When it comes to social media marketing, there are a lot of people who assume it’s as easy as post and profit. However, there are crucial initial steps that must be taken in order for a social media strategy to be effective. Unfortunately, the majority of those important steps are often overlooked or carried out incorrectly.
The first of those is setting unreasonable or unmeasurable goals. In order for a marketer to know if their social media strategy is working, they must outline specific and tangible goals. When choosing and laying out your goals, it is important that the marketing efforts relate back to the overall business objectives. By connecting goals with business objectives, the marketer is given a clear route in which to take their social media marketing efforts. One of the most common mistakes in goal setting is outlining vague objectives. The key to a successful social media strategy starts with identifying and understanding the business goals and the strategy will then be designed to accomplish those goals.
In the digital age, it is important that the strategies used in digital marketing plans are specific to each platform. If a marketer were to apply offline marketing strategies to measure online marketing data, they will end up with different results than someone who maintained online marketing techniques throughout. It is important to understand that the industry standard or best practice can be misleading based on how it was measured. In measuring social media marketing campaigns, it is essential to use measurement tools and calculations designed for online platforms to ensure accurate results.
Another common mistake found in measuring social media is focusing on too many metrics for a single campaign. Rather than using every metric available, narrow your measurement to a handful of valuable metrics. This will yield more insight on emerging trends in your industry. When choosing what metrics to follow, go for those that are goal driven and have been vetted for accuracy. The top 5 metrics a company should consider are reach, engagement, acquisition, conversion and activity. During measurement be sure not to switch between metrics as doing so will waste valuable time and decrease insight.
Finally, it is all too common for marketers using social media campaigns to place too much value on the number of followers a page has. In general, it is more important to have a small number of followers that are consistently engaging with your brand, rather than a large number of followers with very little engagement activity. Instead of follower count, marketers should spend time analyzing the behavior of followers as that will give a more accurate read on their engagement with the brand.
Overall, it is important for those involved with a social marketing campaign to focus on qualitative factors in connection with the quantitative metrics so that they get a fuller and more accurate read on the effectiveness of their campaign strategy.
