What is the true worth of the social like?

With approximately a third of the entire world using social networks the opportunities that using social media marketing can present for businesses are vast.  But is there a way of actually measuring the impact that interactions with your business’s social media profile have on your business?

An article in the Harvard Business Review stated that previous research indicated a direct correlation between those liking business pages, tweets, posts, etc. and higher sales. However, the article pointed out a flaw in the research, that being it is entirely likely that a person following a brand will ultimately buy more, but these people are also very likely to already be fans of a brand in order to like a page in the first place and subsequently this is why they would spend more as opposed to those that don’t follow the page.

This is not, however, an indication that social media marketing doesn’t work; when carried out in an effective way, we have seen social media marketing become a vital asset to our client’s business time and time again.

Returning to Harvard Business Review’s article, research carried out found that paid advertising is an ideal way to build a following that is relevant and will subsequently result in increased sales. This is due to the fact that you are able to reach the desired audience through paid advertising. That being said, your advertisements need to have some appeal to an audience to encourage interactions. Engaging with customers is an ideal way to do this, ask them to share their thoughts, pictures, use a specific hashtag, anything that will get them to interact with your company; this may then encourage their own followers to also engage.

Carys, our social media executive has found great success with the social media accounts of clients, stating ‘sharing interesting and engaging content creating conversations online and adding calls to action to your posts will ultimately build a loyal following’, and as we have seen from previous research, a loyal following is likely to buy more.

How can you measure your social media performance?

 

Analysing your social media to determine which posts work and which don’t is essential to ensuring you get a good return on investment. Most social media networks provide their own analytics, but you can also use Google Analytics to inform you of visits to your site from social media platforms. Using Google Analytics you can also set up goals; for example, a goal may be someone filling in a contact form, this would record in Google Analytics and let you know where that lead came from (e.g. search engines, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), and is a great indicator of where you should concentrate marketing efforts going forward.

Our excellent social media team provides all of our clients with effective social media strategies that both increase the exposure of a company to a wide and relevant audience, and encourages engagement; therefore providing quality leads for their business.

Get in touch today to see how we could help your business.