Four Metrics to Better Evaluate and Optimize Your Social Media Content

September 29, 2014 / marissapick / Leave a comment

It’s important to constantly evaluate and optimize your best social media content to ensure your feeding content into an engaged and active audience. Whether you’re a large brand or a blogger, if you’re spending time creating and sharing content no one is interested in, well, you’re just waiting your time! Avinash Kaushik’s four major social media metrics were designed in a 2011 blog post to address the way in which we evaluate our social media performance. Both Moz and Buffer use Kaushik’s social methods within their social media marketing, and theres an analytics tool, True Social Metrics, based solely upon his metrics.

Kaushik’s four metrics are:

1) Conversion Rate: The number of conversations per post. For example, on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn (comments), on Twitter (replies).

2) Amplification Rate– The number of reshares or retweets per post.

3) Applause Rate- The volume of ReTweets, Likes, +1’s, and so on.

4) Economic Value– The sum of short term revenue, long term revenue, and cost savings.

Kaushik’s four metrics can be found across every social channel as they are independent of the individual social media networks. The four metrics are now more easily measurable due to tools and free analytics such as:

The release of expanded twitter analytics which now allows you to easily view impressions, engagements, engagement rates, and much more information for free.
Social Media Examiner shared a comprehensive excel spreadsheet for evaluation and optimizing social media content. The spreadsheet includes 14 different variables for each social media post including likes, shares, clicks, engagement and more.
Buffer allows you to stack social media updates across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other platforms and gives fantastic free analytics on retweets, mentions, favorites, clicks and more, as well as recommendations as to when to schedule and optimize content.
In my opinion the economic value is the hardest part to track within Kaushik’s metrics. At work we use a BitLy Google Analytics shortening tool from Setaris which allows you to measure specific keywords and campaigns through to conversions easily within google analytics, and shorten and track your links posted as well.

It’s important to consider Kaushik’s four metrics, and review and evaluate your social media content to ensure it’s always optimized and functioning well. if you’ve got a tool or article you’ve read which has more information or insight, please share within the comments, or send me a tweet @MarissaPick. Thanks!

Four Critical #SocialMedia Mistakes to Avoid

May 15, 2014 / marissapick / Leave a comment

Social media can be of a great benefit to a brand, however it can be detrimental if not handled property. Still many companies are flocking to social media platforms for the one simple reason: not incorporating social media into their marketing strategy would be a loss to connect with potential customers while strengthening bonds with existing customers. As social media has become the most popular online activity, companies need to be careful and mindful of how they’re using social media to avoid simple mistakes which can lead to the demise of customer engagement across their social media platforms. Here are four critical social media mistakes for brands to avoid:

1) Using social media for selling, not conversing or engaging: Social Media is a place to build a personality and enhance a deeper relationship with your audience. Social media users often don’t respond well to a hard sell. Make sure your social media is a channel for starting a conversation, and engaging with your audience. Building up trust and a repertoire is crucial and from there the only thing you need to sell your customers on is that you’re going to include them in the conversation.

2) Avoiding Controversy and Complaints: Let’s face it, social media is the perfect channel to vent and let our frustrations out. Mistakes happen and as a brand you need to own up to them and let your customers know what you’re going to do to ensure they won’t be repeated. Ignoring complaints shows you’re going to do your own thing, and that as a brand you are backing away. Own your mistakes and man up! Make sure you have a plan in place for worst-case scenarios, and a social media disaster, it can’t hurt to be prepared!

3) #Getting #Hashtag #Happy on #SocialMedia: Using hashtags is a handy and effective tool, however sometimes they need to be used in moderation. Using too many hashtags within a tweet or an Instagram post can come off too pushy. We’re already limited to 140 characters on Twitter so utilizing an image and text should speak volumes and stand alone, with a hashtag as a supporting entity. Hashtags are fantastic for running promotions and enhancing searchability, however when used too often they can limit your ability to really amplify your message.

