Social Media Measurement | Social Media Marketing Tutorial | Simplilearn

Summary

This video script delves into the significance of measuring social media efforts, emphasizing two key reasons: determining if the investment is worthwhile and seeking opportunities for improvement. It introduces four crucial social media metrics: economic value, conversation rate, amplification rate, and Applause rate. The script explains how these metrics can guide digital analytics strategies and offers insights into their practical application across different social media platforms. It concludes with the importance of aligning measurement with specific business goals and the value of working with analytics experts or enhancing one's own analytical skills.

Takeaways

• 📊 **Identify Two Primary Reasons for Measuring Social Media**: Understanding if efforts yield a positive ROI and seeking improvement for future campaigns.
• 🔍 **Economic Value Beyond Sales**: Recognize that economic value includes not just direct sales but also cost savings and business process improvements enabled by social media.
• 🗣️ **Conversation Value**: Focus on engagement and the depth of conversation to understand what resonates with the audience and to guide content strategy.
• 📈 **Amplification Rate**: Track how far and wide your message travels, indicating the reach and influence of your social media efforts.
• 👏 **Applause Rate**: Gauge audience sentiment and approval through likes, favorites, and other forms of positive social reinforcement.
• 📝 **Customize Metrics to Goals**: Tailor measurement metrics to align with specific business objectives rather than relying on generic metrics.
• 🔧 **Improvement Through Measurement**: Use data gathered from social media efforts to refine and relaunch more effective campaigns.
• 📊 **Specific Social Media Metrics**: Utilize metrics like economic value, conversation rate, amplification rate, and applause rate for targeted social media measurement.
• 🤝 **Influence of Social Media on Customer Service**: Acknowledge how social media can reduce customer service costs and improve customer satisfaction.
• 📚 **Deep Dive for Smaller Teams**: For companies without dedicated analysts, it's beneficial to deepen understanding through courses on web analytics and conversion optimization.

Q & A

What are the two primary reasons to measure social media efforts?

The two primary reasons are to determine if the efforts were worth it by assessing the positive ROI and to improve by gaining knowledge to make future efforts more effective.

Why is economic value important in social media measurement?

Economic value is important because it considers the total revenue produced by social media efforts and the cost savings provided, which includes direct sales and indirect benefits like reduced customer service needs.

What does the term 'amplification rate' refer to in social media measurement?

Amplification rate refers to how far a message travels once released on social media, including shares, influencer exposure, and viral reach.

How does 'Applause rate' differ from other social media metrics?

Applause rate is about positive social reinforcement like likes and favorites, indicating sentiment and approval from the audience, unlike other metrics that focus on engagement or reach.

What is the significance of 'conversation rate' in social media measurement?

Conversation rate signifies the level of engagement and interaction with the content, indicating whether people are responding and participating in discussions around the posted content.

Why is it crucial to define measurement goals before starting a social media campaign?

Defining measurement goals ensures that the metrics tracked are aligned with the campaign's objectives, providing meaningful insights and avoiding analysis paralysis.

How can understanding the 'amplification rate' help in content strategy?

Understanding the amplification rate can help in content strategy by identifying which types of content resonate well with the audience and are more likely to be shared, thus increasing reach.

What is the role of 'Applause rate' in gauging audience interest?

The Applause rate serves as an indicator of audience interest by showing the level of positive reinforcement through likes, favorites, and other forms of social endorsement.

Why might the Applause rate not be a reliable indicator on all social media channels?

The Applause rate might not be reliable on all channels because different platforms have different user behaviors and engagement patterns, with some users preferring to show approval through sharing rather than liking.

What is the difference between measuring as a marketer versus an analyst in social media?

As a marketer, measurement is about understanding high-level insights to guide strategy, while as an analyst, it involves deeper data analysis, using more tools and detailed insights to interpret complex data.

How can a company leverage social media to reduce costs, as mentioned in the script?

