Marketers Apply Quantitative Measures to SMM Efforts

When it comes to social media, the truth is there are some people who get it, some that don’t understand it and others who just want to know more about how to use it in their marketing plan. As we see, in just a few short years, social media has exploded, capturing the attention of not only millions of consumers, but a large and growing share of marketers as well.

Every day, businesses want and need to know more about social media marketing. They want to know how to do it, how to measure it, how to manage it and where it’s going.

Social media does have a role in marketing, but that role depends on your business and how it best fits the needs of your business. It also depends on the effort you are willing to put forward when it comes to social media.

Using social media is no longer an option for businesses, especially for marketers, earned media represents everything consumers are saying about your company and your brand on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere become essential.

Already, more than one-half of marketers are engaging with some form of social media, and their spending is rising. With so much intense interest, the big question is: Are marketers doing it right?

It’s no secret that online marketers care about measurablity. Six in 10 respondents to Datran Media’s “4th Annual Marketing & Media Survey” said measuring and understanding their audience was a priority, and more than 87% said accurate online audience measurement was at least somewhat important for driving increased brand awareness, revenues or performance, according to emarket recent report.

“For the few marketers who do attempt to apply quantitative measures to their social marketing efforts, the metrics they use are not terribly sophisticated,” noted eMarketer CEO and co-founder Geoff Ramsey, “Most marketers today do not invest sufficient time, effort or money on social media measurement.” he added.

From below image, you can see the leading metrics used to measure social success focus on increased site traffic, which can be an important barometer of consumer interest for a brand but on its own it cannot justify heavier investment in social media.

For marketers that want to success in the social media marketing, beside between finding appropriate metrics and monitoring them on the one hand, and quantifying results on the other. You must tie the social metrics you settle on directly to your business goals.