Social Media Analytics

 By Chamarya Roberts

Social media has become an intricate part of the marketing industry over the years.

“Social media has become the most influential and important virtual space where the platform is not only used for social networking but is also a great way of digitally advertising your brand and your products” (Henderson, 2020). With 53 percent of the world's population actively using social media, it is just an opportunity that markets should take advantage of. 

Benefits

Incorporating social media into a business’s marketing mix can be beneficial in the long run. Some of the benefits of social media marketing include(Kuligowski, 2021):

• Brand awareness

Social media platforms have billions of people scrolling through their feeds daily. I have been exposed to so many different brands from it. I want to point out that social media doesn’t just reach current consumers; they can also reach potential customers. 

• Brand personality

Social media provides a company or brand with an avenue to showcase its identity and express its voice and brand values. A brand’s voice “is the distinct personality a brand takes on in its communications… i.e., the flow of their words, the language they used and their personality all combined to make for a memorable experience” (Chen, 2020).

• Increased website traffic

Social media marketing is more than just the likes. If a brand’s followers like and are engaging with the posted content, then there is a possibility that they may like the product or service. Therefore, leading them to visit the company’s website to learn more about the brand and even purchase products, increasing sales.

• Reputation management

A brand’s reputation is everything; it is like having a well-known name. Social media allows brands to conduct customer service in real-time by “communicating with customers and solve issues quickly” (Kuligowski, 202).  Reputation management isn’t always geared towards fixing issues; it can also be used to boost one’s reputation by bringing positive feedback to the forefront (re-posting positive comments). 

• Analytics and insights

Analytics tools are embedded into most social media platforms that enable marketers and businesses to monitor and track metrics like the number of followers, impressions, engagement times, click-through rates, and much more. The data collected from these metrics can help determine what content resonates with the intended audience or if any changes need to occur to improve the strategy.

• Competitor analysis

Social media is more than a place to engage with consumers. It can also be used to spy on competitors to see what they are doing. This is a great technique to implement to create a competitor analysis because you can use the insight that has been collected to better your brand’s strategy plan.

• Targeted advertisements

Any brand can create ads and distribute them on different platforms, but is it tailored to the target audience? Ads posted on social media can be tailored and targeted to match the targeted audience, increasing user engagement.

Choosing How Many & Which Platforms To Use

There are so many social media platforms in today’s society, and it feels like every year, at least one pops up out of nowhere. 

The leading social media platforms are:

• Facebook

• Instagram

• TikTok

• Snapchat

• YouTube

• LinkedIn

• Pinterest

I can understand how it could be hard to choose if you should use just one or a mixture. It can be easy and more comfortable to focus marketing efforts on one platform, but that’s a terrible idea. Marketers and businesses should use a mixture of media, and here are some reasons why (Business.com, 2020):

1. May not be reaching a portion of your audience

2. Can improve your search engine rankings

3. Provide a better customer service experience

4. Competitors  are already there

In my opinion, I agree that a brand should be active on multiple platforms because each platform has its unique purpose.  For instance, Facebook is one of the major social media platforms. It can be used to share any and everything, photos, video, ads, and even important updates. Businesses can create a business account, giving access to essential advertising tools, in-depth analytic data, and customization options. Facebook provides businesses to highlight contact information, location, hours of operation, website, and products or services offered. “Instagram is a visual platform based entirely on photo and video posts, so it's best for businesses that have strong visual content to share” (Kuligowski, 2021). There are plenty of opportunities on this platform that businesses can take advantage of like, Instagram live, stories, and the store feature. Twitter is an excellent platform for short and precise updates since there is only space for 240 characters interacting with followers and links. The experience can also be enhanced by using hashtags as well. 

Influencer Marketing Hub has come up with a 20 step social media marketing strategy for businesses this year that I think would benefit any business, small or big. I will be discussing 11 of the steps mentioned in this article, the first ten and the last one. The first ten steps should help a business decide which platforms to use.  

Step 1. Select Relevant and Realistic Social Media Marketing Goals

Many companies have a problem; they incorporate social media without establishing the why. Creating goals that align with the business or campaign can help a business create a social media strategy. “According to marketers, their top goals in social are to increase brand awareness (70%), generate leads (59%), increase community engagement (48%), grow brand audience (46 %), and increase web traffic (45%)” (Chen, 2020).

2. Determine Your Most Relevant Metrics

The metrics should correlate with the goals set in step one. Try not to focus on the “ easy-to-measure vanity metrics, such as the number of followers someone has” (Geyser, 2021).

3. Decide Who You Want as Your Social Media Audience

This step should be self-explanatory, but you want to ensure that the people following you are interested in what you are offering. 

4. Understand Your Social Media Audience

Once you decide who your audience is, you want to figure out what appeals to them. Not all social media users are alike, just like not all platforms aren’t. Demographics come in handy during this step; look to see which platforms they are active on and why.  

5. Select the Right Social Media Networks for Your Audience

Step four should have helped narrow down the choices, but if you still aren't sure, research can help. 

6. Investigate How Your Competitors Approach Social Media

As mentioned above, social media is a great way to see what competitors are doing. So use social media to help build your strategy to be the better competitor.

7. Establish a Realistic Social Media Budget

No matter its size, any business can implement social media into its marketing strategy, but a budget needs to be allocated and aligned with the initial goals. Don’t spend more than what's required. “Most companies spend 15% to 25% of their digital marketing budget on social media marketing efforts (organic and paid)” (Geyser, 2020).

8. Plan the Types of Content You Intend to Share

There needs to be a balance between the content posted on social media. The posted content needs to be a mixture of entertainment, information, and  (small percent) promotional material. 

9. Set Up Your Accounts Properly Before You Make and Promote Content

If you are just joining the social media marketing scene, you need to start your account(s) correctly. All accounts need to look cohesive. When creating these profiles, keep your targeted audience in mind because you want them to like and engage with the pages. 

10. Establish the Best Times to Post and Set Up a Content Calendar

You want to post with a purpose, and creating a set schedule can help with that intent. As I mentioned above, most social media platforms have their own analytics tools. You can use them to see when your target audience is most active, then schedule your post to be published.

The last step in the article focuses on tracking social media campaigns/strategies. The first two steps discuss goals and metrics. If the goal were to increase website traffic, then conversions rates would be the metric to be looked into. If brand awareness were the goal, the main focus would be the content. Either way, conversions, and content are essential to social media marketing.

Please don't hesitate to leave a comment. Until next time my friends.

References

business.com Member. (2020, April 13). Multiple social media accounts is a must. business.com. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.business.com/articles/why-every-business-should-be-using-multiple-social-media-accounts/ 

Chen, J. (2021, June 28). Brand voice: What it is & why it matters. Sprout Social. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/brand-voice/ 

Chen, J. (2021, September 2). Choosing the right social media channels for your business. Sprout Social. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-channels/ 

Geyser, W. (2021, December 14). 20 step social media marketing strategy for businesses in 2022. Influencer Marketing Hub. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://influencermarketinghub.com/social-media-marketing-strategy/ 

Hayes, A. (2021, December 30). What is social media marketing? Investopedia. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-media-marketing-smm.asp#:~:text=Social%20media%20marketing%20provides%20companies,the%20success%20of%20their%20efforts. 

Henderson, G. (2020, July 2). The importance of social media marketing. The Importance Of Social Media Marketing. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/the-importance-of-social-media-marketing 

Kuligowski, K. (2021). Marketer's Guide to Social Media. Business News Daily. Retrieved January 30, 2022, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7832-social-media-for-business.html