How to Measure Social Media Success and Performance

There are a number of ways to identify social media success but first let’s consider some of your understandings and concerns regarding success or mediocrity (run-of-the-mill) performance for social media marketing.

1. If you believe your social media marketing is creating more customers and generating more business revenue - objectively, changing your marketing strategy may create unforeseen inherent risks. In other words: if it ain't broke, don’t fix it.

2. If you suspect your social media marketing is mediocre and aren’t sure if you are gaining new customers or has little, if any impact on your bottom line - you should look at what’s required for change. This is especially true if you are spending a lot of time and/or money on social media campaigns.

3. If you don’t have a social media marketing strategy or campaign it's best that you create one, as it’s safe to assume many of your competitors are on one platform or another.

2 Guys Enjoying Social Media on Their Computer Devices

Identifying Successful Campaigns

Without getting too far into the weeds consider what it takes to be considered an influencer or have what’s accepted as high-engagement on a Facebook page.
We’ll use Facebook as the example here as it is one of the leading social media platforms in terms of users.

While there isn’t a hard and fast number of Facebook followers for one to be considered an influencer, the general accepted benchmark is having over 1,000 engaged people following you.

A company with 1,000 followers is considered a micro-influencer but really ONLY if your audience is niche-specific.

Put another way it’s not reasonable to think a plumbing company, in a large city, with 1,000 followers as an influencer, micro or nano because all cities have a lot of plumbing companies. Also is it logical to think 1,000 people are authentically engaged and are being converted in large numbers by a plumbing company’s Facebook page?

This is not a condemnation or damnation of plumbing companies everywhere. It is a good example, however, of a competitive business category and there are hundreds if not thousands of competing businesses with similar goods and services in every city.

So, if you’re following along, you would have to agree paying hundreds of dollars for social media marketing to gain a 1,000 or more followers in a competitive business sector is probably not the best use of your marketing budget.

Social Media Influencer or Not - Social Media is Beneficial

Despite the glass-half-full example (in the above paragraph) it’s still important to have a social media marketing strategy. The best reasons include:

Spreading your company brand or digital footprint in cyberspace.
Your company’s social media platforms are interconnected to your website. With more backlinks (URLs leading into your website) from outside websites (like Facebook and other platforms) your website Search Engine Optimization increases.
You can reach new customers who may not otherwise hear about your brand.
Social media platforms have become essential in reaching out to the Canadian population, where a significant portion is actively engaged online.
Social media posting allows for creative storytelling that captures attention and can prompt action.

How to Measure Social Media Marketing Performance

So how do you best determine your social media marketing effectiveness? You could look at metrics, statistics and a myriad of other measuring indicators but for the average small and medium-size business, who don’t have niche products or services, the answer is probably clear: "Is our bottom line increasing and have we seen a growth in our customer base?"

If the answer is "no" or "I don’t really know" or "probably not". Then you should look to reduce your social media marketing budget to under $200.00 per month (max.) and look to diversify your digital marketing strategies.

Get in touch with us at (403) 505-9996 to learn how we can help your business with social media marketing and reduce your cost and maintain your social media footprint.