28 Aug How is Your Brand Doing on Social?
Clients often ask us how their channels look, and how a social media marketing strategy could help. This post will walk you through some of the key aspects to answering those questions.
Measurement & Benchmarks
The first step is looking at how your social media presence is performing against the benchmarks and goals you have established (if you don’t have these in place, you need to set these up). The native channel analytics can be a good place to start. Based on the goals you have established for social (ex. awareness, engagement, customer service, driving traffic, etc.) are you hitting your benchmarks? If not, the next step is identifying what is causing you to fall short.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Am I following my social strategy?
- Am I optimizing content and paid media effectively?
- Am I measuring the right analytics that translate to my business/marketing objectives?
- Should I be looking at my performance against my benchmarks more frequently?
Reaching Your Target Audience
Analyzing whether you are reaching your target audience can be achieved through a mix of qualitative and quantitative data. The channels will give you audience insights in terms of followers and engaged users. Dive deep into these insights. Get a sense of who this person is both online and offline. If you can really tap into the mindset of your target audience, you are ahead of the curve.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do the followers and engaged users on my social properties within the target I am trying to reach?
- What other brands/pages do they follow?
- What 3rd party data can I collect to get a more cohesive picture of my target?
- Is my content resonating with my target audience?
Comparing Against Competitors
Finally, depending on your industry, another good practice is to look at how your social presence stacks up against your competitors. Actual metrics will be hard to find as this data is usually private, but taking a qualitative view is still eye-opening. I suggest picking 2-3 competitors and taking a look at their social presence at least monthly.
Questions to ask yourself:
- From what is publicly available, how do their engagements compare to my brand?
- What types of engagements are they getting (likes, comments, shares, etc.)?
- Are they running any social campaigns or influencer programs?
- Are they actively engaging with fans and building a community?
If you are able to answer all of these questions, you should have a good grasp on the effectiveness of your social presence. If you need assistance in a social audit and optimization, we would love to help.