A company can reduce costs by using social media to decrease customer service inquiries, reduce call center traffic, or test products before full-scale launches, as exemplified by the case of Infusionsoft.

Outlines

00:00

📊 Measuring Social Media Success Beyond Vanity Metrics

The paragraph emphasizes the importance of measuring social media efforts beyond basic metrics like followers or likes. It introduces the concept of aligning measurement strategies with business goals to ensure the value of social media initiatives is accurately assessed. The speaker stresses the need to avoid 'analysis paralysis' by focusing on relevant data that can be leveraged effectively. Two primary reasons for measurement are identified: determining if social media efforts are worth the investment (economic value) and improving future efforts based on insights gained (improvement). The paragraph also introduces four key social media-specific metrics: economic value, conversation rate, amplification rate, and applause rate, which are crucial for a comprehensive measurement strategy.

05:01

💹 Economic Value and Conversation Value in Social Media Metrics

This section delves into the first two of the four key social media metrics: economic value and conversation value. Economic value is defined as the total revenue generated by social media efforts minus any costs, highlighting the importance of considering both direct sales and cost savings. The example of Infusionsoft's social media initiative is provided to illustrate how social media can lead to significant cost savings and improved customer satisfaction. Conversation value goes beyond simple engagement, focusing on the depth of interaction and the topics that resonate most with the audience, guiding future content strategy.

10:02

🔄 Amplification Rate: Measuring the Reach and Impact of Social Media Content

The paragraph discusses the amplification rate, which is about how far and wide a message travels on social media once it's posted. It includes shares, influencer exposure, and virality. Amplification rate is a strong indicator of content reception and value, showing how well a message resonates with the audience. The paragraph also touches on the idea that amplification can be influenced by the reach and influence of the initial audience and how it can extend beyond that to reach new viewers, as exemplified by the significant reach of a Lindsay Sterling video on YouTube.

15:02

👏 Applause Rate and the Importance of Feedback in Social Media Metrics

The final paragraph focuses on the applause rate, which is about the positive social reinforcement through likes, favorites, and other forms of approval on social media platforms. It serves as an indicator of sentiment and like-mindedness, reflecting the audience's approval and willingness to engage. The paragraph notes that while applause rate is not always a reliable metric, it can offer social proof that can influence user engagement. The importance of understanding the specificities of different social channels when measuring applause rate is emphasized, as user behavior varies across platforms.

📚 Conclusion and Call to Action for Deeper Learning

In conclusion, the paragraph summarizes the key takeaways from the video, emphasizing the importance of aligning social media metrics with campaign goals, understanding the nuances of conversational and amplification value, and recognizing the limitations of applause rate as a metric. It advises marketers to collaborate with analytics experts or to deepen their own understanding of data analysis to effectively measure and optimize social media efforts. The speaker also encourages viewers to explore further learning opportunities through related courses to enhance their digital marketing expertise.

Keywords

💡Measurement

Measurement in the context of the video refers to the process of assessing the effectiveness and impact of social media efforts. It's about determining whether the resources invested in social media, such as time, money, and staff, yield a positive return on investment (ROI). The video emphasizes that measurement should go beyond merely counting followers or likes, focusing instead on the value these metrics bring to the business, such as increased sales or cost savings.

💡ROI (Return on Investment)

ROI is a financial metric used in the video to evaluate the efficiency of an investment. It compares the return on an investment to its cost. In the context of social media, ROI is crucial for determining if the efforts made are worth it, meaning if the social media campaigns are generating enough revenue to justify the investment put into them.

💡Economic Value

Economic value in the video is not just about direct sales but also includes cost savings and other business benefits derived from social media efforts. It's a broader concept that encompasses the total revenue generated and the cost savings provided by social media activities, such as reduced customer service costs or increased online sales.

💡Conversation Rate

The conversation rate is one of the four primary social media-specific metrics introduced in the video. It measures the level of engagement users have with the content, such as comments, responses, and shares. It's an indicator of how well the content resonates with the audience and can be used to refine future content strategies.

