What is social media marketing ROI? ROI stands for “return on investment.” This is all of your social media actions that provide value for you. I’m going to be going over ways you can measure your social media ROI and what to measure. Let’s utilize your social media to the fullest!
Social Media KPIs and Tools for Measurement
KPI stands for key performance indicators (metrics) and we’re going to be looking at some indicators that contribute to making the most out of your social media. It’s important to know that determining what KPIs you measure will depend on the type of content you post and your objectives for posting (Gil, 2019). Measuring the key performance indicators of your social media content is crucial in determining if you’re benefiting or gaining value from your social media, and if your content is performing well amongst your followers.
Here are a few key performance indicators you can measure:
- Impressions: the number of times your content is shown in a news feed
- Engagements: the number of times people liked, commented, or shared your content
- Views: the number of times people see your content
- Clicks: the number of times people visit your page from your social media post
Now that you are aware of what KPIs you can measure, we need to look at the tools that are able to help pull data from these metrics. The tools you use will depend on your needs, objectives, and the size of your business (Gil, 2019). For example, a local boutique owner will most likely use different tools to measure their key performance indicators versus an established company, like Nike. You have the freedom to choose what tools you want to utilize depending on what metrics you want to gain insight on! It’s important that you make data informed decisions based on what your data provides you in order for your business to grow.
Here are a number of resources that have tools to help you measure your KPIs:
- Sprout Social
- Buffer
- NetBase
- Brand24
- Rival IQ
You can also utilize the built-in “platform analytics” on certain social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram! Be sure to use these insights to gain knowledge on the performance of your content. This will guide you in making informed decisions about what content will resonate with your target audience and help your business grow!
Decoding Social Media Analytics: What Does It Mean?
When looking at decoding social media analytics, I’m going to be focussing mainly on Facebook’s built-in insights. Facebook is a valuable platform because it has the ability to collect leads, drive website clicks, and increase brand awareness. Facebook insights allow you to gain valuable information on the metrics of your content to help you manage your page. You are able to gain knowledge on your likes, reach, impressions, engagement, views, and more! Facebook insights will provide you with a visual overview of your performance in these areas (Gil, 2019). If I were to start-up a small business, Facebook would be one of the first platforms I would utilize to gain insight on the growth of my business and the analytics of my content!
With all the information and data that Facebook’s built-in insights provide you with, you are able to use it to your advantage! Due to Facebook’s algorithm, only content with significant user engagement will reach your audience. This is where all the data and metrics come into play. Insights on your content will allow you to view your best performing posts and allow you to revive them! You have the power to make them appear in your viewers’ feeds again just by commenting and liking your previous top performing posts (Gil, 2019). Engage with everyone who commented on your posts by liking and replying! Simple acts, like so, are literally at the tip of your fingers and can bring your old posts back to life.
Now, I know I mentioned I’d be focussing mainly on Facebook’s built-in insights, but I wanted to briefly touch on Instagram. Instagram has been an up-and-coming social media platform for the younger generation rather than Facebook, which is why I’m here to talk to you about creating more engaging content with Instagram insights! When measuring the ROI, there are so many more factors to consider other than “likes.” To name a few, you should consider comments, bookmarks, and shares which are all more valuable than a follow or like (Gil, 2019). Now the key to provide engaging content is consistency and this will generate more traffic to your profile! A helpful tip is to utilize Instagram stories by using polls because this is an opportunity to get feedback and opinions from your followers. Give your audience what they want by using their responses to create future content (Gil, 2019). Yes, it’s that easy!
Driving Measurable ROI on Each Channel
I’m going to go over how you can drive measurable ROI on different social media platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter. Let’s dive right in.
Building a recognizable personal brand on LinkedIn is crucial for business professionals. Creating an established presence on LinkedIn can be an asset for you whether you are a business owner, executive, or student. LinkedIn is a great platform for you to connect with professionals in the industry you are interested in and a way for recruiters to find you, too (Gil, 2019). Growing your brand on LinkedIn begins with having keywords in your profile. Your headline allows you to add “industry relevant keywords that are most likely to come up in search results” (Gil, 2019). For example, my headline is: “Business marketing student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.” Joining a LinkedIn group provides you with the opportunity to connect with local professionals or individuals in your industry! They’re a great way to connect with others and expand your network, so get joining.
