How to Measure Social Media Engagement

Most online businesses have accepted the fact that social media is a major factor when it comes to successful online marketing, but many don’t know how to get started.

More importantly, how we can ensure that our efforts on social media are tactical, and that we’re not just randomly marketing which is a far less effective way to go – especially for Mature Dating sites. To be successful with your social media, you need a strong digital strategy in place that includes your goals and objectives, in addition to specific and effective actionable items. Simply put, you need a social media measurement plan for your online dating business.

What Is A Social Media Measurement Plan?

Basically, a social media measurement plan contains timely information that translates your business objectives and goals into dimensions and metrics – KPIs (key performance indicators) that you can easily measure. It also plays a vital part of your digital marketing strategy. Together they identify how your digital channels ideally work together to achieve your targets.

How to Identify Your Online Marketing Goals

The first step in the social media measurement planning stage is to identify your goals. It’s important to recognize that your goals will more than likely differ on each social platform, like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc. For example, if you’re endeavoring to reach a female target market and your company translates well into images and pictures, you’ll want to consider using Pinterest. If you’re thinking B2B then brand marketing an upcoming social event, consider LinkedIn. That said, LinkedIn has really broadened its range – it’s not just a place to make business acquaintances and find a job anymore. It’s a great social site for offering products and services as well and even dating businesses these days.

How to Identify Your Objective Strategies

Identify the strategies that will help you achieve objectives and identify the KPIs for all of your objectives (some will have several KPIs). For example, if your objective is increasing memberships, the key strategies to increase users could be sign ups and what landing pages are being visited by your prospects. You’ll still need to put a measurable end result in place in addition to a time frame to follow in order to achieve both your objectives and goals.

Measuring Reach and Share of Conversation

Social media makes it easy for you to share information regarding your brand online and also provides the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of related conversations. “Social reach” looks at the potential number of those that could actually see your posts/campaign. One of the most important things to keep in mind is that it’s not the real number, it only tells you how far your post could actually spread.

Social Listening For Online Dating

Sadly, listening is one of the most overlooked benefits of using of social media for your dating business – it’s actually one of its most important. If you’re haven’t been listening to your followers/potential members and current users, you’re missing the whole point of social media and frankly wasting your time.

How to Measure Conversions And Sales

Measuring social media is not just about the total number of visitors that see your content. It’s about the actions that they take. When it comes to social media it is a lot easier to get them into your system as a lead and then turn them into a member. Because of the relationship building nature of social media the odds are higher that you’ll sell them once they are already a devoted user of your dating site, reading your blogs or newsletters than just posting something on social media and expecting them to join. Measure the actions that your target audience is taking on all the channels, from your blog to Facebook, etc., and determine how each channel fares when it comes to visitors taking action via the conversion rates and sales.

To Measure Overall Social Media ROI

When you are aware of where your leads came from and what they decide to buy, you’ll be able to measure your social media ROI. If you discover a significant amount of your leads come from Facebook and that they frequently convert to sales over time it makes sense to invest your resources there. On the other hand, if you get a good number of leads from Twitter, but they usually don’t covert, it’s time to consider changing your marketing tactics there. If you invest any marketing money in social advertising you’ll be able to tell exactly how much business the ads earned you over time – a handy perk. Clearly, measuring your social media ROI is important because it helps ensure that you don’t waste your advertising buck.

How Frequent Should I Use Social Media?

This step isn’t always discussed when it comes to developing a social media measurement plan, but it should be. Why? Because potential members need to see your online content repeatedly, depending on your reference. That said, content that your target audience considers valuable is far less annoying than content with little or no value. Another thing you’ll need to know is that the number of posts you post a day is very different from the frequency of a single post. The number of posts, if it’s targeted and well written, will help you build your dating brands awareness, while the frequency of a presented message actually reinforces the message. Both targeted posts and messages are important.

Experience and Knowledge Is Key

Last but certainly not least, be sure that whoever you have handling your social media measurement plan has experience. Nothing can replace the value of having a trained analyst delving into the process. No analytics tool or strategies can replace experience and someone who continually keeps up with the latest social trends and best practices.

Ultimately, the best approach may differ from brand to brand or person to person. What is important is that you measure your success and link your social media success to more substantial business goals and follow them.

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