4) Lacking a Strategy with Clear Business Objectives: If you’ve ever read my blog you’ll understand that i’m a firm believer in understanding that what you decide to do is JUST as important as deciding what you’re not going to do. Make sure your brand has clear objectives set for utilizing social media, with a strategy for each social channel to help you achieve your goals. Creating a strategy should include having distinct and measurable goals, thinking through your brand’s voice, and planning out a content calendar with clear goals in mind. Setting a strategy and agreeing upon clear business objectives are the first two step’s in social media success.

Social Media is About Reach and Engagement, see past the Dollar-Value Returns — Here’s What Marketers Should Measure Instead

April 12, 2014April 12, 2014 / marissapick / Leave a comment

A fantastic article published by John Heggestuen in Business Insider reinforces the idea that Social Media Marketing isn’t always about the dollar value returns, but should be focused toward new metrics that evaluate social media strategies in terms of audience-building, brand awareness, and customer relations. It’s important to have clearly defined business objectives and realistic expectations before launching a social media strategy, and the points below really emphasize the larger picture of what marketers should be measuring.

The recent Business Insider report, In-Depth Research On What Matters In Digital reviews how social media strategies are involving:

The decline of ROI metrics: Between 2010 and 2013, the percentage of marketers using a revenue-per-customer metric on social media dropped from 17% to 9%, according to the February 2013 CMO survey. The percentage tracking conversion rates also dropped, from 25% to 21%.
Even as the vogue for ROI indicators fades, social media budgets are ballooning. On average, top marketers expect to devote 9% of their budgets to social media spend in 2014, and 16% by 2018, according to the same survey.
Exceptions: Of course there are exceptions to the move away from ROI. Some social commerce applications and direct response campaigns will achieve measurable results on Facebook, or other social networks. And the end of the ROI-fever definitely doesn’t mean that all metrics can be thrown out the window.
The metrics to watch are audience reach, engagement, and sentiment. On Facebook, it’s always important to remember that due to algorithmic filtering, brand or business posts will only be seen by an average 16% of their fans.
Facebook shares are particularly valuable, because normal users’ posts are seen in a relatively high percentage of friends’ news feeds (compared to posts by brand pages); between 29 and 35% according to one study.
Improving the most common metrics: Insights, Facebook’s built-in analytics tool, offers great basic data for measuring reach and engagement. We show you how to transform those numbers into richer and more valuable metrics.
Post reach is the most fundamental indicator of reach on Facebook, but it’s important to track it relative to number of page fans and enrich it with complementary indicators. We show you how, and include screenshots.

The report also emphasizes the importance of reach and engagement as well as other benefits of social media below. It’s a great report to reinforce that in order to embrace social media you must see past the immediate revenue and dollar value returns, and see the larger picture!

Please leave a comment below, or tweet me @Marissapick with feedback, enjoy!

Five Simple Rules for B2B Social Media Marketing Success

February 28, 2014February 28, 2014 / marissapick / Leave a comment

Inspired by a slideshare posted by Natascha Thomson, The 10 Rules of B2B Social Media Marketing, I wanted to share my top five rules for B2B Social Media Marketing Success. Let me know if you agree, or what rules you follow by tweeting me @MarissaPick.

#1: BREAK THE RULES AND HAVE FUN!

Social media provides a way for marketers to test the waters and try something new. Social media is an exciting and new space to experiment, and see major returns. Break the rules, have a little fun, and as a brand let your corporate hair down. Social media gives a behind the scenes look into a person or brand, and can help to facilitate deeper engagement with your audience.

#2: KNOWING WHAT TO DO IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT NOT TO DO

Every social media campaign needs a strategy, and it’s crucial to understand your goals. Knowing what you want to accomplish and how you will measure success is crucial before you launch any campaign. All social media platforms are not the same, so leveraging the proper channels, and having a way to measure your campaign is so very important, and sadly often over looked. Think strategically and decide what you’re going to do before you launch, and start small, you can always expand once you have results.

#3: SOCIAL MEDIA ACTUALLY WORKS!

Natascha shared a great statistic from Forrester Research within her SlideShare deck, “85% of business decision-‐makers said at least one social media channel is important when making technology purchase decisions.” Social Media has the power to influence the decision makers. When leveraged properly social media channels are a great place to share content to help influence and drive decision making at the very early stages. Make sure you have solid content which targets and engages with your audience.

