So you’ve read our blogs this month, and many other blogs and articles and news stories for that matter, but you’re still not sure that social media is actually working for you. So what steps can you take to see if it’s actually making a difference, or if you need to make some changes?
Do you currently monitor your social media?
Let’s start with what you are currently doing. How do you currently monitor your social media? Are you doing enough? Are you doing anything at all? Social is a great tool, but like any marketing, you need to be monitoring your efforts so you can effectively see what return you have. But many businesses fail to monitor the actual results from their efforts, or may only take a single statistic of how many immediate, obvious sales were bought in by social.
Set up a monitoring plan
So how do you get organised to take in all these stats? First and foremost, take the time to set up a plan, it will save you time in the long run, and give you consistent results. This includes what you want to achieve (x leads per month, x new followers per week etc.), time you can allocate to it, a template of the stats you want to monitor. Having a set up like this, and taking a larger initial chunk of time to set yourself on the right path will save you scores of time in the future.
Have you achieved those results?
Frequently assess, and see if you have achieved the results you set out to. Some goals are easier to qualify than others, so if you were looking to achieve a certain amount of new followers than you can see at a glance if you have achieved this or not. Using analytics, you can probably also see when you have gained followers, so you can replicate the results again and again. If you are looking for leads, your definition of a lead may change as time goes on. But again, when you see the positive results you want to see, replicate it again to prove that works.
Are you posting enough? Is your target audience there?
If you’re not achieving the results you want, then look at your posts. Are there enough, and is it relevant to those you are trying to reach? Not achieving your results? Dig down into your stats and analytics, and try to see what just hasn’t performed that well, and who your engaged audience are. Does your desired audience use this social platform, and if not, is it worth your effort to continue with.
Have you lost anything from it?
When you aren’t achieving obvious sales from your social efforts, it can be hard to see the value, but ask yourself, have you lost anything from it? If you are not seeing any negative effects from it, then maybe you need to wait a little longer to see the positive.
Social media is like any other marketing method. Some will see great results from it and others won’t. But before you dismiss it as an option, you need to ensure that you have done all you can. To engage with your audience, given them chance to respond, and consider that even if you’re not gaining anything from it right now, if you aren’t losing anything, is it worth pushing forward for the long term effects?