YouTube is a neat platform as it allows its users to monetarily create content; the more you create and the more views you receive, the more money you’ll make by running ads on your videos (Gil, 2019). There is one rule before you’re able to profit off of having a YouTube channel: you need at least 1000 subscribers. Ensure you stay consistent by posting on a specific day(s) and by having “anchor” videos that generate traffic back to your YouTube channel. Anchor videos can be how-to videos or tips that are key for improved search optimization (Gil, 2019). I think YouTube is one of the harder social media platforms to use, however if you use it correctly it has the potential to grow your business immensely! Have a purpose, optimize your titles, teach, and get creative with your content.
Last, but not least, is Twitter. Twitter is a real-time search engine social media platform. Like all the other social media platforms you use, consistency is key when using Twitter. You can generate engagement with your followers by asking questions, providing value, and interacting with them through replies and comments. Another key strategy to increase your engagement is to acknowledge your top followers by following them back, replying to their comments in the threads, and engage with them. Consistency is key when building your presence on Twitter, so get tweetin’!
Bonus Strategies for Maximizing ROI
Generating social media return on investment is a difficult task for many individuals, which is why I’m not done just yet! I’m going to go over a few bonus strategies to help you and your social media ROI for your business.
Twitter Cards are a great feature on Twitter where you can bring your creativity and strategies to life! They’re meant to be an eye-catching visual to make your content stand out and drive website link clicks for your business. They’re an “easy growth hack to improve your click-through conversions for free” (Gil, 2019). Get creative and make visually appealing Twitter Cards to drive traffic to your business! I’d love to see what you come up with.
With “stories” booming on social media platforms, Instagram is the clear winner. I’m going to teach you some tips and tricks as to how you can drive sales with your Instagram stories. It’s important you post consistent, high quality content; keep your stories short with a clear call to action to keep your followers engaged. Simple things like adding a location to your post and using hashtags are ways that people will notice your account. Another simple trick is to caption your posts in a short, direct, and to-the-point way. People don’t want to spend time reading a lengthy caption and will most likely skip past it. I know I do! When you post, keep this in mind: “What would you personally engage with?” (Gil, 2019). Personally, I don’t tend to engage with people who post content just to sell and get me to buy from them. I’m more drawn to people who post creative content and let their consumers come to them! Be authentic.
To wrap things up, measure your key performance indicators to see what is helping you grow your social media ROI, recognize your top performing content, repost it, and continue those same strategies! Last, but not least, be sure to use social media as your creative outlet and be authentic. Your creativity, talent, and authenticity are what will help you grow your business!
Conclusion
You may be wondering what this all is and what it means. I wanted to test Instagram’s insights and the tools they offered to help measure my key performance indicators. I tested this on my personal account because I don’t have a business of my own, but I do think this is helpful for you guys. With Instagram, you have the option in changing your profile to a professional account whether that be “Video Creator,” “Blogger,” “Entrepreneur,” and more! This shows up on your account for everyone to see and will help your followers understand a little about who you are and what you’ll be posting.
Instagram insights provide you will valuable information such as your reach, impressions, and how many people have visited your profile in the past week. Instagram provides you with the location of your followers, and as you can see a vast majority of my followers are local (Edmonton). These insights also provide you with the age of your followers and their gender; 64% of my followers are between the ages of 18-24 and 61% of my followers are female. This is valuable information for any business because you generate an understanding of your followers allowing you to create content geared towards them! One last important aspect of the metrics that Instagram provides you with is a graph. This graph is a measure of your growth in regard to your followers; how many you gained and how many you lost over ‘x’ days. I hope you found this helpful and were able to gain a little bit more insight on how to increase your social media ROI.
Get creative, be authentic, and have fun!
References
Gil, Carlos. (2019, October 9). Social Media Marketing: ROI. Retrieved from LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/social-media-marketing-roi-2/the-roi-of-social-media-marketing
Pictures from Google.
Malindi Pilgrim 