Let me hear you say ROI!

Not a week goes by where I don’t hear someone say they're not sure whether social media returns any bang for their buck, and it’s hard, if not impossible, to measure.  Luckily for you they’re a wrong. How very wrong they are. And just as social media has evolved from a niche media to a mass media, so have the tools and techniques available to measure it.

I actually had so much to say about that I’ve split it into two blog posts! So here is Part 1.

 Measuring your ROI will depend on what your ultimate goal is.

1. Online sales and leads from ad campaigns – Drop the Facebook conversion pixel on the sales confirmation page of your website. It’s as simple as copying and pasting a line of code. Facebook will record when anyone either see’s or clicks on your ads and then goes on to convert.  They’ll also be able to tell you what ad they saw, where, and what the broad age and gender of those who converted were, so you can not only measure your cost per conversion but also gain valuable insights about your customers.
2.  Use Google analytics to measure sales from posts – if you’re not advertising, the Facebook conversion pixel won’t pick up sales from posts on your page but google analytics can.  When you’re posting a link (and let’s face it, if you have a transactional site then driving traffic from your page should be high on the priority list) add a UTM tag to the link. Without one, Google will classify all traffic from Facebook just as referral traffic, but with a UTM tag you can add up to details such as campaign, product & creative to help you identify what posts are working. Use UTM tags to test different creative types (price point, brands, B&W vs Colour imagery etc) and use the findings to create content which drives ROI.
3. In store: Facebook offers: Facebook has a built in offer post designed to drive people in-store. The offer allows you to set a limit, a time limit, upload a barcode to track sales and set a reminder for your customer to claim the deal. Target the right offer to the right consumer and measure the footfall through redemptions.
4.   Facebook only promotion or deal – this works for both in-store and online sales. Launch a new product on Facebook only or run a sale on Facebook.  Sam's Chowder House, for example, ran a status update on its Facebook Page about a special and doubled their business that day compared to the same day the previous year.
5.  Geo: A/B test. Sport Chek in Canada tested the efficacy of Facebook during a national campaign by running Facebook advertising in one province only, while all other variables were kept the same. Over a series of tests they found they could boost sales by an incredible 17% by including Facebook in the media mix.

So there're 5 simple strategies. Stay tuned for part 2 where I'll talk more about upper funnel metrics such as awareness and consideration.