Reach Customers Online

How to Track and Quantify Your Social Media Efforts

“If you’re managing social marketing for yourself or your business, the biggest challenge is where to spend your time, how to maximize your time, and how to show ROI. It’s my challenge as well. I experienced it first hand over holiday vacation as I got sucked into Twitter after hibernating for a while, later wondering if I was headed in a purposeful direction and if I should spend my social marketing time elsewhere. I also knew I could be using existing tools more effectively. As CMO of a B2B company myself, this social marketing optimization and operationalization challenge is one I plan to work on this year. And I welcome you to collaborate.”

From Sam Decker of BazaarVoice. Includes an interesting, and detailed, list of features and applications that currently solve some or all of this problem.

He highlights an important issue: using technology is not enough. Getting on Twitter or Facebook are good first steps. Having a social media strategy is even better. But you can’t get the most from your social media activities, or be sure you’re not wasting time, until you have a systematic way to track and measure activity against goals.

If you’re interested in how to measure social media return on investment (ROI), here are a few great articles with more or less detail:

• What is the ROI for Social Media?
• How to Measure Social Media ROI for Business
• Want to Figure Out Your Social Media ROI? Try a Plan.
• ROI for Social Media Marketing: It’s Complicated
• A Framework for Measuring Social Media
• Web Strategy by Jeremiah: Social Media Measurement Category

While by no means exhaustive, these links provide a good range of ideas and tactics to start a discussion. These sources boil down to business basics: start small, test thoroughly, expand if/as warranted. Like any marketing, determining social media ROI is difficult but not futile.

Related Stories

How to Develop a Social Media Plan for Your Business

What’s Your Social Media Routine?

B2B Buyers Have Very High Social Media Participation

The Social Media Landscape in Charts

Email Newsletters Get More Social

San Fran Olympic Torch Relay is a Social Media Extravaganza!

Developing a Personal Brand Online, an Interview with Jeremiah Owyang