15 Ways to Measure Return on Engagement (ROE) of Social Media
- 62 Comment
Last week I decided to tweet 15 things public relations professionals can use to show a RETURN ON ENGAGEMENT (ROE)–the new return on investment–on their social media efforts. Here is a recap of those tweets:
Social media ROE tip #1: use a URL shortener like bit.ly to show how much traffic you are driving and from where (they collect stats 4 u)
Social media ROE tip #2: Follow your tweets and retweets on Twitter to see how far they travel http://tweetreach.com/
Social media ROE tip #3: track positive, negative and neutral along with # of comments posted on your sites (any sites w/ comments)
Social media ROE tip #4: acknowledge that conversion may take a while to see. your opportunity to connect is priceless (well, sort of).
Social media ROE tip #5: read this, “calculating the ROI of blogging” http://bit.ly/Z6xqP
Social media ROE tip #6: don’t make it a numbers game. a goal of “X number of fans” won’t prove anything.
Social media ROE tip #7: # of RSS subscribers and your repeat traffic (demonstrates loyalty)
Social media ROE tip #8: develop specific tactics which improve your ranking on popular search engines (can be diff b/t u and competitor)
Social media ROE tip #9: remember traditional methods like polls and surveys to get results.
Social media ROE tip #10: keep track of what topics/issues/conversations ppl respond to the most. may surprise you.
Social media ROE tip #11: Use a resource like @pitchengine to create a social media release, tracks # of views.
Social media ROE tip #12: measure customer satisfaction via social media, take a quick pulse to see where you stand.
Social media ROE tip #13: track # of ppl recommending, whether it’s a RT, “like,” “favorite,” which results in new members of ur community,
Social media ROE tip #14: look for and identify what doesn’t work. document and keep on hand for future campaigns.
Social media ROE tip #15: determine your “share of conversation” vs. ur competitors http://bit.ly/Gjxgg
This is not a “be all, end all” list. In fact, this is just the beginning. What do you use to measure or use to show a return on using social media?
62 Comments on this post
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jennyonthespot said:
Appreciate you putting all those great tweets in one spot! *two thumbs up!*
May 29th, 2009 at 3:47 am -
Julie N said:
Thank you Sarah for providing this wonderful list of ROE resources!
May 29th, 2009 at 5:06 am -
Marko said:
Thanks for the tight list!
I believe the customers need more information and ways of measurement like these in order to better understand the potential in social media usage.
May 29th, 2009 at 7:21 am -
Matt Johnson said:
Good tips. Thanks.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm -
Carol Deckert said:
This is my first visit to your blog. I found this by way of one of the Skype Rooms and wanted to stop by and tell you that I truly appreciate the ROE tips that you shared. In our networking efforts we sometimes fail to stop and think about whether or not what we are doing is in-line with our mission/vision or are we just fooling around and “killing time.”
Posting those tips really brings it all back into focus! Thanks so much and I look forward to reading some more great info here. I’ve bookmarked this blog so I don’t miss anything!
Carol Deckert, Networking Coach
Lancaster, PA USAMay 29th, 2009 at 2:38 pm -
Henry said:
Great information, To many of the “GURUS” out there are promoting numbers and not building relationships. We should be adding value to our followers. Thank you, the ROE has been very informative.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:02 pm -
Wendy Kenney @23Kazoos said:
Sarah, this is great information to have! There’s so much out there, you’ve just helped narrow it down to what’s important!!
May 29th, 2009 at 5:29 pm -
Stuart Foster said:
Just shared this with a client. Fantastic information and examples here Sarah…bookmarked as well
.May 29th, 2009 at 7:52 pm -
Roy Aylmer said:
Carol Deckert said everything I wanted to say, thanks Carol
It is great to find such useful information on the very day I launched my own first blog
I too have bookmarked your site so I don’t miss anything
Hugggz
RoyMay 29th, 2009 at 8:45 pm -
Jim said:
This is a nice list – it’s “fairly new” (a la twitterer-ish) so thank you for taking the time to put together a plan to track it, and the links to the resources. Tip #6… just like site traffic, it’s not the sheer numbers but the conversions and yes loyalty.
Thanks!
~ Jim
~ Jacksonville, FL
~ @seo_web_designMay 30th, 2009 at 1:23 am -
Daniela said:
Great resources, thanks.
May 30th, 2009 at 3:25 pm -
@stu415 said:
Re: #6 – yes, but you do need to achieve *some* level of followers, so in the early days, your goal should be to gain a number of followers, especially those who are influential and will promote you further. influence the influential (or so it goes) – so IMO, #7 goes w/#6 along with the supporting statement that “you should get people to follow you who have lots of followers (they already have credibility in the Twittersphere).
May 30th, 2009 at 11:21 pm -
Seth Morris said:
I’ll disagree strongly with #1. Url hiders (that’s what they are, not “shorteners”) are a Bad Thing alltogether. If you’re using them because you don’t have any other way to track traffic, then you need to get on the ball about that as opposed to breaking fundamental web principles.
Url hiders prevent users from knowing where they’re going, even with the “preview” feature you can turn on for TinyUrl. Hiders remove all decision-making ability from your users, prevent them from choosing more-trustworthy links, and eliminate accountability for your sources unless people go through the effort of clicking every hidden link.
They are super valuable for redirecting children to porn sites and getting people in trouble at work for browsing inappropriate content.
Don’t let your lack of (simple, well-understood, and not-at-all-new) infrastructure put your links in the same bucket as the 12 year olds and the scammers trying to trick you into upping their page count.
If you want to link somewhere, even to your own site, stand behind it and show it.