💡Amplification Rate

Amplification rate is another key metric discussed in the video, which measures how far a message travels once it's released on social media. It includes shares, influencer exposure, and virality. A high amplification rate suggests that the content is well-received and has the potential to reach a broader audience beyond the initial followers or subscribers.

💡Applause Rate

Applause rate is a metric that focuses on the positive social reinforcement actions taken by users, such as likes, favorites, and upvotes. It serves as an indicator of sentiment and approval from the audience. However, the video notes that this rate can vary in reliability depending on the platform, as some channels prioritize sharing over liking.

💡Engagement

Engagement in the video is used to describe the interactions between users and the content posted on social media. It includes actions like commenting, liking, and sharing. High engagement levels indicate that the content is resonating with the audience and can be a key factor in driving further amplification and applause.

💡Content Marketing

Content marketing is implied in the video when discussing the economic value derived from social media efforts. It refers to the strategy of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage a clearly defined audience, with the ultimate goal of driving profitable customer action. The video gives an example of how Craft estimates pulling 1.1 billion ad impressions per year from their content marketing and social media efforts.

💡Social Media Channels

The video mentions various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube. Each channel has its unique way of measuring engagement, amplification, and applause, which is crucial for understanding how content performs across different platforms and adjusting strategies accordingly.

💡Digital Analytics

Digital analytics is the practice of collecting, measuring, and analyzing data from digital sources to understand and optimize web usage and digital marketing performance. The video suggests that while all marketers should understand the basics of measurement, working with a trained analytics expert or gaining deeper knowledge in this field can provide more insights and accurate data interpretation.

💡Conversion Optimization

Conversion optimization is briefly mentioned in the video as a related field of study that can help marketers understand how different efforts contribute to desired outcomes. It involves using various techniques like A/B testing to improve the performance of web pages, with the goal of increasing the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

Highlights

Understanding the two primary reasons to measure social media efforts is crucial for guiding your digital analytics strategy.

Economic value in social media is not solely about product sales but also includes cost savings and business process improvements.

Measuring social media efforts aims to determine if the investment in time, money, and resources has yielded a positive ROI.

Improvement is a key goal of measurement, seeking knowledge to enhance the effectiveness of future social media efforts.

Avanos Kikov introduced four primary social media-specific metrics in 2011, which remain relevant today.

Economic value metrics consider total revenue and cost savings provided by social media efforts.

Social media can reduce costs, such as in customer service and call centers, contributing to economic value.

Amplification rate measures how far a message travels on social media, indicating its reception and value.

Conversation value goes beyond engagement, looking at response rates and the topics that resonate with the audience.

Amplification rate can be measured by shares, retweets, regrams, repins, and shares across different social networks.

Applause rate, indicated by likes, favorites, and other forms of social reinforcement, serves as a sentiment indicator.

The value of Applause rate can vary by social channel, with some platforms prioritizing sharing over liking.

Marketers should use campaign goals to define the metrics that are worth tracking for their specific circumstances.

Conversational value helps identify impactful content for future content strategy planning.

Understanding measurement as a marketer involves collaborating with analytics experts or deepening one's own analytical skills.

The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to subscribe for more digital marketing expertise and certification opportunities.

Transcripts

[Music]

