Good question. Social media can seem like one of those ‘feel good, be hip’ marketing tactics. You know you should be there, engaging with your customers, but what is the return on the time, effort, and, ultimately, the money?
If you asked this question 3-5 years ago, the answer may have been circumvented – “well, it’s the engagement with the customer that matters, it’s the branding, it’s the PR” – all valid reasons but nothing that’s going to please the C-Suite. And, we all need to please the C-Suite at some point.
Today, there is a myriad of social media measurement tools. Want to know the age demographics of your Followers/Fans? How about which cities and states they live in? 40% of our Fans live in Chicago? We have Followers in Canada? That particular tweet was retweeted 180 times? It’s all a click away.
How are your Facebook Ads doing that are trying to find customers within a 100 miles looking for equestrian supplies, those Twitter posts, those Pinterest Boards? Now you can know which efforts are pulling customers to your website, your blog, your LinkedIn Company Page, etc.
A little bit of effort and initial cost can get you set up for measurable results that will make you look like a Triple Crown winner. Applications such as Sprout Social, HootSuite, ViralHeat, and the big boys like Radian6 and NUVI. You can spend $9.99 a month up to several thousands of dollars on these services depending on the size and scope of your business and social media reach.
And, this is not Excel spreadsheet territory (no diss to Excel). These measurement services produce amazing pie charts, glyphs and graphs, hexagons and octogans down to the nth degree. It’s a left-brain dream come true. You’ll know where you should spend money, not spend money and what kind of qualified Followers/Fans you have. And where they live. And if they ride horses. Or not.
Ready to measure up? Call, email, Fan or Tweet us!
