Having a good defence in marketing is sometimes better than a great offence – Tracking Social Media KRI’s and KPI’s

Social Media has played an important role in the growth of modern businesses. Due to the massive shift in global digitization, companies have been arming themselves with teams of people who monitor social channels, the performance of their brand and ROI of advertising dollars across channels such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinerest and more. With 700 million active daily users, Instagram alone, combined with the exponential growth of other social channels, continues to be a draw for consumers and businesses alike.

Since social media channels provide this convergence of consumers and brands, it makes it quite easy for marketers to start to collect data on the habits of consumers and serve up relevant and engaging content. Sometimes referred to as KPI’s or Key Performance Indicators, this data has mostly been used for reactive purposes. This type of data can help marketers and product developers understand what specifically drives customer engagement. Questions frequently ask include, was it a picture that was shared and was it a piece of literature sharing key information that served an audience. Listening to what consumers want and serving them up when they want it is a great way to connect and build brand awareness and ultimately help grow the business. Monitoring the positives does not go without measuring the negatives or the “risks” to achieving business objectives. Social Media KRI’s can also be very helpful in understanding how to quickly adjust based on operational, financial, strategic, and regulatory risks. This significantly can improve how a business weathers a storm as well.

 

One of the benefits of social media metrics have had for FlashStock has been the ability to cost effectively reach an audience of marketers who are searching for a picture that catches their eye. So tracking shares and retweets helps FlashStock understand what people really think of the cool content being produced for clients. A Key Performance Indicator tracks the immediate responsiveness a brand’s content can have on an overall goal to achieve a business objective. If however, for some reason the content doesn’t perform as expected and has a reverse effect, knowing before it was too late to stop it from spreading and mitigating a risk is also a wise tool.

FlashStock benefits from a performance based risk strategy which is managed through the operations team. The team is continuously monitoring feedback from clients through the native Flashstock application. Tracking downloads, monitoring client feedback, and project ratings are ways that help FlashStock learn and iterate from one deliverable to the next. While this is more internal tracking regarding product feedback, FlashStock is also listening and gathering data to understand what to share and when to help with customer engagement. As a partner with Facebook and Instagram, we are always testing and piloting new ideas. Sharing news that could affect marketers through new insight or product roadmaps, helps drive engagement. That engagement might further be tied to registering to receive something in return. This is called a conversion rate.

While it is important for us to track this data to help inform business decisions other companies are tracking the what consumers are saying negatively about their brands and set thresholds and measures to ensure that things don’t get out of control and ruin a brands reputation which could cost the company revenue and market share. That pro-active approach helps keep all important aspects of the brand in front of business decision makers.

The use of social media metrics are not just used to track what consumers think about your products and brands, but can also be used to measure the culture of a company’s human capital. Sometimes monitoring the giving of virtual awards from one peer to another helps create a culture or camaraderie where each employee works to complete tasks and be recognized with no monetary value. Something FlashStocker’s use cross departments as part of social media internal communications tool.Tracking this data can help people and culture teams see that employees are engaging and showing mutual respect of team roles and functions. Having a strong internal culture can foster better communication, innovation, and productivity ultimately resulting in improved business performance.

Lessons for Others

To summarize, social media metrics can provide significant value to a business looking to improve business performance. Taking a defensive or risk-based approach can have significant business benefits that might allow you to stay ahead of risk events that could materially affect your business. When dealing with the viral world of social media brands are willing to take fewer risks for fear of exposure and loss of market share and reputation which ultimately could result in not achieving the business objectives

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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