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 pm -
Peter St. Martin said:
I think there’s some great information in this list including #1. Seth you have a very strong opinion here and I’d like to know more. The purpose of bit.ly suggested here is strictly to shorten and to track. There is no reason to hide anything for the purpose suggested here. If I create a social media campaign for a client and direct link everything to there site how can I show them what traffic I have generated. If I’m missing something here please educate us. Point us to a blog you have written and teach us so we don’t continue to let our “lack of (simple, well-understood, and not-at-all-new) infrastructure” keep us from doing the right thing.
Again, the purpose is not to hide but to track. If you have a better way to track please enlighten us.
June 3rd, 2009 at 5:09 am -
Jonathan said:
There are some solid points on ROE here that many “social media experts” probably don’t have the first clue about. I always try to establish a strong engagement strategy first, then establish what metrics are best used to track the ROE. http://theverteblog.com/2009/06/03/social-media-engagement-strategy/
As with @Peter St. Martin – I’d love to here more from @Seth about other solutions and strategy’s to hide the url’s and make trackable.
Thanks for the solid post Sarah.
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:02 pm -
Restaurant POS said:
An extra ordinary post. It really helps to beginners as well as social media experts to know how much good they are at social media and how to be good at social media. Great Job.
June 5th, 2009 at 10:49 am -
Root29 said:
@PRsarahevans, thats a wonderful article… A question here.. These ideas seem good. But let us take a scenario where I need to pitch to a client to use my social media marketing services.What is the success metric defined as?The client obviously expects some numbers.I understand that it’s not a numbers game.. But how would I convince him.. ? Sorry if i sound a bit confused !
June 10th, 2009 at 10:00 am -
Hair Salons said:
Just bookmarked it, never heard about such tools excluding few of them. Love your stuffs sarah.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:21 am -
Invisalign cost said:
I think Seth brings up a valid point. My recommendation is to buy a domain for the specific purpose of using subdomains to redirect to other sites. I wouldn’t rely on these free services to gauge the effectiveness of a social media campaign. You never know whether they are engaging in shady business and such.
June 14th, 2009 at 7:49 am -
Energy Conservation said:
Great ways to measure ROE of social media. I learn many new way to measure roe and all are really excellent. Thanks.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:59 pm -
Koncerty 2009 said:
cool tips. Thanks for sharing it
August 1st, 2009 at 6:44 am -
NJ Work Injury Lawyer said:
Measuring social media ROI is not that different than measuring any other dynamic initiative. It can and should be done. And there is no reason it cannot be done.
I find that there are usually three problems with measurement systems. 1)Failure to establish clear top level objects 2)Lack of a framework that links top level goals with actions and results. 3) Failure estimate and track costs/investment well.
Without the first two the R in ROI is totally ambiguous and without the third the I in ROI is totally ambiguous.
Problem 1 is usually caused by top level management not taking the time to define and/or communicate the top level objectives in ways the rest of the organization can understand. Without these top level goals it becomes hard to pinpoint what really matters. If top level mgmt has not done it’s homework then talk of ROI is usually just a smoke screen to avoid doing anything.
Problem 2 is harder to do, but it can be done with the right methodology of breaking top level goals into lower level goals and ultimately to smart measures.
Problem 3 requires systems to capture investment and to evaluate estimates.
All of this can and should be done if you really care about ROI.
August 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am -
weber grill recipes said:
Great blog here. Keep it up! Please try to include more information if possible.
regards
weber grill recipesSeptember 27th, 2009 at 12:40 pm -
Sue M said:
Awesome ROE list. Looks like you put in a lot of work.Thanks from the heart.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:23 am -
pomah blog said:
thanks for the lists of ways to measure ROI, as of now, i am still studying this things on how to do it, this post is useful
November 4th, 2009 at 10:36 am -
cortney said:
Social media ROE tip #10: keep track of what topics/issues/conversations ppl respond to the most. may surprise you.
The above is most important to any social media campaign. Let the people that contribute drive your media efforts, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:24 am -
Cartoon Bears said:
How can I incorporate social media into my small business marketing effort?
December 14th, 2009 at 2:11 pm -
pramod said:
Thanks for providing good information….
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 am -
Corey Mahoney said:
Thanks for pulling these all together. Great set of suggestions.
@Seth, you raise a great point. I really struggle with the question of url shorteners; they make engagement easier by conserving characters and allowing tracking, but I hate how they hide the destination.
This is really where trust comes in, especially among Twitter followers. I generally know which people in my Twitter network can be trusted to link to legitimate, high-quality content and which ones might lead me astray. If anything, the shortened (hidden) urls make reputation more important than ever, because every click is a small risk.
January 4th, 2010 at 3:05 pm -
Jeffrey Blake said:
Great list for someone like myself who is actually attempting to do it in real life.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:28 pm -
Katelyn Mack said:
Thanks for the ROE tips. I’m developing a social media campaign to help pregnant teenagers access prenatal care early and promote other health-promoting behaviors (like not smoking and fostering social support). My team is currently trying to understand what metrics will be useful in tracking our success and some of these ideas will be really useful. Hopefully I’ll be posting more on our campaign to my blog, soon!
~Katelyn
January 24th, 2010 at 8:27 pm -
Lars Heinemann said:
Very interesting.
Thats the way i already do.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:25 am -
Contrave said:
To be honest I haven’t had much luck with Social Media in general. Thanks Sarah for the ideas though.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:29 am -
Turkey said:
Social media sharing sites for you, thank you.
March 4th, 2010 at 1:34 am -
Diana said:
Wow! Thanks!! Very Useful!
- @DianaWei
- @HalfEmptyWalletMarch 31st, 2010 at 11:32 am
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