Everyone is trying to capitalize on social media for their business or organization. Sometimes, the results are immediate and easily discernible. Other times, it may seem like nothing is happening at all. Measuring success for a social media campaign can be tough since the primary goal (expanding brand recognition) is not tangible, and can be difficult to measure. Ultimately, it’s about using what can be measured to see the effectiveness of the outreach aspect, and focus on that growth, while waiting for long-term numbers to come in.
Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR, a public relations firm out of New York City, highlights six signs that you social media campaign is working.
Growth in Followers
The first, and most obvious sign, is a growth in the number of followers on Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, Facebook, and other social networking applications. It shows that people are actually coming to social media to find more about your product. Also, an increase in hits to YouTube videos distributed by social media shows that people both read the post, and clicked to learn more.
Increased Feedback
Being retweeted, getting comments on the Facebook fan page, YouTube comments, and other active feedback shows that people are interacting with your media, and that can increase your viral exposure through their contacts. Once your PR materials are being shared on Facebook by friends of friends of people on your fan page, it’s clear that your campaign has permeated and spread.
Increased Webhits
The goal of social media for businesses and organizations is to drive traffic to a main source; namely, a website where the goods and services can be purchased or accessed. A marked increase in hits to the page show that people aren’t just seeing your tweets and posts, but are following them back for more information.
Trending Topics
So maybe your tweet doesn’t get retweeted much, but your unique hashtag catches on, and starts to trend. With the way Twitter and Facebook are built for the hashtag system, anyone exploring the hashtag will be lead back to the original post, which will lead them to your page. Remember, social media utilization is about building recognition of a brand, so #SyFy trending is as good for the SyFy channel as having their tweets retweeted.
Social Media Talking About Your Social Media
When the blogosphere responds to a social media campaign, it generally signifies the success of said campaign. As articles and reports on your activity increase, it shows that outreach project is working, and usually, those articles are good enough to link back to the same sources you are trying to link others to.
Pop-Culture Response
If your campaigns spawn spin-offs, parodies, memes, and other signs the internet has taken notice, then there is no question your campaign was effective.
