late, especially with all of the changes that FB has made. I’m glad to see you and others like to starting to talk more about the value of soft ROI and it’s importance!
Certainly, Kerry. I think there’s value when you can physically SHOW value. The ‘burden of proof’ or whatever you want to call it is on the shoulders of the social media professional. My hope is that by sharing these tips, more social marketers can start to show ROI for their clients.
[…] Ways to Bribe Fans, Followers to “Like” You Numbers, Metrics, and ROI, OH MY! Part ONE Numbers, Metrics, and ROI, OH MY! Part TWO Numbers, Metrics, and ROI, OH MY! Part THREE Numbers, Metrics, and ROI, OH MY! Part […]
Uhhh… I’m using bit.ly….
Wow. Had no idea that there even WERE such measures, let alone these resources for taking and using them.
I am truly humbled. And if ya know me, that’s really something.
(Snark, snark. Actually the cocky persona I use in my writing wryly disguises a fella that’s eager to learn but pretends to know it all)
Seriously, this list of services and the types of measurements to put them to use is EXACTLY what Dr. Brooke ordered. I will be bookmarking this page and coming back. First order of business is to do #1,#2, #3; I’ve downloaded your thesis, will be looking into socialmention.com, and get a totally rad TAT. That is, Talking About This score.
That’s all my little onboard PC can handle for now. Slightly more power than a hamster and a wheel. Be back to look into the other ways to measure social ROI soon.
Keep Stepping,
Kurt
Kurt Frankenberg recently posted…Reaching Out: Blog Commenting, ON PURPOSE
Kurty, Kurt, KURT!
🙂 I had to. I’m THRILLED, like, SUPER THRILLED that you’ve found these posts helpful. We have a free eBook that puts all of these posts together (and them some). I bet you’ll like it. I’ll tweet you the link.
I’ll keep on stepping and you keep on learning (and I’ll keep on learning, and stepping, and writing, etc.). Sounds like FUN! 🙂
[…] takes time to explain each one clearly, I’ll break each one down into a separate blog post (parts Two, Three and […]