How to measure your social media influence
Digital | April 27, 2018
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How do you measure social media influence? This is a question we are frequently asked, and with so many metrics that can be tracked on social media, it makes sense to assume there is a simple answer. But the reality is that it’s not as simple as counting how many thumbs up you got.
Jon McDonald, Look East’s senior account manager for digital services, helps us to understand the challenges and Look East’s approach to measuring influence on social media.
Unfortunately, we’ve yet to find that one, single metric that we believe points directly to a level of influence on social media. There are a variety of metrics and tools available that assess influence, but not a single metric that individually answers the question.
It requires human analysis.
Because there isn’t just one simple answer, we need to analyze a number of different metrics collectively to really uncover a level of influence. And that takes time.
Seeing growth can take time.
Most marketing metrics are monitored month-to-month, which is easy to measure and understand. But this micro-level measurement only provides a snapshot.
Influence is a form of trust, which grows out of relationship and real relationships take time to develop. When establishing a social media presence, be prepared to invest the time it takes to build trust.
Our approach at Look East, while more complex than measuring other marketing metrics, is quite straightforward.
We referenced earlier that we track a number of metrics that when analyzed collectively, can paint a picture of social media influence. These metrics are:
Offline measurements are just as important as a barometer of influence. Are you getting more mentions in media monitoring? What about in-store traffic? Or sales, requests for proposals, speaking engagements? All of these factors grow out of your relationships and social media presence.
If you’re curious to learn more about Look East’s approach to growing trust, we encourage you to check out our trust model on our approach page.