How to Measure Social Media: A Step-By-Step Guide to Developing and Assessing Social Media ROI

Description

Your 100% Actionable, Proven Framework for Delivering Rock-Solid Social Media Business Metrics—Painlessly

Think social marketing is worth it? Prove it. If your boss hasn’t demanded that yet, he will. Then what? Hand him some jive about “return on conversation”? Think that’ll fly? You’ll be gone so fast you won’t know what hit you. You know damn well what your boss cares about: Sales Volume. Costs. Revenue. This book will help you measure all that: credibly, accurately, and in drill-down detail.

Bet you can’t wait to see his face when you walk in with metrics that stand up to his most brutal questions. We’re not just talking about getting “buy-in” or begging for your proverbial “seat at the table.” We are talking about numbers that make careers. This book will prove your indispensability to even the most clueless executive in your company.

Here’s the best part: It’s not hard. You won’t need to become a math nerd. The tools are cheap (or free), and you’re probably sitting on most of the data. This book will give you everything else, including simple step-by-step techniques for creating measurable strategies and getting the data to prove they deliver. You’ll also get super helpful hands-on exercise worksheets where you can jot down your answers and notes. Nichole Kelly has been refining this stuff for 14 years. She’s helped hundreds of marketers prove their value to bosses and boardrooms. Now it’s your turn.

If you’re a marketer or agency pro, this is a game you have to play. Win it.

Reliable answers to questions like:

• How much revenue did our activities on social media platforms generate this month?
• Are social media prospects more likely to convert to customers?
• Which status update delivered the highest conversion rate?
• How long do we retain new social media customers?
• Do they spend more or less than customers from other channels?
• Do they make repeat purchases more often than other customers?
• And much more…

Sample Content

Online Sample Chapter

Aligning Social Media to the Sales Funnel

Sample Pages

Download the sample pages (includes Chapter 2 and Index)

