Social Media Metrics and KPIs

• Social Media Metrics are measurements within a defined context for assessment

Metrics Uses

• Assessment using metrics includes number of unique visitors, page views, visit frequency, average visit length, and clickthrough rates

KPIs

• KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are metrics tied to organizational objectives
• The customer journey and marketing funnel stages are related, with relevant KPIs at each stage

Social Marketing Sales Funnel Stages and KPIs

• Awareness stage KPIs include reach, views/impressions, WOM (Word of Mouth) mentions, and CPM (Cost Per Mille/Thousand)
• Consideration stage KPIs include time spent with content, number of interactions, and video view completion rate
• Preference stage KPIs include use of recommended apps & reviews, applause metrics (likes, favorites, hearts), engagement metrics (sharing/interactions), and lead generation metrics (volume and quantity)
• Purchase stage KPIs include acquisition metrics (conversion rates, average sales, cost to convert)
• Loyalty stage KPIs include engagement over time and continued purchase activity
• Advocacy stage KPIs include UGC (User Generated Content) as reviews, ratings, recommendations, positive WOM, participation in brand social community

Evaluation and Measurement Process

• Define: Establish the program's intended results
• Assess: Evaluate the program's potential value and costs
• Track: Monitor actual results and link them to the program
• Adjust: Refine the program based on results to optimize future outcomes

The DATA Approach

• Define: Establish the social media marketing campaign goals, including motivating target audience behavior, influencing brand knowledge/attitudes, and achieving the first two objectives efficiently
• Used for Social Media ROI Pyramid

SMART Objectives

• Specific (Detailed)
• Measurable (Quantifiable)
• Achievable (Realistic)
• Relevant (Aligned with business objectives)
• Time-bound (Deadline)
• Example: Increase site stickiness of a firm's website by 40% over the next quarter

Objective Examples

• Increase brand awareness which generates impressions equivalent to or greater than reach goals in the media plan and can be measured by views, impressions, mentions, and interactions.
• Increase share of voice (SOV) requires among all industry conversations in the next week/month/year, the brand will feature in 15% or more of the conversations. SOV is measured in percentage of total mentions withing an industry.
• Maintain or increase brand sentiment to maintain a positive sentiment score of 86% or higher for brand name during the campaign, measures as Sentiment
• Meet customer service needs by responding to 90% of all mentions on social media within 4 hours/minutes. Measured by response rates, average response time

Metrics

• Standard of measurement for the objective
• WOM (Word-of-Mouth)
• Impressions: A view or an exposure to an ad
• Reach (unique visitors): Number of people who view ads at least once
• Frequency: Average number of times someone is exposed to an ad
• Frequency = impressions per person = impressions / reach
• Clickthrough rate: CTR = (Clicks / Impressions) * 100
• Conversion rate = (Conversions / Clicks) * 100
• Clickthroughs: the number of people exposed to an online ad or link who actually click on it
• Share of Voice: percentage of total mentions within an industry
• Bounce Rate: percentage of visitors who leave a website after viewing only one page

Social Media Marketing Metrics Matrix

• Activity Metrics measure the actions the organization commits to social media
• Interaction metrics focus on how the target market engages with the social media platform and activities
• Return metrics focus on the outcomes (financial or otherwise) that directly or indirectly support the success of the brand

Metrics for Profitability

• Return on Investment (ROI): Effectiveness of a business in using capital to generate profits
• Return on Investment = (Profits / Costs) * 100
• Profit = Revenue – Cost
• Return on Investment = (Marketing Profits before Marketing Costs – Marketing Costs) / Marketing Costs * 100
• Social media return on investment (SMROI): How much income did our investment in social media marketing generate?
• Social Media Return on Investment = (Social Media Profits / Social Media Costs) * 100
• Return on Ad Spend: Calculated by dividing Marketing Profits by Ad Spend Costs
• Return on Ad Spend = (Marketing Profits / Ad Spend Costs) * 100
• Return on Ad Spend = (Marketing Profits Before Ad Spend Costs – Ad Spend Costs) / Ad Spend Costs * 100

Metrics for Reputation

• Share of Voice (SOV): Measures a business' visibility compared to its competitors
• Share of Voice = (Business Mentions / Total Mentions) * 100
• Total Mentions = Business Mentions + Competitors' Mentions
• Sentiment Ratio (SR): How many positive mentions are there for every negative mention
• Sentiment Ratio = Total Positive Mentions / Total Negative Mentions

Assess value and feedback

• Assess the value generated from social media activities and gather feedback to use when making adjustments to strategies and tactics
• Performance effectiveness by design element (A/B testing): A/B testing is a strategy in which two or more versions of a message, version A and version B, are tested against each other. Controlling for all other variables, including audience targeting, one variable will be tested to determine what design choices trigger the best performance on the KPIs
• Variables to focus on include channel (e.g., Facebook, Instagram), content type (e.g., infographic, photo, list article), call to action (e.g., read now, join here), headline hook (e.g., humor hook, resource hook), use of words in headline (e.g., best, now, top), and hashtag use (e.g., number of hashtags, campaign hashtags or general hashtags used on channel)
• CTR = (Clicks/Impressions) * 100; Conversion Rate = (Conversions/Clicks) * 100
• Cost Efficiency: For the impressions/traffic/fans generated, which source was more cost-efficient? This calculation enables marketers to compare the cost of different tactics
• Opportunity Cost: What else could employees or volunteers have done if they weren't spending time contributing to the brand's social media activity? For example, what's the time value of the person tasked with creating content for the corporate blog or posting responses to irritated customers on Facebook when without these tasks he or she could have spent time on other revenue-generated tasks?
• Service Quality: How well did the brand address customer needs using social media relative to other customer care methods? This assessment may include average comments requesting a response, response rate, response speed, and resolution rate
• Message/Crisis Control: Brands accept a risk that the brand's message will be shared or manipulated in ways that the brand would rather not have happen. But if we want to capitalize on the value of virality for message diffusion, then we also have to be willing to sacrifice some control. Still, we can assess the influence of negative communications and crises using KPIs and also gauge the success of risk mitigation efforts

Track and Organize Data

• Collect and organize the data we will use to determine our results
• Sources of Information:
• Owned site analytics (e.g., Google Analytics on owned sites)
• SNS analytics (e.g., Facebook Insights)
• Enterprise social listening and/or analytics platforms (e.g., Brandwatch, Infegy)
• Niche analytic solutions and platform API tools (e.g., Keyhole, Trackur)

Tracking Approaches

• Forward Tracking: Tracking mechanisms are developed prior to launching the activity or campaign. Forward tracking is the most accurate approach because it enables the account team to develop a mechanism for tracking exactly the data desired.
• Coincident Tracking: Tracking mechanisms begin during the activity or campaign. Coincident tracking can be effective in that it relies on residual data (which become the data scraped for social media research) left at the point of interaction or point of sale.
• Reverse Tracking: Conducted after an activity or campaign has concluded. Reverse tracking also uses residual data and may include primary data collection such as surveys to assess the effects of the campaign
• Baseline: A metric that allows a marketer to compare its performance on some dimension to other things, such as how competitors are doing or how its own efforts fluctuate over time. A business' performance can be compared to competitors, industry, and its own performance over time.

Adjust

• Apply learnings to future strategies and tactics
• The KPIs tracked and the assessment process provide valuable guidance to direct choices for future strategies and tactics