How to Measure ROI on Social Media

 

Twitter can be optimized as a great business tool. Before you begin you need to set business goals and objectives and ensure to measure ROI on social media. It’s vital to be clear about what you wish to achieve and how you are measuring success on the Platform. Once you have established your goals you can then build your strategy to specifically accomplish those goals.

 

Typically your goals might be to:

 

o   Reach new customers

o   Increase engagement through content

o   Promote your products and business

o   Develop longer lasting relationships with your customers

o   Ultimately, generate more leads and sales

Measure ROI on Social Media

Measuring return on investment (ROI) is a major challenge for brands that are new to Twitter. Brands using Twitter to boost marketing efforts are still uncertain as to Twitter’s true value. According to a recent survey conducted by Social Media Marketing University, 45.1% of brands reported that ‘measuring ROI and results’ is their greatest challenge when using the platform for marketing, followed by ‘building an audience’ (42.1 percent) and ‘engagement’ (36.8 percent).

Ref: http://socialmediaimpact.com/brands-still-struggle-measure-roi-twitter/#sthash.ZIwgrqLl.dpuf

 

 

Define your Twitter Social Media goals:

The first step in successfully measuring ROI is to establish your goals and then build your strategy to specifically accomplish those goals.

Be “SMART”

 

o   Specific

Be specific in target results. For instance, use numbers and        action verbs — change, improve, complete, perform, etc. — when setting goals.

o   Measurable

Have a way to measure progress.

o   Actionable

Goals should be achievable by those assigned to work on them.

o   Realistic

Consider available resources and skills to make sure goals are not   impossible to achieve.

o   Timed

Set a deadline or timetable by which goals should be achieved.

 

Every brand should collect their data by means of a third-party tool or something that you’ve created internally, like an Excel spreadsheet. Data should be collected and evaluated on a consistent basis. Businesses need to measure Key Performance Indicators continually and adjusting their strategies accordingly.

 

KPI’s to track when marketing on Twitter:

 

o   Number of followers: the unique number of Twitter users who are following your account

o   Follower/ following ratio: how many followers you have over the number you are following

o   Retweets: This is measured on a post by post basis. The more one of your posts is retweeted, the better

o   @connects: both @replies and @mentions: Count and track both @replies and @mentions.

o   Brand mentions /URL mentions. Keep track of how often your business or product is mentioned on Twitter.

o   Click through rates: track, measure and analyze the click through rates of your links

 

Twitter now offers an internal analytics (Twitter Analytics) system  which involves setting up Twitter Cards & may not be for the small business. You could however use a number of third party analytics tools which are available such as Hootsuite, Buffer or Twitonomy. Pick out the tool most relevant to your business and test it out on your account, your competitor or a key influencer in your industry.

Here is a link to show how Netflix is preforming on Twitter: http://www.socialbakers.com/twitter/netflixuk

 

 

Always keep in mind that Twitter success is more than just the number of followers you have. It is about engagement, customer interaction, and creating emotional bonds with your clients and products. And ultimately, it is about more customers and more sales.

 

Case Study

 

Bord Gáis Energy (@BordGaisEnergy) is one of Ireland’s major energy providers. Bord Gais wanted to drive awareness of its title sponsorship of the U-21 Hurling Championship nationwide and extend the championship’s reach. It wanted to increase fan engagement and spark conversations. It used its brand account (@BordGaisEnergy) to launch a Promoted Tweet campaign asking Twitter users to vote for the Man of the Match during each live match broadcast. They used keyword targeting in timeline. This ensured that people tweeting or engaging with Tweets containing specifically selected words would be exposed to its content. To extend its reach, @BordGaisEnergy promoted the campaign across all media. It fully integrated a hashtag with live broadcasts, website and signage, and organised all conversations around it. @BoardGaisEergy embedded Lead Generation cards in its Promoted Tweets to collect entries for the U21 Score of the Year competition.

 

Results

o   69% increase in followers

o   5.95% engagement rate at peak

o   39% increase in Brand consideration

 

*Source: Onside Sponsorship, Bord Gais Sponsorship Research Programme, Wave 2 – December 2013

 

“Twitter And Twitter Ads played a major role in our activation of the U21 sponsership. Without Twitter we wouldn’t have exceeded our targets”

 

Eoin O Suilleabhain @eoinos

Digital & Social Media Manager, Bord Gais Energy

 

 

http://www.socialbakers.com/twitter/bordgaisenergy

 

The Power Of Twitter

 

 

Broke the record for most retweets with 1.7 million in less than an hour