Social Media Marketing Metrics | Social Accountability

Social Media Marketing is different from all other forms of advertising but it must be held accountable just the same. As companies rush to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon, they seem to check their good business sense at the door. The same companies that have set objectives and strict reporting standards when it comes to the performance of other forms of advertising, respond like a deer in headlights when it comes to holding social media marketing accountable. There have to be set goals and analytics to measure effectiveness or else social media marketing is a waste of time.

How Do You Value Social Interactions?
Businesses are just Twittering away their time if they don’t know how Twitter translates into real business objectives. This is the data that I track to determine the value of Twitter.

Date:
Followers:
Following:
Updates:
Incoming Direct Messages :
Direct Message Responses:
Outgoing Direct Messages:
Incoming @ Replies:
Positive Mentions:
Negative Mentions:
Site Links:
Visitors to Site/Landing Page:

The number of both followers and following should increase over time. Updates should be done regularly. The number of incoming direct messages should equal the number of direct message responses. Outgoing direct messages should exceed both incoming and response DMs. The number of times a link to the site or landing page is tweeted or retweeted is one indication of success. The number of visitors to the site or landing page from Twitter is the most important indication of success.