Its hard to ignore social media and in turn social media marketing. Reviewing recent statistics of social media usage 77.6% of small businesses utilise social media channels to promote, advertise and build brand awareness. 

But with so many small businesses using social media in 2019, how can your marketing efforts be measured effectively moving towards 2020? Understanding why this is important will help a small business improve its revenue optimisation and consumer engagement, leading to more superior results for an organisation. 

This blog post aims to help shed a light into how a digital marketer can help your business build on your campaigns, specifically focusing on the small business. We will look at 3 simple steps to find the answers to  

• What should the small business measure? 
• How to evaluate the data? 
• Metrics and insights, what’s good to evaluate? 
• Does your social media extend your product or service to your potential customers? 

I’m passionate about seeing the small business succeed and by giving away strategic tips hope to demonstrate the importance of understanding your businesses digital marketing strategy and its ability to add value to any product or service you may provide. 

Holdcroft Digital Marketing can demonstrate, apply and improve a business in these areas by measuring all metrics and focusing on ones critical to business success. 

More critical, more of the so what theory  

Why is measuring your social media activity Important?  

Every small business owner I have discussed this topic with over the last six months has one common trait, known by most as the issue of time and where do I find more of it. Without the time to research, social media campaigning can be poor. A regular client of Holdcroft Digital Marketing has all the capabilities of running a social media campaign without a digital marketer however has no indication just how well or how effective their online activity has on their business. In this instance a digital marketer may offer an insight into what is working well and what could be done to become more effective. This leads to better results in the areas targeted i.e. likes, shares, comments and overall purchases.  

Stage 1 – Measure what you have 

A digital marketer will appreciate there are two types of social media marketing measurements. The first order of events is to measure ongoing social media analytics, this is the tracking of all activity over a period. Second, the measurement of a single campaign and focus on its own metrics, this is from start to finish to evaluate is own success. This is divided to allow a business to review both factors on their own merits as how can you possibly know a single campaign is successful if no overall analytics are taken? 

Its important to have a form of ongoing analytics, this gives any business a good insight into how the digital part of the business is doing. A good example of this is Facebook Audience Insights, an analytic service provided by Facebook for business for any Facebook business page. Simple to set up and allows a greater understanding of who visits your page. With this knowledge, your online marketing can be tailored correctly to your audience   The internet is full of helpful guides and information of how to get the best of insights, HubSpot I find is one of the best for easy to read guidance and as an example, here is one for Facebook. 

Stage 2 Building the correct metrics to measure a set goal 

For a small business owner, the considerations here are what kind of metrics they wish to gain further data from. Learning from Neil Patel we can divide this into the following areas. 

• Awareness – measured by a review of volume, the amount of reach your pages have and just how far they spread throughout your targeted area. By understanding this allows an overall review on what your customers look at. 

• Engagement – to measure this requires a review of likes, post shares, post comments and just how often. It’s possible to see also how many participants you may have and the type of responses that are given to posts i.e. are they positively driven or causing types of offence. This factor will help a business improve types of posts and increase company interests. 

• Driving more traffic – This could involve posting more links of your URL to your main website via your social media channels with the correct call to action. For example, should I wish to drive more traffic to my social media services I may post a link like this https://holdcroftdigitalmarketing.com/social-media-marketing as part of my social media posts 

Driving traffic to your website not only improve your google rankings but will raise your company profile to your possible consumers by displaying all of your products and services. 

• Advocates and business fans – Evaluate how selected advocates and customers share and influence your product or service as they may impact new and existing customers to buy from your business. 

This can involve the creation of a brand community and actively engaging with customers. An example of a ladies clothing boutique based in Stone Staffordshire working with its community to raise awareness of new ranges by utilising customer models as part of its social media marketing plan. 

According to a study into social media  74% of people are happy to trust social media networks to direct and influence buying decisions. 

In 2020, home grown, organic forms of marketing will be utilised more by digital marketers and businesses as the “influencer” becomes the key to local brand communication and Holdcroft Digital Marketing aids this process to succeed by communicating analytical data to business owners allowing them to display the right content at the right time. This produces positive results and an increase in consumer engagement 

3 – Review what you’ve measured.

 
Is your campaign working? Is your business receiving the number of engagements it was expecting? What can be implemented to improve? Insights and analytics will reveal this data along with your business revenues. The example below can be found within Facebooks own Ads Manager and is a free to use tool for any business. Its important to understand…. 

Also, to consider adjusting your campaign or in the ways your data is measured to ensure your product or service is reaching the desired audience. In this example, reviewing the fundamental basics of stage 2 establishing if for instance, higher levels of awareness are needed to make your business more successful. 

There is no one route to a social media campaign working. There is however the digital marketer who by their own design will help your business and social media presents. A digital marketer can show you this and display results 

Holdcroft digital marketing build and offer various levels of social media marketing services tailored to your small business needs. From a monthly visit to discuss your company insights to full social media management, Contact me personally here for a free consultation. If you are still unsure if a digital marketer is for you then please follow me on the below links to join our conversation and network with other small business owners.