One of the best things about social media marketing is that it’s measurable. I’m still caught off-guard when I hear that some dealers don’t track their social media metrics or review their data. But I do understand it… because many truly aren’t sure what metrics to track or what the data might indicate.
Defining the right social media metrics is key to meeting dealership business objectives and makes it so much easier to measure ROI (return on investment).
Two factors weigh heavily in computing ROI: Costs and Metrics.
Costs are the investments required to meet dealership objectives. Many dealers don’t measure and analyze each cost associated with social media marketing:
- Attention (there’s a reason it’s called “paying attention”)
- Labor/HR
- Financial
- Training
- Organizational development
- Social technology
- Agencies and/or consultants
- Paid media (such as Facebook ads)
- Employee engagement
One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.
Metrics are how you measure the result of your investments.
Tracking the right social media metrics to determine ROI is challenging. With real-time data providing cues to re-work certain tactics, it’s crucial to designate someone whose job is to track and analyze. Restructure of the dealership’s organizational framework may be required.
A marketing team’s comfort in working with data and analytics is critical. Tracking the right metrics is important but so is knowing what to do once you have the data, especially when things aren’t going as planned.
Measuring metrics and analyzing results is formidable and careful consideration should be taken. Sometimes, a social media audit is called for. Due to the unique nature of the data, and the social aspect of the medium, it’s essential to isolate issues and determine true success.
Achieving dealership objectives with social media requires experiential knowledge to make metrics meaningful. Tracking and auditing results is most beneficial when you know the right metrics to measure.
“One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.”
Here are the “Top 5” dealership business objectives, including the relevant social media metrics you’ll want to track.
Objective 1: Retain Current Customers
- Reach is an important social metric for all business objectives. However, it’s far easier to sell to existing customers than it is to strangers.
- Engagement (comments, likes, shares, retweets, re-grams).Engagement is the kingpin of everything social. How are existing customers engaging with your content?
- Customers do not consume in silence. What common words or themes are customers saying?
- Return visits from social media.How are you tracking visitors to your website? What tactics are you using to engage them on an ongoing basis?
Objective 2: Engage New Potential Customers
- Increase in likes, followers. Is there a specific plan to increase your audience? Which platform, by how much and by when?
- Content. What types of content are getting most engagement?
- New opt-ins from social media. Are you offering valuable information at no-charge in exchange for contact info?
- Customer acquisition. How many, at what cost, over what period of time?
- Audience demographics. Are the people you’re reaching actually your target customers?
Objective 3: Improve Customer Satisfaction
- Responsiveness to messages and reviews. Everyone likes to be heard. Responsiveness gives prospective customers a glimpse of how you handle concerns, issues and questions.
- Response time. 42% of social customers expect a response time within 60 minutes. Is your company prepared to handle social media inquires within the hour?
- Online reviews. What’s the company’s practice for building a successful review funnel?
- Negative feedback (reviews, hide posts, unlike page, unfollows). How often is it happening? How is this handled within the organization?
Objective 4: Establish Earned Authority and Trust
- Traffic and time on site from social media. “Social signals” let Google know your site is being talked about. Hopefully, there’s a live human managing your social channels to keep the engagement high.
- Links to your site from social media. When social signals (tweets and likes) turn into social shares, further value comes into play. People share good content and link to your site. Social media then becomes a huge win for SEO.
- Amplification (shares and retweets by others). Evidence that your content resonates. Sharing provides social proof.
- Opt-ins for “free” helpful content. One of the best ways to develop trust is to offer valuable tips/information at no-charge in exchange for an email address. Have you explored this tactic? Are you testing which content is getting the most opt-ins?
- Video views. How much time did people spend viewing your video? How many watched it all the way through?
Objective 5: Increase Sales
- Facebook ad spend vs. results. Are you setting goals for Facebook ads? Did each ad achieve its intended goal?
- Facebook ad Relevance. How did your offer resonate with the intended audience?
- Organic vs. Paid engagement. Are your posts resonating with your audience before you pay to promote them?
- Growth of audience who visited your site from social. Which campaigns brought the most visitors?
- Leads. Are you tracking with landing pages and lead forms?
- Conversions. How many sales from social or with a social media assist?
- Revenue generated. What is your monthly revenue from social media?
In Conclusion…
Determining the costs and tracking the right social media metrics will provide the data to measure true ROI.
Use these recommendations to put optimal processes in place. Your marketing decisions will become better informed, your social media will be more successful and the puzzle pieces will finally fit together on social media ROI.