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Public relations can be a somewhat difficult task to master; measuring the results and the payoffs of performing those tasks can be even more difficult, but that doesn't make either of them less important. Measuring the success or results of a PR campaign is critical to making improvements, seeing what works, and establishing what can be done (or repeated) next time.
Despite its importance, many companies are not measuring their social media ROI. According to some figures from eMarketer.com, only 16% do so.
That's a pretty sad number. How are companies supposed to know if their use of blogs, chats, podcasts, and social networking sites is working? It seems common sense to want to know if your efforts being spent online are paying off, no? Perhaps it's intimidating, foreign, and unimportant; "everyone else is using blogs, social networking sites, and participating online, so it must be working". I hate to blow that theory out of the water, but that is simply not the case. Some companies will not benefit from using social media. (If your target market is completely offline, what use would it be to spend your time and other resources online?)
To make measuring ROI a little less intimidating, know that there are some ways you can (easily) begin to measure your ROI. While it may be difficult to really see the results of your investments in social media, (and some argue that the ROI from PR and social media is immeasurable), these things can help you to see changes in popularity, traffic, and participation online. These changes can then help you to begin to attribute changes in sales, WOM generated, and PR coverage to the possible ROI from your social media use.
What are some ways you measure the ROI of your social media? Is it measurable?
Public Relations Strategies | 5 Ways to Measure Social Media ROI (Return on Investment)
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Public relations can be a somewhat difficult task to master; measuring the results and the payoffs of performing those tasks can be even more difficult, but that doesn't make either of them less important. Measuring the success or results of a PR campaign is critical to making improvements, seeing what works, and establishing what can be done (or repeated) next time.Despite its importance, many companies are not measuring their social media ROI. According to some figures from eMarketer.com, only 16% do so.
That's a pretty sad number. How are companies supposed to know if their use of blogs, chats, podcasts, and social networking sites is working? It seems common sense to want to know if your efforts being spent online are paying off, no? Perhaps it's intimidating, foreign, and unimportant; "everyone else is using blogs, social networking sites, and participating online, so it must be working". I hate to blow that theory out of the water, but that is simply not the case. Some companies will not benefit from using social media. (If your target market is completely offline, what use would it be to spend your time and other resources online?)
To make measuring ROI a little less intimidating, know that there are some ways you can (easily) begin to measure your ROI. While it may be difficult to really see the results of your investments in social media, (and some argue that the ROI from PR and social media is immeasurable), these things can help you to see changes in popularity, traffic, and participation online. These changes can then help you to begin to attribute changes in sales, WOM generated, and PR coverage to the possible ROI from your social media use.
- To start, do some of the basics. That can include simply creating a social networking site profile. As a PR professional, you should have your own social networking site profiles including those on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. You should also create pages, accounts, and profiles for the company as well. There are more and more social networking sites emerging every month, some more successful than others, so be sure you keep up-to-date with the changes and experiment with the new sites. This method can help to measure your already present online presence and the presence you can create with effort and time.
- Another basic to implement: Google Analytics. This free tool can help you track traffic, traffic sources, and keyword statistics. This is crucial to your understanding of what is and what is not working online. You can determine if your efforts are paying off by seeing if your press releases, networking with other bloggers and getting them to link to your site, and participating on Twitter and Facebook are bringing traffic to your blog or website. Though this is the most frequently used tactic to measure the ROI of social networking efforts, there are other methods.
- Measuring traffic is an important way to measure ROI, but another method not used as frequently is to measure "soft metrics" that includes participation on your blog or forum, engagement with your online profiles/ social networking sites, and WOM (word of mouth). This is part of an active PR plan that monitors your online brand.
- Try searching for your blog, website, or company in Google. How are you faring? Having great content that changes and is linked to by other sites can increase your search engine rankings, which can result in more traffic. If they are not ranking highly, give it some time; seeing results and being able to determine any ROI takes patience. The Internet, though instantaneous in many ways, has a bit of a delay when it comes to seeing your pagerank (from Google), Alexa rating, and search result appearances. Know that creating great content and utilizing the right tools is the best way to ensure your website's success.
- Conduct research and simply ask your customers what they think. This can help you to really pinpoint what your customers are feeling and what areas you can improve upon.
What are some ways you measure the ROI of your social media? Is it measurable?
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