WHAT ARE SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS?
We are fortunate to live in a time in which online interaction and customer engagement can be easily measured and monitored through social media analytics to gain knowledge about consumer behavior and buying habits. Social media analytics provide business and customer insights through the continuous process of observing and analyzing digital communications.
WHY DO ANALYTICS MATTER?
You cannot manage what you cannot measure, which is why social media analytics are vital to online advertising success. Analytics allow you to pinpoint exactly who to target with your advertising dollars and make your dollars stretch further than ever before.
Accuracy is important. Knowing who to target and when to send these messages can be a bit of a mystery to businesses. Using analytics tools to glean information can eliminate part of that mystery and allow you to target potential customers with accuracy.
The numbers matter. From the number of people that are aware of your brand to the number of online sales your company makes each month, numbers show results and results show the success or failure of your advertising efforts on social media.
Return on investment (ROI) is not always easy to prove. Social media analytics can connect the dots between the number of followers you have to your ROI. You can track how many people visited your website in correlation with the number of Facebook ads viewed and customer engagement on social media to find the areas of online advertising that are working for your company.
Newspaper or magazine advertisements, billboards, and posters are forms of traditional marketing that can be useful. However, measuring who has seen these marketing efforts and what impact they make on your company is difficult. Social media equips businesses with the ability to instantaneously track and analyze consumer behavior, buying habits, and thoughts.
Consumer behavior can be measured using social media analytics. You can use this information to adjust your marketing strategy and advertising goals. Whether the primary goal is to monitor consumers’ thoughts and preferences, showcase the company’s customer care qualities, market a product or service, or engage with audiences to build brand awareness, social media analytics prove the impact your company is making via the internet.
In addition to voicing their opinions online, many customers now use social media as an outlet to ask businesses questions regarding products or services. By monitoring social media chatter, you can answer customer questions or complaints. Platforms like Twitter are now a source for news, locally and globally. Monitoring news on social media platforms will allow you catch potential crisis situations before a spark turns into a fire.
HOW TO MEASURE ANALYTICS
Gathering and analyzing information can be done through a variety of tools. Social media platforms each have their own analytics tools, which you can log into for free. These analytics tools collect data from your social media profiles to gauge follower interest, engagement, demographics, and more.
Measuring engagement with various platforms’ analytics tools also gives you specific results regarding customers’ thoughts about a new product or service, thoughts about your company, or new trends among your audiences. Searching hashtags or trending topics related to your advertising campaigns provides information about what your audiences find relevant and engaging, which should be used to inform subsequent advertising decisions.
Other analytics tools include Google Analytics and Alerts. With Google Analytics, you can track website traffic. Combining the results from social platforms’ analytics with Google Analytics allows you to infer how your social media advertising affects website traffic. Searching for keywords online takes time. Google Alerts email you each time your selected keywords or topics appear in the news online, making this tool a simple way fill in the gaps that other tools may leave when monitoring your brand.
TIPS FOR USING ANALYTICS
Many know that social media platforms provide a wealth of knowledge but are not sure what to track and how to pick out the most useful bits from the sea of customer information out there. Here are a few tips that can help you determine how your company should use social media analytics to your advantage.
#1- Use your goals to determine what you measure
#2- Listen to what customers are saying and look at how they respond to you online to inform your business decisions
#3- Adjust your marketing strategies as you determine what works with your audiences
