Social Media Metrics! Shama Kabani’s Top 10 Ways to Measure Social Media Marketing

1.) Sales – Your bottom line is one of your biggest indicators. In an era of multi-touch marketing (I heard about you from a friend, then saw your trade show booth, then stumbled upon your company on Twitter, and here I am), your sales shouldn’t be forgotten. But, remember, social media ROI isn’t visible instantly. It takes time. One of my favorite quotes comes from Jeff Bezos of Amazon. He said: “I always tell people, if we have a good quarter it’s because of the work we did three, four and five years ago. It’s not because we did a good job this quarter.” This is the KEY to social media marketing success.
2.) Higher Closing Ratios – If people trust your company; the chances are that they will move forward with you much more often than not. They will choose you over your competitors. Your closing ratio can tell you a lot about your marketing – not just your sales.
3.) Shorter Sales Cycle – The bigger the purchase, the longer the sales cycle. This is often true in the B2B world. A big part of the sales cycle is educating the prospect. And, as prospects get smarter, they do their own research. Social media should educate your prospects, making their decision easier. Measure your sales cycle. (Run a B2B business? I just did a video on b2b web marketing).
4.) Leads – This is perhaps the most obvious one. Are you getting more leads? Be sure to have a phone number and contact form easily accessible on your website.
5.) New Visitors – Are you attracting new people to your website? I talk about this as a key strategy in my book on social media. Not only should be strengthening relationships using social media marketing, ideally, you should be attracting an audience you couldn’t otherwise engage with as much ease.
6.) Brand Perception – What are people saying about you, your brand, your industry? Check it out http://www.SocialMention.com. How you are perceived can truly dictate the above.
7.) Lower Bounce Rate – This is what I call the sticky factor (much to our SEO department’s chagrin). They like to  call it your bounce rate, and it can be found using Google Analytics. This tells you how many initial visitors hit the back button to go to a different website versus delving deeper into yours. When visitors feel like your website is trusted and already have an introduction to you, the chances are they will stick around. It also signifies a higher quality of visitor.
8.) Site Specific Metrics – This is what most people measure, and there is a lot of controversy here. Is it quantity or quality? It is both actually. A quantity of quality Twitter Followers, Facebook Fans, and LinkedIn Connections are all viable metrics.
9.) Newsletter and Blog Subscribers – There are two types of conversions that happen online. The first is what people are familiar with – direct conversion to customers and clients. The second type of conversion is less well-known, but perhaps even more crucial. It is when someone turns into a consumer. They choose to consume your information. It is the first step towards becoming a customer or a client. I talk about this extensively in my book on social media as well. Measuring your consumers (e-zine and blog subscribers for example) is an excellent strategy.
10.) Good PR– Reporters like companies and individuals who are smart, authentic, and can strike a chord with the public. Social media makes it easy for reporters to find you. It makes it easier for you to showcase your company culture and personal brand. It allows you to build relationships with bloggers. Ignore this metric at your own peril.
More of Shama’s gems can be found at http://www.MarketingZen.com