Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) has more than 16 million Twitter followers. Harvard Biz Review (@HarvardBiz) has 1.5 million. My @StratCommun account has about 1500; my @LinWriter account has about 1300. What does this all mean?
Absolutely nothing! Evaluating social media effectiveness based on “the numbers” is like evaluating whether or not the television ads run during the Super Bowl are “good” or “bad.” Unless we’re privy to the strategy behind them our opinions are pretty much irrelevant. And while many are still enamored with the numbers—of likes, pins, retweets and +1’s—the truth is that in social media, as in any form of marketing communication, it’s the real results that matter.
It’s tough, though, for many—even those in the marketing world—to get their arms around strategy. When I reached out to gather input for an article I was working on a few months ago, responses to my request for input on effective social media marketing strategies included such comments as:
- Track your leads from social media by tagging your URLs.
- A great content strategy for social media is user generated content contests.
- My favorite thing to expand my reach with my content is to have a pin or each of my blog posts on my Pinterest account.
While these may be good ideas, they are not strategies. And that’s the problem with much of the social media content that flourishes on the web today. It’s an amalgam of presumably “good ideas” promulgated and perpetuated by those with good intentions but, in many cases, without a solid strategy.
Sound strategy involves establishing measurable objectives, clearly understanding the target audience and their media consumption habits, and monitoring and measuring results. Importantly, these results need to be based on ROI—return on investment. Millions of followers or friends is not an ROI measure. Sales and subscribers are.
Yes, you should be tracking such things as new followers, click-throughs and requests for information. But, you should also be analyzing how (or if!) these process measures lead to real outcome results.
Are you?
Recommended Reading:
Digital Minds: 12 Things Every Business Needs to Know About Digital Marketing
Measuring Marketing: 110+ Key Metrics Every Marketer Needs
Tags: analytics, facebook, linkedin, measurement, measuring results, Pinterest, social media success, successful social media, twitter, using social media