Whenever I meet with a client who is worried about social media, I always guide them back to their business strategy, asking, “Why social media? And, can you take likes to the bank?
Many businesses spend too much time obsessing over what we call “vanity” metrics, things like registered users, downloads, and raw pageviews. These numbers however can easily be manipulated, and don’t necessarily correlate to the numbers that actually matter to your business: active users, engagement, the cost of getting new customers, and ultimately revenues and profits.
In the purest sense, social media is a tool to connect with people. Whether they’re prospects, buyers, stakeholders, investors, or users, it’s essential to understand who you’re trying to reach and why.
Once you know that, you can decide if social is the best way to reach them. If it is, make informed decisions about which social networks to use, and what to share. Do you need to focus on creating original content? Curating relevant posts? Cultivating community? Engaging prospects and helping them along their customer journey? These choices will be shaped by our objectives, adding meaning and intention to your posting activity.
With a strategy in place, you have the framework to measure results. Once you know what you’re trying to accomplish, it’s a lot easier to know if you’re doing it! Metrics Shift even with a great strategy, things change. Every business is dynamic. As marketing evolves, the nature of your metrics will shift. What was an exceptional result last year could look mediocre this year.
Maintain your focus on what matters most: business performance. Are you trying to increase awareness, capture leads, build a mailing list? Why?
All of these things have no value if they don’t contribute to the bottom line. They’re not ends in themselves.