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
I Aligning Social Media with Core Business Objectives
1  Aligning Social Media Strategies to Business Goals     11
Setting Social Media Goals     12
  Goal 1: Increase Brand Awareness     14
  Goal 2: Generate More Leads     16
  Retaining Your Existing Customers     20
  How Do I Know Which Goal Is Right for My Company?     21
  Goal 3: Increasing Customer Retention     21
  Selecting the Right Social Media Goal     23
Hands-On Exercise: Selecting a Social Media Goal     29
  Activity 1: Plot Existing Marketing Tactics     29
  Activity 2: SWOT Analysis     30
2  Aligning Social Media to the Sales Funnel     33
Where Brand Awareness Fits     35
  Exposure     35
  Influence     36
  Engagement     37
  Action/Conversion     40
  Customer Retention     41
Hands-On Exercise: Aligning the Funnel with Communications     47
  Activity 1: Chart Existing Communications     48
  Activity 2: Identify Communications Pieces That Don’t Work With Contacts Who Touched the Social Media     Channel     48
  Activity 3: Determine Metrics to Evaluate Where People Fall Out of the Funnel     48
3  Social Media for Brand Awareness     51
Reality Check No. 1: No One Cares About Your Brand     52
Reality Check No. 2: You Have Lost Control of Your Brand     52
Where Brand Awareness Fits into the Funnel     53
Types of Brand Awareness     54
Where Social Media Fits into Brand Awareness Campaigns     54
Where Social Media Fits into Reputation Management     57
Developing a Measureable Strategy for a Brand Awareness Campaign     59
  Create a Listening Station     59
  Interpret the Conversation     60
  Why Listening Matters     61
  Refine Your Brand Awareness Goal     61
  Define Niches Within Your Target Market     61
  Define Social Media Channels     63
  Define Success Metrics     63
  Define Your Strategy     65
  Define How You Will Do It     65
  Flesh It Out     66
Developing a Measureable Strategy for Reputation Management     66
  Develop a Listening Station     66
  Outline the Types of Reputation Management You Will Focus On     67
  Create Social Media Accounts Before You Need Them     68
  Define Success Metrics     68
  Define Your Strategy     69
  Define How You Will Do It     69
  Flesh It Out     70
  Organize Your Plans     70
Hands-On Exercise: Prioritizing Brand
  Awareness Strategies     71
  Strategy Evaluation Matrix     72
4  Measuring Social Media for Brand Awareness     75
Community Manager     76
Executive Management Team Metrics     76
Translating Social Media for Executives     76
Social Media Is Just Another Channel     77
Don’t Measure Social Media in a Silo     77
The Goal of Brand Awareness Campaigns     77
Complementary Marketing Channels     78
The Goal of Reputation Management     79
Calculating Cost per Impression     81
Calculating Cost per Engagement     82
Calculating Cost per Conversion     82
Handling Salaries in Cost Metrics     82
Hands-On Exercise: Aligning Social Media Metrics to Metrics That Matter     83
5  Social Media for Lead Generation     87
Where Lead Generation Fits into the Funnel     88
Understanding Social Media Lead Generation     88
Handling Social Media Leads     90
  Soft Leads     90
  Hard Leads     91
  Content That Indicates Purchase Intent for HubSpot     91
  How to Kill the Sale     93
Developing a Measurable Strategy for Lead Generation     93
  Promotional Content     93
  Informative Content     94
  Decision-Making Content     95
Where Does Lead Scoring Fit?     96
  Slow Leads     96
  Medium Leads     96
  Fast Leads     97
  Types of Lead Scoring Models     97
Optimizing the Path to Conversion     97
Defining Success Metrics     99
Define Your Strategy     100
  Define How You Will Do It     102
  Flesh It Out     102
  Organize Your Plans     102
Hands-On Exercise: Prioritizing Lead Generation Strategies     103
  Strategy Evaluation Matrix     104
6  Measuring Social Media for Lead Generation     107
Identifying Lead Potential     108
  Slowest Leads     109
  Slow Leads     109
  Medium Leads     110
  Fast Leads     110
  Closed Leads      110
Lead Scoring     110
  Types of Lead Scoring Models      111
  Points-Based Lead Scoring     111
  Activity-Based Lead Scoring     112
  Manual Lead Scoring     112
  Hybrid Lead Scoring     112
It’s Okay to Keep It Simple     113
Hands-On Exercise: Aligning Social Media Leads to the Sales Funnel     116
Hands-On Exercise: Aligning Marketing Lists to Lead Categories     116
  List Management     117
7  Customer Service, Referrals, and Strategies for Increasing Revenue from Existing Customers     121
Where Customer Retention Fits into the Funnel     122
Understanding Customer Retention     123
Developing a Measureable Strategy for Customer Retention     124
  Provide Customer Service     124
  Turn Customers into Revenue     129
  Use Referral Strategies     130
  Spend More Money at Each Purchase     133
  Make More Frequent Purchases     133
  Define Your Goal for Customer Retention     135
  Listen    135
  Define Success Metrics     135
  Define Your Strategy     137
  Define How You Will Do It     138
  Flesh It Out     138
  Organize Your Plans     139
  Create Planning Documents     139
Hands-On Exercise: Prioritizing Customer Retention Strategies     140
8  Measuring Strategies for Increasing Revenue from Existing Customers     143
Where Customer Revenue Generation Strategies Fit into the Organization     144
  Finding Your Key Metrics     144
  Manager Metrics     145
  Executive Metrics     147
  Why This Is Going to Be Difficult but Not Impossible     148 
  What If You Can’t Separate Customers Who Touch Your Social Media Channels?     149
Hands-On Exercise: Finding Customer Retention Metrics     149
  Getting the Reports You Need     150
II Tools for Collecting Metrics
9  Breaking Down the Barriers to Social Media Measurement     155
You Are the Problem     156
Standards Are the Problem     157
Confusion Between Measurement and Monitoring Tools Is the Problem     157
Lack of Maturity in Measurement Tools Is the Problem     158
Social Media Silos Are the Problem     159
The Path to Conversion Is the Problem     160
Your Systems Are the Problem     161
Don’t Stop Now     162
Hands-On Exercise: Finding and Overcoming Your Barriers     163
10  Understanding the Dots That Need to Connect to Facilitate End-to-End Measurement     167
Why Full Campaign History Is Important     168
What Dots Need to Connect     169
Is Getting Full Campaign History into Your CRM System Really Possible?     171
Finding Opportunities for Integration     172
Conducting a System Audit     174
Prioritizing Data Initiatives     175
Hands-On Exercise: Systems Audit     177
System Audit Worksheet     177
Finding Integration Opportunities     177
11 Measurement Tool Review     181
Argyle Social Review     182
  Overview     182
  Overall Measurement Features (3.7 Stars)     184
  Reporting Features (2 Stars)     185
  Conversion Reporting (2 Stars)     186
Expion     187
  Overview     187
  Overall Measurement Features (3.6 Stars)     188
  Reporting Features (3.2 Stars)     190
Raven Tools     191
  Overview     192
  Overall Measurement Features (3.3 Stars)     193
  Reporting Features (2.5 Stars)     194
Social Snap     196
  Overview     196
  Overall Measurement Features (4.3 Stars)     197
  Reporting Features (3.9 Stars)     199
Tracx     201
  Overview     201
  Overall Measurement Features (2.2 Stars)     202
  Reporting Features (3.1 Stars)     203
Summary     204
Hands-On Exercise: Measurement Tool Worksheet     204
12  A Great Starter Mix of Tools for Less Than $10 a Month     207
Why HootSuite Pro Is a Crucial Part of the Mix     208
Validating Google Analytics Setup     208
Integrating HootSuite with Google Analytics     211
Start Tracking     212
  Sample A     214
  Sample B     214
  Sample C     214
Limitations     215
Getting the Data     215
Hands-On Exercise: Create a System for Using Custom URL Parameters     217
  Source     218
  Medium     219
  Campaign     220
Bonus Tip: Track the Exact Status Update That Drove a Conversion     221
13  Creating a Cross-Functional Measurement Dashboard     223
Hands-On Exercise: Build Your Dashboard     229
14  Tying It All Together     231
Hands-On Exercise: Social Media ROI Assessment     233
Index     235

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