Traditional return-on-investment (ROI) measures money in divided by money out. Unless you're selling a product directly on social media it's really difficult to directly tie one sale to a social media post because of all of the other factors that go into the customer's journey to purchase. First, they have to become aware of the need that your business can solve, then consider their options, make a decision, etc. So, instead of trying to have social media solve for the entire journey, break down the journey into stages and use social media to nurture the customer on to the next stage of the journey.
Awareness stage
This is arguably where you'll find the most value from social media. Here you'll create content to showcase your expertise with blogs and articles, describe your products and services, and add value to your followers with 3rd party content. Advertising in this stage will help expand your reach and introduce your brand to new prospects.
In this stage, the metrics that you'll want to track depend on the call-to-action that you're using - webinar attendees, link clicks, people who follow your page, etc.
Consideration and decision stages
These are the stages when most customers are reading your online product descriptions and talking to your team one-on-one. With that, social media shouldn't be the primary source of information.
Retention stage
People do business with people, so once a customer has purchased a product or service, you can use social media as one way to deepen that relationship. This could be in the form of a featured employee profile, business update, behind-the-scenes look, and so much more. You'll be able to track this by the number of followers of your page and organic engagement.
Advocacy stage
The advocacy stage is when your customers start to refer your business on to friends. You'll see this on social media as they share your content with their friends - expanding your awareness reach. Plus, as their friends look at your profile, these new prospects will see that their friend also likes your page - adding a layer of trust before they even contact you.
As you can see, there is no one way to measure ROI on social media. It's all about what you're looking to achieve and then using meaningful metrics to track the results.
Learn how Violet Clover Consulting can help you create content, track your metrics, and strategize ways to get the most from your social media investment.
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