A couple of weeks ago, I came across a brand’s tweet about their latest blog post. The tweet had a really catchy line, which enticed me to take a look at it. To my surprise, it was retweeted by 27 people and none of them actually read it. And how do I know that? Well, because the brand forgot to add a link to the original post in the tweet, which clearly suggests none of the 27 people read the post. On another occasion I saw a post which was shared more than a couple of hundred times, yet there were no comments, not a single word. If a post is worth sharing, it should obviously be worth a discussion too.
This leads us to the question, how should a brand gauge its social media success? Surely they can brag about the numbers of likes, reposts, shares, followers, and retweets they got on Facebook and Twitter. But there should be something more to social media success when it comes to engaging users. That is the topic of our post today. Moreover, we will see why we need to look beyond Facebook and Twitter when it comes to engaging customers.
Gauging Social Media Success
There are a lot of theories on how to gauge social media success, but the most appropriate way to do this is to judge social media’s contribution to your overall conversion rate. Creating a digital attribution model for your social media accounts will be really helpful in this regard. To learn more about it, we suggest you read our post on digital attribution, which we did a couple of weeks ago.
Why should I look beyond Facebook and Twitter to engage customers?
According to a report, on average, only 0.07% of top brands’ Facebook fans interact with each of their posts. To make matters worse, Facebook has killed its organic reach by reducing the amount of promotional page posts shown in users’ news feed. As per the announcement, brands that post promotional content will see a significant decrease in distribution.
Similarly, Twitter is so cluttered that it’s nearly impossible to reach a significant number of your followers on the platform. That is why engaging customers on Facebook and Twitter will be harder than ever in 2015.
What can I do to change this?
Once you realize the fact that Facebook and Twitter aren’t going to connect you with customers, it is time to look for other smaller but effective social platforms. As long as Facebook doesn’t impose its algorithm on Instagram, it seems to be a valid channel for engaging customers. Pinterest is another viable option and there are more niche social media platforms that brands should consider chasing.
Branded communities will regain prominence in 2015 as Forrester’s report suggests. According to the report, US online adults are more likely to visit your website rather than connecting with you on Facebook. Most brands and businesses still doesn’t offer branded communities, but digital marketers are already gaining ground by building social relationship tools into their own sites. For example, Sony Playstation got 4.5 million visits to its social microsite GreatnessAwaits.com. This effort helped Playstation outsell Xbox by a huge number. B2B marketers, like Analog Devices and Tyler Technologies successfully focus their social efforts on branded communities as well.
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The report also suggests that US online adults who want to stay connected with your brands are almost twice as likely to sign up for your emails as to interact with you on Facebook. Emails get delivered more than 90% of the time, while Facebook posts reach only 2% of your audience. If I have to choose between an email subscriber or gaining a new Facebook fan, I will prefer an email subscriber.
Wrap Up
Gauging social media success is a complex task, but with modern day analytics and a proper digital attribution model in place, we can find the right way to gauge our social media success. As for looking beyond Facebook and Twitter to engage customers, it is wise to utilize other niche social media platforms along with an effort to build branded communities.
