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Follow Up on Social Media Metrics

PrintA few weeks ago I posted an entry titled “Do Social Media KPI’s belong on the Management Dashboard?”  As a follow up, I refer to a recent post on the Gooddata blog that highlights six key marketing metrics to track and report.

They list them in the infographic to the left.  A few of the key KPI’s they list include:

  • Engagement: Not just the number of followers or friends, but how much engagement are you getting in terms of the number of shares, likes and comments.
  • Conversion Rate: Not just the number of visitors to your website, but the rate at which the visits are converted to sales.
  • Click Through: Not the number of emails you sent out, but the number that responded to the emails by clicking through to the website.
  • Cost per Customer: Not cost per click or cost per lead but cost per customer, or better yet, cost per dollar of sales.

In addition to picking the correct social media KPI’s, as with all KPI’s, it is important to report them on a consistent basis and track the results over time compared to targets.

Do Social Media KPI’s Belong on the Management Dashboard?

CC Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license

CC Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license

Should you include Social Media KPI’s on your dashboard reporting?  The answer for many consumer-focused middle market companies is increasingly becoming “Yes”.

Social media is growing and evolving at an incredible pace.  While many companies now realize the importance of having a social media strategy, some have been slower to realize the importance of measuring their social media activity and including social media KPI’s in their dashboard reporting alongside things like sales, margins, inventory, cashflow and key financial ratios.  Dashboard reporting is custom tailored to the needs of each organization, so the KPI’s to include will vary.  They could be as simple as the number of visitors and page views on your blog, the number of followers on twitter, or fans on Facebook.  You can track these statistics over time and compare them to goals, or to your competition.  On more detailed reports, you can measure the effectiveness of your campaign showing which efforts were most and least successful and how the social media activity translates to sales.  You can mine demographical information and highlight significant fans and followers or significant mentions, good or bad, that appear throughout the social media world.  And, of course, you can report how much you are spending on your social media strategy and calculate your ROI.

There are middle market companies for whom a social media strategy is not important, so not every company should include social media KPI’s in their dashboard reports.  But if you are a CFO at a company where your social media strategy is key, consider adding social media KPI’s into your dashboard and other reports.

What do you think?

Getting more out of LinkedIn

I recently attended a workshop on advanced LinkedIn skills.  The course was conducted by Sven Johnston, Partner & Sr. VP Business Development at GigaSavvy.

Sven has over 5300 LinkedIn connections.  That is a lofty goal, but 500 is more realistic.  Once you get there, your profile shows that you have “500+” connections and people will see you as a super connector.  At the time of this writing, I have 259 so I have a way to go.

The first step is completing or improving your profile.  Think of your entire profile as a key part of your personal brand.  It is more than a resume, but done properly, it can essentially replace your resume.

  • You should have a picture of your face that will help people remember you.
  • Your headline can be more than just your title and the name of the company.  You have 140 characters to summarize your personal brand so make it memorable.
  • Use your summary to tell your story.  It can be a little more narrative and interesting than the one paragraph summary you may have on top of your resume, mainly because you have more space.
  • Experience – Does not necessarily need to be limited to paid jobs.  If you gained good experience from volunteer work or contract positions, you can include them as experience.  That will allow people you worked with in that capacity to endorse your skillset and write you a recommendation.
  • Skills & Expertise – List the top skills you want people to know you for.  Ask for endorsements from your former co-workers.  You can have up to ten skills with up to ten endorsements in each.  The goal is to have 100 little faces in the box, meaning you have ten endorsements in each of your ten skills.
  • Recommendations – You need to have at least 3 in order for LinkedIn to recognize your profile as an All-Star.  It can be uncomfortable to ask people to write you a recommendation, so make it easy for them by suggesting what to write.  You can hide recommendations if you have more than you need, but having 4 to 7 great ones on display is a good target.
  • Groups – Join groups that interest you in a mixture of local, industry specific and mass groups.  Participate by adding to the discussions.  Groups extend your network as you are able to send group members messages even if they are 2 degrees or further away from you.  I just created a group called MiddleMarketCFO.  You can be one of the first to join!

The next step is searching for new connections.  Using the Advanced Search options, you can find potential connections from your groups, schools, fields, companies, geographic areas or any combination of those options or more. When sending invitations to connect, you should personalize each message rather than using the default message LinkedIn provides.  While strong connections are best, a weak connection is better than no connection so if you find yourself wondering whether you know someone well enough to send them a invitation to connect, the answer is probably yes you do.

Lastly, review your connections regularly and stay in touch.  You can use tags to remind you who you need to schedule a lunch with or who you need to reach out to with a business opportunity.

You can see my LinkedIn profile using the button below (which you can create in LinkedIn).  If we are not already connected, send me an invitation to connect.  If you are moved to endorse my skills or write me a recommendation, even better!  If you have any additional tips to get more out of LinkedIn, leave a comment below.  I look forward to connecting with you!

View Greg Eyink's profile on LinkedIn