after watching this video you should be

prepared to identify the two primary

reasons to measure social media efforts

and use them to guide your digital

analytics strategy to explain why

economic value is about more than how

many products you sell to outline the

four primary social media specific

metrics and their purposes and to

identify the appropriate Applause

indicators on major social channels

let's begin lesson two social media

specific

metric now back in part one of this

series we talked a little bit about what

exactly it is we meant by measurement

that it's about more than just so-called

measuring a channel it's about measuring

the impact of the channel it's figuring

out how to find Value because what

happens all too often when we talk about

measurement is people get focused on

those those easy to see social media

metrics that are just right there in

front of you how many followers do you

have on Pinterest you know how many

likes did you get on that Facebook post

how many thumbs up happened on YouTube

and again those have value and we'll get

to those but measurement is about more

than a predefined set of formulas that

everyone needs to follow yes there's

going to be some things that are across

the board but really when it comes down

to creating a measurement plan for your

campaign or for your company your goals

are going to Define what has value so to

get things rolling you need to be able

to ask yourself a couple questions

because as with everything else we've

learned it'll all come down to what

works best for you what your business

needs to have happen so you need to ask

yourself things like what is it that you

need to know where can you get that type

of information and what will you use the

data for because if you don't take the

time to ask these questions it becomes

all too easy to find yourself in that

place of analysis paralysis where

there's just so much information coming

in and you really don't know how you're

actually going to leverage it or do

something with it now there's two main

goals when it comes to social media and

a lot of this is about perspective

because there's a million different

things you can measure but it all comes

down to two key points of value the

first one is the idea of whether or not

your efforts were worth it the primary

reason we measure our social media

efforts is to answer that question was

the amount of time and money and effort

and Staffing that we put into it

rewarded by a positive enough Roi to

justify that investment that's the first

and foremost thing we always want to

look at is are we wasting our time or is

what we're doing actually helping us

progress further the number two purpose

of measurement is Improvement this is

the other key thing that we're looking

for is to gain the knowledge needed to

make our efforts more effective the next

time around basically to create that

process of learning refining and then

relaunching ing our efforts when it

comes to looking at measurement and sort

of digital analytics from the social

media side there are definitely some

areas that are very particular to this

area of marketing in fact way back in

2011 avanos Kik introduced four key

measurement points that could be used

for social media and they're still a

great starting point today now if you

want to read the whole article that he

put together you'll see the link down

there at the bottom tiny URLs sl-

measure that'll take you right to it but

I'm also going to walk you through sort

of what they are and what they look like

in terms of practical application so

basically he boiled down the idea of

sort of the highlevel social media

measurement into the area of economic

value conversation rate amplification

rate and Applause rate now when it comes

to economic value the basic idea here is

to look at the total revenue that's

being produced by your efforts while

also considering the cost savings that's

provided by those efforts because keep

in mind a lot of times with social media

it's not necessarily the direct value of

how many products did we sell but it's

also how your social media efforts how

the connection points that are created

there what it enables to happen within

your business so sometimes that's direct

sales you know clearly you want to track

the sales that come from your social

media promotions so you know if you

you've put something out on Facebook

especially if you're you know using

discount codes and stuff it's fairly

easy to go in and track that to see okay

how much revenue came from this

particular sale or this particular

campaign but sometimes it's about saving

money through the way you leverage

social media maybe you're reducing call

center traffic maybe you're having

reduced brick-and mortar hours because

you're doing more selling online maybe

you're using it to test products before

you launch so there's a great quote from

one of the marketing team over at

infusion soft that that talked about the

differences that happened when they made

use of social media to engage the

customers to answer questions you know

to not necessarily have everything go

through customer service agents and they

said two years before they started the

initiative they had approximately one

customer service agent for every 55

customers and a 77% customer

satisfaction rating now after they

implemented their social media

parameters they found that the ratio

could drop to One agent to 172 customers

and they actually saw a bump up to 87%

customer satisfaction rating said

infusion soft social media initiative

saved the company millions of dollars in

overall support costs and produced a 10%

increase in customer satisfaction so

again that comes back to that economic

value that's created through the actions

taken in social

media now the same way that some

companies find that they really pull

