How to analyze the effect of social media

Reading

Whether it's brand building, listening or interacting, social media is increasingly being used by businesses and businesses. Most of them, however, face a dilemma: How to build a system framework to measure the effectiveness of social media? By interpreting a qualitative survey written by Susan Etlinger for consulting firm Altimeter Group, and merging the authors ' interviews with small companies, Give some ideas for the above problems.

Susan Etlinger is a renowned industry analyst focused on social media analytics and strategic design. She has visited 60 social media marketers and marketers to try to understand how companies now measure the effectiveness of social media.

Her goal is to establish a system framework that ties social media marketing tightly to corporate goals.

Note: Susan's research is aimed at corporate-class respondents, who interviewed her and asked about her suggestions for small companies. This paper combines the content of investigation and interview.

Start with the company's strategic goals

Business owners who have a productive social media operation know how to integrate them into their corporate strategic goals. The development of a social media business plan needs to follow a carefully thought-out procedure, which is illustrated in the following illustration.

Etlinger recommends that all businesses follow this procedure, and that small companies need to be more aware of their limited resources and trial-and-error opportunities.

Having enough time to think hard about a company's vision of success can help you choose the right metrics. This means that before considering the goals of social operations, it is necessary to consider the overall objectives of the enterprise, and then to organize the people according to the standards they need to set. Only then will it be possible to choose the best operating tools (including platforms, measurement options, etc.).

Once the target of social media operation is established, we can refer to the compass map of social media effectiveness assessment released by Altimeter Group. The figure reveals the 6 dimensions that social media affects the enterprise.

What are your challenges? Establish social media operating goals and think about how to measure the achievement of these goals.

The following 6 dimensions are further explained:

#1. Monitor Brand Health

Do you know how consumers evaluate your service, product, or user experience? Big brands manage their brand image at all costs, and small businesses also need to understand consumer perceptions.

Etlinger found that people would not hesitate to complain about big brands, but had reservations about making criticisms directly to small businesses.

Social media can help companies discover news that users don't necessarily want to tell you directly but share them with their friends.

But businesses also need to be aware that all information is not available through social media at least for the following two reasons:

1. Twitter intercepts a lot of information so that companies can only get 5% of them;

2.Facebook privacy settings prohibit non-friend access to content.

These two factors make information acquisition passive. Small businesses may find listening to advice a challenge, and it may be a good idea to ask online users directly.

Analyzing the information posted by users on social media can help companies understand whether a brand is healthy or not. Etlinger the methodology to be analyzed in the following figure.

#2. Optimize marketing activities

Listening to social media can help companies optimize their marketing activities to better identify target audiences. For many businesses, Google Analytics is the best tool.

The enterprise should understand two questions: first, the user through what keyword searches, second, the user from which third party website jumps to your website. Optimize marketing campaigns, content, channels, opportunities, and influential people.

People's sharing behavior varies depending on the social platform, and Yelp is not a strictly social platform, but a typical example: users are positioning themselves as gourmet connoisseurs on Yelp, often more picky about food than on Twitter or Facebook.

#3. Promote sales

This may be difficult to assess if you don't have an online store. However, all businesses want to know how much income social media brings.

In general, social media does not directly trigger deals. However, it can generate flow and conversion rates. Richard Binhanmmer, Dell's social media director, argues that sales are not just a simple trading act, but a relationship that has a significant effect on the maintenance of long-term relationships in social media.

The influence of social media lies in the following three points: 1. Purchase behavior, 2. Search results, 3. Customer loyalty.

If you have a physical store, remember to set up a flow tracking system for each distribution channel.

You can launch promotions on Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon and see which channels bring the most repeat purchase rates. Groupon can attract people who are looking for promotional information and are likely to become new customers; Fans on Facebook or Twitter deepen their relationship with the brand because they enjoy "fan-specific discounts."

Make more assumptions and try. The results will vary depending on the business type and the fan base.

#4. Save on operating costs

Social media can bring explicit or implicit savings to the enterprise. Once a customer becomes a brand spokesperson, the brand influence can be expanded without costly investment.

In addition, social media is a relatively inexpensive customer service platform. Of course, this depends on whether the company can specifically match people to listen to online feedback in real time.

A smart way to build relationships with fans who are influential in social media. This kind of fan not only can become the brand spokesperson, even can act as the customer service role. If they are willing to speak up for your brand, try to provide them with the necessary information.

#5. Improve the Customer Experience

Etlinger found that there is a direct relationship between social media and customer experience. This relationship is embodied in three aspects: Brand health promotion, income increase, cost reduction.

Cite an example that is not mentioned in the research report. Kraft Food's social media feedback team has found a trend: words like ' cut ', ' blood ', ' salad dressing ' appear frequently, and these words are not directly related to food. The team's in-depth study of the phenomenon finally understood why: Consumers often hurt themselves when opening new-designed salad-dressing bottles.

The defective design was quickly improved. Without social media, however, this problem will not even be discovered. The wound is not serious to the degree of emergency treatment, at the most is a inconvenience, so consumers did not call the customer service hotline, but in the social media to their friends and left behind. Salad dressings are not something that people often buy, and similar problems can be hidden for months without being known to companies.

#6. Promote innovation

Etlinger to Starbucks (mystarbucks.com) and Procter and Gamble (pgconnect.com) by building a brand-social website, encouraging fans to express their views. Not all businesses can do this, but they can at least find ways to listen to consumers on social platforms, and learn about consumers ' insights into improving products and services.

On Twitter, for example, the words "I like", "I hope", "I hate" can help you understand what people want. "I hope Charlie's Don't Stop the blue-belt chicken," the article said.

Companies can also directly ask fans about new products, new services or promotions on Facebook, and even organise events like "idea Wednesday", which spend one hours each Friday looking for creative ideas among their fans.

Summary：

1. Integrate the social media analysis system into the overall goals of the enterprise.

2. Choose the metrics that meet the needs of your business.

3. Find measuring tools that meet both analytical and budgetary requirements.

4. Do not think of sales as a simple trading behavior, but as a relationship to build. Treat customers humanely and try to understand how online behavior affects the relationship between an enterprise and its customers.

5. Turn customer into customer service, brand spokesperson and opinion Source.

About the Author:

Phil Mershon is the social media examiner's activity Manager and strategic marketing consultant, with the main areas of customer-tailored event planning, thematic awareness campaigns and creative communication strategies.