#4: ENGAGEMENT = ESSENTIAL

Social Media is a platform to drive conversation and any post should always focus around engagement. It doesn’t matter if you have 20,000 or 200 followers, what matters is that you have a captive and engaged audience. I find visual content works well for my account to drive the RTs, Likes, and Shares.
Quick Tip: Find a quote or stat and download the Quoter App. It’s a great tool to brighten up your content, and quickly share on social media. I shared the quote below from MarketingProfs Ann Handley during the recent NYC Social Media Week. Since posting this to my account it has generated 45 ReTweets and 38 Favorites making this one of my most popular posts to date

#5: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Why should your audience follow you, and what’s in it for them? You need to answer this question, and them means the people within your social media community. It’s crucial to wear their hats and build content which excites, engages, and motivates your audience. Know your audience’s needs, and be the source they go to get information and content. This takes me back to the top rule, always have fun and mix it up!

Ten Tips for Using Social Media to Further Your Career

January 16, 2014January 19, 2014 / marissapick / 1 Comment

Ten Tips for Using Social Media to Further Your Career

It’s no surprise that as we enter into 2014 we’ve seen a social media explosion. Now there’s over 800 million people connecting with each other on social media networks including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and many more. I had the privilege of joining Sarah Lawrence, senior associate, DLA Piper; Lucy McNulty, managing editor, IFLR; and Callum Sinclair, partner, DLA Piper on a webcast run by International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and sponsored by DLA Piper on using social media to further your career. This webcast was the first in IFLR’s Women in Business Law Group’s webinar series. We each explained our experience and insights into how the rise of social media has fundamentally changed, and how we each communicate within our professional worlds. At the bottom of this post is the slide share of the powerpoint deck we used during our presentation, and if you would like to access and listen to the webinar broadcast please visit this link.

During the Q&A portion of the webcast, one of the questions directed to me focused on best practice for the use of social media platforms. Below are my top ten tips for utilizing social media to advance your reputation and further your career..

Stand out within your social media profiles. On twitter you have only 140 characters to tell the world who you are, so make your profile catchy and interesting. Although this seems basic, many profiles across social media are missing photos, contact information, and other crucial data. Highlighting your interest, job duties, location and other keywords helps people find out more about you. In addition, consider cross promoting your other social media platforms as well to boost your digital footprint. If you want to be taken seriously online, including a link within your profile is encouraged; for example feature your LinkedIn profile within your twitter bio to make easy for people to connect with you.
Lock It Down. What happens online doesn’t stay online. We live in a world within limited privacy, so as your setting up your social media profiles make sure to check your privacy settings and ensure they’re set properly. As employees we are a representation of the company which employs us, so remember to think before you post, or you can be held liable.
Transparency is key in building and maintaining a strong reputation. Be honest, respectful, and mindful across all social media platforms. It’s important to be open and transparent, this makes people relate to you. It’s important to align your online persona with your offline personalty to avoid trouble.
Content is King. The key to any social media strategy whether you’re trying to advance your career or increase your businesses visibility should focus around a solid content marketing plan. What you share across social media platforms should be interesting and engaging for others to enjoy, read, and share. All social media platforms are not a one size fits all model, it’s important to craft posts for each social networks to maximize and leverage content. As a reminder content doesn’t always have to be original. Test quotes, statistics, and visual content and images across social media and see what works best.
Incorporate Images. Visual social marketing is the next generation of social media. 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visually based, and the human brains processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Utilize social media tools Instagram & Vine which let you embed posts and videos easily, and use free apps like Quoter which provide ready to go quotes, or let quickly create a visual image. Mix it up and create content that is visually pleasing and easily shareable.
Become an authority and add value. Choose a focus, and share information relevant to your niche career area. Join LinkedIn groups, start discussions and comment on existing discussions, find and engage within Twitter chats, and most importantly always add value. As you engage more within social media you will gain the trust of others who will follow you to find information. As you focus and carve our a niche area, you will build trust, and people will begin to share your content and come to you for advice.
Establish Yourself Offline. Establishing yourself as a brand both online and offline allows people to put a face to your name. Nothing takes the place of face to face interaction, so ideally building a strong online presence can translate to building a stronger and larger network of offline connections.
Stay up on Digital Trends: Demonstrating your proficiency with all things digital shows you’re up on digital trends, which are currently affecting every company. Employers are increasingly looking for social media and digital proficiency in potential employees.
Make time. Social Media is easy, but it does take time, carve out an hour a week at a minimum to go in spend within social media platforms. Setting up a social media profile is a great first step, but as with anything else it takes time and a comfort level to become successful. If you’re going to let your platforms sit and never update them, why bother even setting up a profile?
Have Fun. Social Media is a great place to have fun and let your corporate hair down. Whether your using social media to advance your career, or build your business remember to utilize your profiles as an avenue to have fun!