some nice economic value in from maybe

lowering customer service needs or you

know changing call center costs a lot of

times companies also get that media

benefit so a great example of this is

craft who estimates that it pulls 1.1

billion ad Impressions per year at four

times better Roi from their content

marketing and social media efforts than

they do from their targeted advertising

so again it becomes about shifting

things over a little bit so that you're

still getting that benefit but there's

not quite as much money going in behind

it and that comes into the economic

value side of things now understanding

conversation value means understanding

that it's more than engagement because

most of us consider sort of the

conversation that happens in social

media to be engagement and there's truth

to that but we're looking a little

deeper at the the idea of whether people

are commenting on your posts responding

to your updates and otherwise engaging

with you and there's a lot of different

ways we can look at that one of those is

the idea of conversational response so

are they replying to what you're putting

out there are people engaged or are your

social posts met with silence you know

it's not uncommon for us to see this

happening on channels like Facebook

where people put out an update and

there's literally zero response in fact

sometimes only a teeny tiny infimal

amount of their followers are even

seeing that update due to algorithms on

the other hand sometimes that content

goes out and it's just massively

received you know people absolutely love

it and engage with it that

conversational response helps us

understand what in particular people

really like and what they care about now

there's also the idea of conversational

resonance this is the idea of which

topics in particular tend to produce

positive conversation or open the door

for more engagement so by taking the

time to look overall at the content you

have coming in and identify those places

where you see really really great

residents really really high levels of

Interest especially organically that's

one of those opportunities to look deep

and see what was the content what was it

we put out why did that resonate so well

with people and what do we do to create

more of that type of content and sort of

what's the what's the happy medium of

how often we can leverage that before

maybe we push it a little too far and it

loses its value so again it's learning

how to identify some of those wins in

the areas of

potential there's also the idea of

conversational Direction This is

basically saying based on what we're

learning how are we going to adapt our

efforts moving forward what new

opportunities exist for content and for

campaigns where do we go next you know

what are we seeing get brought up in a

comment somewhere or you know maybe

we're looking on Pinterest and we're

seeing what's the name of the pin board

that they saved our content to because

maybe they're leveraging it in a way

that we didn't think about that helps us

know where we want to go next now if we

move on to the idea of amplification

rate to try and understand what that

looks like this becomes about the idea

of a combination of share and reach

because amplification is the measurement

of how far your message manages to

travel once you've sort of released it

into the wild of social media so this

includes everyday sharing it includes

influencer exposure this includes when

things tend to go viral so there's

several things we want to look at here

one is the base level knowledge that

amplification is a strong indicator of

reception and value basically that

people like you people don't tend to

share content unless they find Value in

it yes there's times where they share it

because they're upset or frustrated at

it but they're still finding some

measure of value worth engaging and

talking about so the amount of

amplification that's taking place is a

good indicator of how well your content

is resonating with people now

amplification rate is also a good

indicator of connection power in other

words how influential is your sort of

starting point base level visitors and

the people who tend to engage with you

and share your content because social

sharing might help you pick up some new

eyeballs but really strong amplification

that indicates pickup by influencers an

evangelists within a vertical or it

indicates an extraordinary amount of

interest that might go past what your

normal content tends to pull now

amplification looks different on every

Network it's best measured on an

individual basis with different pieces

of content on those individual channels

overreach is a great sign of really

strong amplification overreach basically

means your message is getting to more

people than what that initial starting

point of your reach was meaning it's

extended past what you were capable of

doing on your own now when we look at

these different networks and we look at

what's going to sort of indicate that

amplification on Facebook we're looking

at things like the shares per update on

Twitter it's about the retweets per

tweet on Instagram

it's your regrams on Pinterest it's your

repins on YouTube it's your shares you

kind of get the general idea here it's

someone taking what they found and

passing it along to the next person now

when we look at a channel like say

YouTube we can take an example video so

for example the crystallized video from

Lindsay Sterling we can see that she has

2.9 Million YouTube subscribers but when

we look at the reach of this individual

video we find that 70 million people

viewed it that's roughly 25 times her

subscriber count that's a pretty great

indicator of the amount of amplification

that was taking place with this

particular video it not only went past

