How do you measure the real success of your social network marketing?
You’re publishing a long stream of blog posts, Twittering like a canary on a bright spring day, constantly posting to Facebook, and generally doing all the other things you need to do to make social network marketing work for your business. So, how can you tell if it’s really doing the trick?
That sounds like an easy question at first glance – you just check how many readers, followers, fans, etc. you’ve got. But is that what actually matters? Is that what you really want out of your social network marketing efforts?
Interaction counts, numbers don’t!
Think about it. As we’ve discussed countless times, the whole idea behind social network marketing is not just to get yourself read, but to rope in an army of people to champion your cause. What you want to see is lots of people actually talking about your business and your products online.
An impressive number of passive readers may look great on paper, and might even net you a few sales, but that simply cannot compare with people actively interacting and engaging in word-of-mouth marketing on your behalf. Remember, it’s not just the sheer amount of people you can reach when friends tell friends about you, or bloggers tell their readers. It’s the fact that, with word-of-mouth marketing, your message tends to take the form of a personal recommendation, and that’s immeasurably more effective at pulling customers!
So how can you really know how successful your social network marketing efforts are?
What you actually need to measure is the amount of online ‘chatter’ your brand is getting, to borrow a word from the intelligence circles.
Luckily, there is little that goes on online that escapes Google’s ever-watchful eye, and running a search for your company and product names is the quickest way to find out who is talking about you on third-party sites and – more importantly – what they are saying. Yes, it’s a no-brainer, really!
Also make sure to sign up to Google Alerts to be informed whenever Google comes across new content with the search terms you specify (again, company name, brand names, and so on). If your associated keywords are getting mentioned regularly, you’re on the right track!
Get someone to keep an eye on your website’s traffic logs and find out which sites and mentions are getting you the most traffic. That way, you’ll know where to focus your online marketing in the future. Better still, set up Google Analytics and track conversions to find out where your actual sales re coming from.
As you monitor the talk going on on third-party websites, make sure you don’t forget your own! Keep track of the comments on your blog, Facebook fan pages, forums, and your other web pages where people can interact with you. Respond courteously, in a timely manner and engage the people who have bothered enough to let you know what they think.
In an online world where you can pay so-called ‘marketing experts’ to send you a stream of traffic, or followers, or whatever, just remember what the Beatles said about money and love. The quick ‘fixes’ might inflate the figures and give you an instant ego boost, but if you really want online marketing results that will translate into increased sales in the real world, there are no short cuts. Just keep on dishing out good quality content that people will want to share around.
Yep! Once again, Content is king!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think social networking sites reach their success without any chance of problem.
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