Followers vs Engagement vs Traffic: How to Measure Social Media Success for Brands
How can brands know if their social media efforts are paying dividends?
The first step is to identify the KPI. The most important ones are:
- Audience Growth (Likes & Followers)
- Engagements (Likes, Comments, Shares)
- Traffic Generation
- Lead Generation
- Customer Support
The next step is to find out the relevant social media channels which fit best for above KPI's. For example, Twitter is the best channel for Customer Support, LinkedIn is the best for B2B Lead Generation, Instagram is the best for Engagements.
Once the above two steps are done marketers will have a clear idea of what they are expecting.
What should brands measure?
The final step is to measure performance. For example:
For Audience Growth, Check whether the increased likes/followers have resulted in better reach/impressions for your social media posts which has further spurred the engagement.
For Engagements, Look closely at the mood, words, and voice of audience engagement with your content. A positive tone means a better outlook on your brand. Also, it will help in generating more traffic to the website.
For Traffic Generation, Look at the behavior of the audience on your website. The majority of the marketers expect them to sign up for the subscriber list, case study/whitepaper downloads, lead conversion etc.
What should brands care less about?
In Online Marketing, All metrics are equally important. But if I have to mention one, it would be the Click Through Rate (CTR) for very targeted campaigns like the B2B lead generation campaigns. In this case, it's all about getting the right lead, since the ticket size and CLV is high.
Are the metrics different based on the social network?
Yes, for example, Instagram is more about engagements, Facebook is important to bring people to the website, so is Pinterest. LinkedIn is important for B2B from branding and thought leadership perspective.
Optimize Bottom of the Funnel Content For Lead Generation Campaigns
For lead gen campaigns, brands are well equipped with TOFU and MOFU contents, but not BOFU, it's a big mistake.
Why is BOFU content important?
It is the ultimate stage where the decision is taken. The buyer takes the final confirmation to commitment or purchase. The prospect will be well aware of the service or product you are offering. All your competitive advantage, USP, Value Proposition, Point of Differentiation will be known to the prospective buyer. He/She will be engaging with the sales representative and with a higher chance of a conversion.
Do we focus too much on TOFU content?
The B2B Marketing 2020: Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—North America Report found that the marketing goals are heavily prioritized on TOFU content over MOFU and BOFU. So yes, we focus too much on TOFU content generally.
What type of content works best for BOFU?
It depends on the product or service you are offering. For a Saas Product, a live demo session could be very effective, a very interactive video explainer of the main features (solving the pain points), etc are the most effective ones.
What doesn't?
Blog contents, Case Study, Marketing Collaterals, etc are for TOFU and MOFU, it wouldn't work for BOFU.
How do you measure success with BOFU content?
Sign-Ups, Subscriptions, Purchase, etc are some of them.