or you know not only reached a good

portion of who followed them you know

that her followers themselves came in to

watch it not only went past that but it

completely blew it out of the water so

again great indicator of excellent

amplification now when we move on to the

idea of Applause rate this comes down to

feedback this is less about Shar ing or

conversation and it's more about the

positive social reinforcement that takes

place on channels these are the likes

the favorites you know things like that

Applause rate is an indicator of

sentiment or like-mindedness it's

basically approval that positive

reinforcement through social

endorsements that serves as a good

indicator of the willingness of your

audience to communicate and of what they

like so again when we're when we're

looking at a piece of content on YouTube

it's not just the amount of views it

gets it's also looking at what's the

thumbs up versus the thumbs down because

that's one of those things that people

look at when they land on the content to

go okay maybe a ton of people watched it

but did they like it so when there's way

higher thumbs up than there are thumbs

down that's a really good indicator

that's the Applause rate that says to

someone this video is probably going to

be worth watching if they're searching

for something on Pinterest they're going

to look at the number of repins and the

number of favorites and likes that are

taking place cuz that's an indicator of

how many other people have found this to

be really valuable content and that's

going to help give us that social sway

to determine whether or not we want to

engage with that individual piece of

content now Applause rate much like some

of the other areas tends to be specific

to the individual social Channel you're

looking at so again on YouTube that's

going to be the thumbs up per video on

Pinterest it's going to be the number of

likes per video on Twitter it's the

favorites on Facebook it's the likes per

post but it's really important to

remember that of all of the ones we've

talked about Applause rate in particular

is not always a reliable indicator a lot

of that's going to depend on the

individual social channel that you're

looking at because the true value of

Applause rate is tied to that specific

Channel it can really be a strong

indicator on Facebook or on YouTube

where people are used to giving the

thumbs up they're used to giving you

know clicking that like button but it's

less so on places like Pinterest and

Twitter where people tend to share their

their approval through the sharing

action so on Pinterest it's more likely

that they're going to repin than it is

that they're going to click that like or

favorite button on Twitter they're more

likely to retweet something they really

like or to respond to it than to click

that favorite button so you have to have

some understanding of the channel that

you're on and what you're trying to

measure to know whether or not it really

is going to give you that reliable

indicator of what your applause rate

looks like now wrapping it all up it's

really critical to remember that there's

a difference between understanding

measurement what we need to measure sort

of how we need to measure between doing

that as a marketer versus doing that as

an analyst because an analyst clearly

needs to have way more tools and way

deeper insight and information here so

if you're coming at this from the

marketing side this should give you that

base level knowledge and insight to be

able to go and talk to your digital

analyst to be able to say here's what

we're looking for to be able to help

interpret some of the data they bring

back to you if on the other hand you're

at a small company where you rely on

yourself to be able to do the analytics

to do the measurement I'd really suggest

that you take the time to dig deeper by

jumping into our web analytics course

here at simply learn because there's

going to be a lot more detail a lot more

information and a lot more input on what

it looks like to really get in and

gather that data also consider taking a

look at the conversion optimization

course because that's where you're going

to learn a little bit more about things

like AB split testing and what it means

to try this effort versus that effort

and to understand how that factors in to

the testing that goes along with

analytics now wrapping this all up your

key takeaways from this video are one

that it's rarely a good idea to base

your metrics off of standard issue

options you need to make sure that

you're using your campaign goals to

define the metrics that are going to be

worth tracking for you in this

particular circumstance number two

conversational value not only helps you

measure engagement it also helps you

identify the cont content that's making

an impact so that you can use that to

plan your future content strategy number

three amplification rate serves as a

really strong indicator of consumer

buyin towards your content basically do

they like it do they approve of it and

do they think it's worthwhile to pass on

to others number four Applause rate

tends to be the least accurate social

media specific metric but it does serve

as a very good indicator of interest and

offers the benefit of social proofing to

help sway engagement from users who come

in and see that Applause rate in effect

and then finally while all marketers

need an understanding of measurement

it's best to work with a trained

analytics expert for your data or to

take the time to familiarize yourself

more deeply with what it looks like to

really dig into the data this concludes

lesson two social media specific metrics

with that we come to the end of section

10 social media measurement thank you so

much for joining in this

[Music]

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