Key performance indicators for measuring and optimizing your social media efforts

I am revisiting a great article by Jacqueline Zenn from Social Logic about how to evaluate your brand’s social media health. This is a summary of the article along with some of my own Leadership Marketing tips for effectively using social media for networking and greater consumer engagement.

For many Biomedical Nonprofits, social media is an everyday priority for networking and building consumer engagement. With the endless amount of data available, it’s tough to determine what metrics really matter. How do you measure whether your social media presence is making a difference? Here are a couple of quick and simple tips for monitoring your Institution’s social media health.

Is Your Network Growing?
This is a lead indicator of the consumer awareness of your Biomedical Nonprofit’s brand. How many people are actually talking about your latest research and its impact? Is your social media network growing? A week-by-week or month-by-month tracking system is a good way to measure the overall social media health of your brand.

Monitor Your Share of Voice
Review the total number of mentions of your brand versus competing brands with tools like Social Mention. Monitoring your brand’s share of voice can help determine whether you need to work harder to earn more of the conversation and really own your brand’s USP.

Review Engagements
Social media is a conversation. Every reply or comment you receive on a tweet or blog post can help you understand how people are feeling about your institution and its work. The more you engage, the more likely your audience is to respond, connect with your institution, and ultimately offer their support.

Brand Ambassador Mentions
Track mentions by those you feel are “key influencers” for your brand. Due to their substantial and loyal social media following, influencers can become valuable ambassadors of your brand. As they follow and discuss your latest research, fundraisers or other events, your targeted social communities grow.

Check Referring Traffic
Many social campaigns have the goal of driving traffic to specific places, such as a product page of your website, in hopes of creating greater awareness and inspiring donor gifts. Hopefully if your brand’s media communication is increasing, so will hits to your website or blog. Google Analytics is a great tool for finding out how much traffic is being referred to your Biomedical Nonprofit’s site via other social channels.

Beyond The Numbers
Measuring your social media efforts is not just a numbers game. It’s critical that you also evaluate what people are saying about your Institution. How do they feel about your Biomedical Nonprofit and its work? Are you listening and continuing the conversation effectively?

Have questions about your social media strategy? Contact me by calling 866-960-9220 or emailing karan@cushmancreative.com. To read the full article: 9 Ways to Measure your Brand’s Social Media Health