Please share your feedback below in the comments section, or tweet me @MarissaPick.

Key Takeaways From @socialbakers #Engage2013 Conference

November 26, 2013 / marissapick / Leave a comment

On November 21 global marketing leaders gathered at the Manhattan Center in New York to discuss turning social insights into action to deliver successful social media campaigns at Social Baker’s Engage 2013 Conference. The conference was packed with powerhouse speakers from some of the world’s largest brands including American Air, Intel, Pernod Ricard and many more.

Like many industry conferences the clear emphasis was based around content. Many speakers hammered home the importance of building content to stand out and engage, especially within a news feed. What really shocked me was one of the stats delivered in the morning keynote : 55% of ads across social media are not targeted, and 85% of social advertising exists within the news feed. It’s amazing to me that people would be so quick and willing to throw away money rather then think through a strategic plan to boost and target the ads they’re spending money on!

I also wanted to test the theory that visual works best within social media promotion. Using a free tool (instaQuote) I shared some relevant social media stats regarding Facebook ad revenue and simply made it visually appealing within my tweet. This message generated 15 ReTweets & 8 Favorites making it one of the top tweets from the #Engage2013 conference. The below took me about 1 minute to do, and a quick reminder that if you want to make your message resonate and travel make it visual, and stimulating for success.

Another discussion point was the importance of answering your customers on social media platforms. I found Katy Phillips from American Airlines presentation fascinating. Hearing how her team utilizes authentic conversation, real time resolution, energy and inspiration to manage @AmercanAir’s 24/7 twitter feed was really refreshing. None of us are at our best when we travel, and I found it inspiring to hear how her team of 21 manages the social media conversation to even the most seasoned travelers (both good & bad!).

Take action instead of saying ‘sorry’ all the time.” –@katyphillips

In case you couldn’t join the conference, I compiled all the tweets, photos, and conversations into my Storify page, check it out now!

Socialbakers Launches Mobile Analytics App, Adds Instagram And LinkedIn Support (webpronews.com)
4 Great Tools for Monitoring Social Analytics (thegetsmartblog.com)
At the SocialBakers Engage 2013 today at the Manhattan Center (next to the New Yorker Hotel) on W. 34th Street – Web Journal November 21st, 2013 (webmetricsguru.com)

Social Media Revolution

May 4, 2013 / marissapick / Leave a comment

The power of social media is it forces necessary change.- Erik Qualman

One of the most powerful and impactful video’s i’ve ever seen was created by international best selling author and keynote speaker Erik Qualman. Social Media Revolution 4 is one of the most social-media watched video’s in the world with over 317k views (hence four installments).

The most powerful stat in my opinion is that Social Media has now become the #1 activity on the Web. For those of you who aren’t “sold” or ready to commit to social media, I urge you to watch the short 4 minute video, and I’m sure you’ll be as blown away by some of the stats, as they really speak for themselves:

1. Social media has overtaken porn as the No. 1 activity on the Web. (source)

2. If Facebook was a country, it would be the world’s third largest and twice the size of the U.S. population. (source)

3. Roughly two new member joins LinkedIn every second. (source)

4. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of North Korea, Australia, Chile, Israel, Sweden, Greece … (source)

5. 69 percent of parents are “friends” with their children on social media. (source)

6. If Wikipedia was made into a book, it would be 2.25 million pages long. (source)

Enjoy 🙂

-MP

Ten Tips for Using Social Media to Further Your Career

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