Measuring Up: Fantastic Analytics and Where to Find Them @SteveRetka, Emerging Media Manager - Bolin

Hi, I’m Steve. I do social media things.

2009 2012

2010 2013

What are we here to talk about?

@steveretka

Making sense of metrics

4 buckets of social goals

How do you find it all?

Reporting: A necessary evil

The times they are a-changin’

Where do you go from

here?

Why should you care?

Someone will always want to know about performance

Helps you be a better you

Another tool in your

professional utility belt (like Batman, but less

intimidating)

@steveretka

Making Sense of Metrics

Focus on the “why” and don’t get bogged down with the

numbers

Not all metrics will matter the same to all brands

Know what goals you want

to achieve with social media, because that will be your

ROI

@steveretka

4 Buckets of Social Goals

Growth shows audience size Engagement reflects audience interests Reach measures audience quality Conversion shows what you can do with your audience

@steveretka

4 Buckets of Social Goals

@steveretka

Facebook likes, fans, People Saw This, clicks Twitter followers, mentions, referral traffic, retweet reach Pinterest followers, repins, comments, sales traffic YouTube subscribers, views, shares, traffic Instagram followers, likes

4 Buckets of Social Goals

Facebook likes, fans, People Saw This, clicks Twitter followers, mentions, referral traffic, retweet reach Pinterest followers, repins, comments, sales traffic YouTube subscribers, views, shares, traffic Instagram followers, likes

@steveretka

Growth

@steveretka

Is your presence expanding or stagnant? Simplest goal to track, focusing on account-level growth by channel Account size matters because that is your potential market For better or worse, this is what marketers are judged on

Engagement

@steveretka

Does your audience like what you’re doing? Tracking how individual posts perform A good barometer for what your audience likes and responds to Not all engagement is created equal. Shares & retweets have better reach, but comments show more initiative

Reach

@steveretka

Is your content going anywhere? Reach can show if you’re rising above the noise of others Impressions are important because so many brands understand them “Viral” is a dirty word

Conversions

@steveretka

What are you getting out of social? Referral traffic, email subscribers, coupon downloads Social media can’t drive sales, but can drive sales opportunities

How Do You Find It All?

@steveretka

Dive into each channel’s internal analytics first

Understand the significance

of any metric before tracking and reporting it

Not sure where to start?

Keep the 4 buckets in mind

Facebook Insights

@steveretka

Facebook offers tons of valuable data for free

Great starting point for

trying to understand social media analytics

Seems confusing until you

focus on the 4 buckets

This is how much your audience has grown

This is how many people saw your posts

This is how they’re responding to the posts

This is what they’re doing with your content

Monitoring Tools

@steveretka

There are hundreds of social media monitoring tools out

there

Which one you have to learn varies by company

Getting one? Start by

knowing what you need to track and report on

Understand your price

range going in

Not having one is okay

SO MANY

SOCIAL

MEDIA

TOOLS

Reporting: A Necessary Evil

@steveretka

How do you convey all of this info to the client? There is no one right way to report on social media Every company/agency has their own way of reporting

Reporting: A Necessary Evil

@steveretka

Best to combine quantitative and qualitative components Anyone can throw out numbers, marketers add context and meaning Follow the What-Why-How chain Always ask “why did this happen?” and follow up with “how can we use this?”

Reporting: A Necessary Evil

@steveretka

Start with What – Understanding the raw data Post 1 has most clicks, meaning it might be driving the most traffic/conversions Post 2 has the most shares meaning it has the highest reach Post 3 has the most likes and comments, meaning it has the highest engagement

x1,000 Likes

x1,000 Clicks

x10 Comments

x10 Shares

x2,000 Likes

x200 Clicks

x10 Comments

x100 Shares

x2,000 Likes

x100 Clicks

x30 Comments

x20 Shares

1

2

3

Reporting: A Necessary Evil

@steveretka

Next step is Why – Finding out why Post 1 is driving so much traffic

Look at all the different post variables and try to find what’s different Compare the data against previous 30/60/90 days Understand that it may be an anomaly, and not everything means something

x1,000 Likes

x1,000 Clicks

x10 Comments

x10 Shares

1

Status Photo Link Video

http://www.awesomelink.com/stuffyouare

postingtofacebook

http://bit.ly/ur2ez

vs

Time Date

Reporting: A Necessary Evil

@steveretka

Finish with How – Figure out how leverage the success of Post 1

Think you might be on to something? Try it out and monitor the results A/B testing is key, and know that it’s okay to be wrong The greatest role marketers play is bringing new ideas and insights to the table

x1,000 Likes

x1,000 Clicks

x10 Comments

x10 Shares

1

Photo Link

Time

Photos with links get more clicks than just

links? Make sure all links have photos

Posts between 6pm and 9pm getting

more clicks? Schedule out more content

The Times They Are A-Changin’

@steveretka

Changes to Facebook’s algorithm has gutted organic

reach for brands

Social media strategy must move beyond Facebook

However, understanding the

meaning of metrics is transferable

4 buckets of social media

goals apply to all marketing efforts, not just social media

Where do you go from here?

@steveretka

Always look for the meaning in a spike or drop Remember that your audience is unique to your brand This industry changes fast, so stay up to date on the latest news and updates

Find this deck on SlideShare.net/steveretka Any questions?