MAKING THE INTANGIBLE TANGIBLE- using social media for business

Using social media for business

By David Walsh

So you have decided that you want to tap into the online potential for your business of using social media. What are the best ways for succeeding on Social Media Platforms?  How do you know what channels to invest in?  How can I monitor the impact of the campaign?  How do we transform the intangible business to tangible to attract more clients?

Here are three steps to help you before you begin your Social Media Campaign.

Many companies and brands have used marketing campaigns that integrate social media.  The campaign needs to grab an audience enabling them to engage with the brand.  Social Media Marketing should be used alongside offline and traditional channels of communication.

DEFINE YOUR CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

When discussing your marketing campaign it is very important that you have clear objectives. Your objective is something measurable that you are looking to get out of the campaign.  Several example objectives to consider are:

• Create Brand Awareness
• Drive Brand Advocacy
• Increase sales through Digital Marketing
• Build upon Social CRM database
• Generate online buzz
• Increase page views/video views
• Acquire followers/fans/subscribers

http://prezi.com/7nxjv2qbxobi/peak-fresh/

Avonmore ran a successful digital campaign in May 2013 with three clearly defined objectives:

1. Create awareness of the Peak Fresh story through digital platforms
2. Build Avonmore community online and a connection between the brand and the consumer
3. Differentiate Avonmore, not all milk is the same.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA METRICS

Now that you have defined your campaign you now need to decide what your KPIs are, what you expect to get out of the campaign. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are performance metrics that should align to your objectives.

There are so many social media metrics and so little time.  The Facebook download of page insights has over 1700 columns of data, ranging from daily Likes to video plays in the last 28 days.  After setting your goals you then decide what KPIs to use.

Avinash Kaushik gives great insight into what he feels are the best social media metrics: conversion, amplification, applause, and economic value.

 

(Source: www.kaushik.net/avinash )

 

The metrics that Avinash provides are more content focused but they can still be applied to social media campaigns.  There are literally hundreds of KPIs that could be utilised.  Just remember to align the KPIs with the original objectives you’ve set out for your campaign.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Now you have defined your objectives and aligned your KPIs/social media metrics how do you measure the success of you campaign?  What is your Return on Investment (ROI)?

There are some questions that need to be addressed so that you can accurately set your goals/measurement which will help you to define what success looks like and to track accurately your campaign progress:

• What is length of your campaign, start and end dates?
• What are your potential conversion rates?

1. Visits to registration
2. Social Shares
3. Opt-in

• What volume of traffic can you expect for owned, earned and paid media?
• Based on your social media platforms what is the projected increase in fans/followers/subscribers?

Once you have defined your objectives of the campaign and chosen your KPIs, which should align to your objectives, you are then ready to set your goals to measure the success of your campaign.  These steps will help you create a clear structure to your social media campaign and define your Return on Investment (ROI).

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