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2 Minute Video

Measuring the ROI of Social Media

A social media strategy should always be tailored to your specific goals. Without them, you won’t know how to track your social media efforts.

For all marketers, measuring the ROI of social media is tough. But there’s some tricks to doing it right and it’s all about how you develop your strategy. Watch this video on how to better measure the ROI of social media.

Not a fan of video? Here’s the transcript:

Hi, my name is Shannon, and I am the marketing coordinator for Cubicle Ninjas, and today we’re going to be talking about the Return on Investment of Social Media.

How much time does it take to promote your brand online? Every brand is different, but in my experience its about 10 hours a week for a typical company.

That may seem like a lot of time, but think about what that includes. In just 10 hours, you have to manage a company’s entire online identity across a huge variety of social media platforms.

To make that time count, you need a consistent strategy that’s backed up by deep research. My goal is to make sure those 10 hours a week spent on social media are worth it. To do that, you need to measure the Return on Investment for interactions on each social media platform and budget your time accordingly.

For example, let’s look at Facebook. It’s the number 1 social media platform and has one billion active users. Seems like a no-brainer to focus your social media effort here, right?

Unfortunately, no…

Facebook was once considered “earned marketing” with the ability to promote your brand for free. Now, Facebook’s algorithm makes it get significant organic reach, and you must “pay to play” in order to benefit.

Doing proper research on where your audience hangs out, understanding what it will cost, and learning which platforms will save you time, will make it easier to measure the ROI of your social media strategy.

Want to measure ROI on social media the right way? Focus on the platforms that fit your business and do a ton of research first. Here’s Why:

1. It Will Save You Time

Yes, there are tools like Buffer or SproutSocial that help make scheduling updates across platforms easier. But you’ll save yourself a lot of time and stress if you focus on the ones that are creating the most buzz.

For instance, 72% of females use Pinterest. If you’re target audience is male, then stop pinning. It may receive a few clicks back to your site or generate a lead here and there, but if time is an issue, then focus more on the platforms that work best for you.

2. It Won’t Spread Your Audience Thin

When you choose to develop a social media strategy around more than 3 platforms, you’re risking two things:

• Not having the ability to listen closely on all platforms.
• Leaving a percentage of your audience out.

Choosing social media platforms wisely and giving them your all will direct your audience to where the conversation is.

If let’s say you had a Facebook page just to have one, but you update LinkedIn on a daily basis. Your followers on Facebook will miss out or think you’re not being attentive. It’s hard to convert followers to another platform when they’ve already decided to follow you someplace else.

3. It Will Help You Set Stronger Goals

To measure ROI, you have to set clear goals. Setting a goal like “Build 5% more engagement on LinkedIn every month” is a stronger, more realistic goal then “Let’s throw a bunch of content on every platform and see what happens.”

With so many new social media platforms, we now have more options. But with more options, comes more decisions. So choose wisely.

That’s it for today! Remember: When developing a new social media strategy, always do research first. Find out where your audience hangs out and choose a few platforms that fit your business the best.


Video Editing by Brian Stouffer

About the Author: Shannon Callarman is the Marketing Coordinator at Cubicle Ninjas. She’s the tiny ninja behind the CN Twitter. You can also follow her on Google+.

One Comment

  • Jared says:

    Great video Shannon! I think its important to note that “knowing where your customer hangs out” is the very essence of marketing, especially inbound marketing. The better you understand your customer, the more effectively you can target them with social media efforts, giving you the ROI you are looking for. understands this and leads the industry in making customer connections through social media and other strategic inbound marketing techniques, enabling small and growing businesses to increase their web presence and customer contact.

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