A holistic digital strategy is about looking at your overall “digital footprint;” each individual component of your digital presence should reflect your overall brand values and business goals.
In addition to visual alignment, where your social media profiles all need to share your brand’s “look and feel,” you also need business alignment.
Creating and sustaining a strong social media profile for your business is essential in the digital age.
41% of social media users believe that the businesses they interact with should have a strong digital presence on social media.
To ensure that you’re using your social media platforms to their full potential, it’s important to measure their success.
By taking the time to look at your metrics, you can identify what tactics are working and what areas need more attention as you move forward.
Here are five ways to measure your business’s social media profile that are sure to help you with your digital strategy moving forward.
1. Perform a social media audit
Has the engagement on your social media channels gone up? Down? Does it seem the same?
You’ll want to examine your metrics to find out. Taking the time to conduct a social media audit of your platforms is a great place to start.
Compiling your social media data in one place will make it easier to track your activity, followers, and engagement.
A good way to do this is to record the numbers from your social media platforms in a spreadsheet over time.
Does it matter how many Facebook likes your business’s post got? Or that one of your posts experienced a spike in comments? It sure does!
2. Use social media analytic tools
Now that you’ve collected your numbers, it’s time to analyze them.
There are a number of social media analytic tools out there, such as Google Analytics, that can help your business and marketing efforts.
Looking for a way to monitor your analytics in one place? Try using a social media dashboard tool such as Cyfe.
By using the right tool for your business, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your social media profile in greater detail and improve your digital strategy.
3. Identify your social media goals
After you’ve conducted your social media audit and looked at your analytics, it’s time to make some decisions about your strategy.
Identify your goals and objectives with your social media platforms and see if these are reflected in your social media measurements.
Are you seeing high numbers and consistent engagement? A lot of likes, comments, retweets? If so, it looks like you’ve got content and techniques that are working!
If your numbers are lower than you’d like, identify the areas of your social media that need some help and rethink your approach.
Once you implement your changes, continue to track your numbers to see if they increase.
4. Evaluate your competition
Now that you have a better understanding of your social media measurements and goals, it’s time to conduct another social media audit.
This one should be about your competitors.
Record and evaluate their numbers, and see how they compare to your own.
How are they reaching their audience? Which platform is the most effective for them? What content is driving their conversations?
Taking the time to check out your competitors can work to your advantage and help you enhance your social media strategy.
5. Make sure your content aligns with the social media channel
Make sure you aren’t posting the exact same thing to every social media channel.
Images and short videos work best on Instagram, custom images with text work best on Pinterest, video works best on Facebook, and question-oriented postings work best on LinkedIn.
Bonus: Be consistent with your quality
Be sure that your social media strategy is aligned across all channels.
Each post deserves the same attention to quality and detail as the next.
Have a set posting schedule each week to keep your digital presence active. This will let your audience know that you are invested in providing them with engaging content.
The Takeaway:
Performing a social media audit, using analytics tools, identifying goals, reviewing your competition, and aligning your content with the right channel will ensure that you’ve got a social media strategy that can align with your digital strategy and your business goals.
What goals do you have with social media?
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