Let’s start the new year with an easy way to feel successful!
A great way to feel the success you’re achieving is to have measurable results. It’s one thing to hope you’re making more connections and another thing to see the numbers. With measurable results, you can identify what is working, and have the information you need to help you fine-tune for even better results. With measurable results, you can connect with your own success and feel it – and make more! The great benefit of Social Media is that small changes can give you big results.
Metrics: If you can measure it, you can improve it
Measuring your results is a great way to feel successful and guide improvements. In Social Media, there are four very simple numbers that allow you to evaluate your results. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the number of contacts or followers that defines success in Social. I strongly believe that active, engaged followers are much more important than volumes of followers.
I think that’s one of the big misunderstandings about Social Media.
Somehow, people have decided that growing the number of followers is the be-all and end-all. Having thousands of followers sure sounds great, and it’s just like being popular when you’re buying people drinks – it lasts as long as the drink – or maybe the ice.
Real connection lasts beyond the flash of paying a bar tab because it’s based on engagement. Social Media engagement is about building relationships so that people will hire you and refer you. Real is revealed in the important numbers: likes, comments and shares.
- When someone Likes your post, they’re telling you that they noticed you. You got their attention.
- When someone Comments on your post, they’re telling you that they are interested in what you said, and they’re actively engaging in the conversation.
- When someone Shares your post it is the ultimate compliment, because they are telling their friends what you said. They are interested enough to pass you on, and thus expand your reach to others who may decide to follow you.
- The Connections or Followers you have is a less important number because many of those followers will be oblivious. One active person, who likes, comments and shares, is more valuable to growing your business than a thousand silent followers. Growing the numbers for connections is a way of reaching out to more people to find those wonderful people who will engage.
Every social channel has a way to measure the results you are getting. For example, Facebook Insights provides a mini-report for your Business page. By checking these numbers, you can evaluate the engagement with your posts and adjust for better results.
(noticed there’s a little report thingee called insights summary, so an image of that would be great. DO NOT include more how-to here, just this one example, so that they contact you to find out more. or do a course on it. a really quick video on how to find the numbers. mini course.)
What are you adjusting?
Your measurements are a practical way to determine if people are responding to your content. It’s great to have followers, but real engagement involves comments, likes and shares. When people interact with your content by commenting or sharing, they are expanding your reach.
I have a gift for you: a great tool that allows you to monitor your engagement over time so that you can do more of what is working for you. Opt-in here to download your free Engagement Measuring Tool.
This tool is a simplified, small piece of what a Social Media professional does in an audit to evaluate your online presence. You can use this simplified form to track the four numbers that evaluate your engagement.
Likes
Comments
Shares
Connections/Followers
Use this form to track the engagement on your active social channels so that you can identify what is working. Doing more of what works is an easy way to build success!
Tune into 2 old Broads Get down to Business
to learn more about using these measurements to make your Social Media efforts more effective.
Why waste time on Social Media if it’s not getting results!