In Social Media, Analytics Are Key

Following is the latest in a series of guest columns by social media strategist Catherine Heeg.

Measure. Monitor. Metrics. These are key words in social media today as they deliver powerful insights into your audience engagement. Let’s explore essential measurement tools that will boost your effectiveness.

Many of us find that merely executing a social marketing plan is demanding enough. Fortunately there are easy ways to take it up a level. Engagement and sentiment are crucial metrics that you can use to boost the power of your social media outreach.

FACEBOOK ANALYTICS
Imagine knowing when your Facebook fans are available to read your latest post. With these tools you’ll have that information at your fingertips.

Once your Facebook fan count exceeds 30 you’ll have access to fan demographics and reach.

Facebook page insights
When studying your page insights, re-order the list of your posts by reach. To do this, click on the down arrow next to the reach heading, and it will re-order from lowest to highest or the reverse order. These are the number of unique people who have seen your post.

Study each post to see what time and day it was launched on your Facebook page.

Check out what type of posts are generating the best reach for you. Are they posts that share photos, links or ask questions? Dig deeper into the analytics to look for trends, then put out your next series of posts based on this information.

Tip: Test your strategy over a couple of weeks to see what other patterns emerge. Then build on your success by posting in a similar style to reach an even bigger audience.

Putting page insights to work
Recently I was talking with a travel client who had a really good handle on the demographics of their client base. When we started digging into the analytics of their Facebook fans we found the demographic skewed much younger.

We were then able to adapt the client’s posting voice to appeal to this demographic. This is a powerful way to use a different channel of communication to reach another audience and grow your business.

To investigate your own page insights on Facebook, click on “people” (to the far right), then study the age, gender and location of your fans. Here’s how it looks.

Tip: Don’t forget to look at the cities your fans hail from. Ya’ll can adapt your voice there as well, eh? (That’s my Southern drawl and Canadiana combined.)

Social fans today demand relevant, up-to-the-minute information that will help them plan and book their next trip with you. Make sure you deliver.

Crowdbooster
Crowdbooster is a powerful platform that, for a nominal monthly fee, allows you to measure your success on Facebook and Twitter.

Crowdbooster’s graphs and charts are a bit more in-depth than Facebook’s page insights, giving you easy-to-understand visual information with plenty of opportunity to drill down to study audience reaction and growth.

Crowdbooster  also shows your biggest social advocates so you can build relationships and show them how much you love them too.

PINTEREST ANALYTICS
Here’s a look at measurement tools that can help you boost your effectiveness in Pinterest.

Tailwind
Tailwind gives you a peek into your audience behavior by tracking fans, followers, likes, pins and boards. I find this really useful to see which boards and pins are most viral.

The next tactic is to produce similar content to take your site to the next level.

The free version gives you valuable reporting; there is a paid version as well.

ViralTag
Formerly known as Pingraphy, ViralTag has an entry level price point that lets you upload and schedule up to 100 pins each month.

The higher levels of investment give you analytics and greater flexibility with upload sources.

Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest recently added a free analytics tool. You’ll find some great charts and graphs on your own Pinterest site.

Boost your effectiveness by using these tools to understand your audience. Then put together a relevant social strategy to engage and maximize your sales.

Catherine Heeg is president of Customized Management Solutions. An international speaker and trainer, she delivers interactive social media, marketing and communication workshops and webinars for clients in the travel industry. Connect with her at http://www.cmsspeaking.com/contact.php and socially: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest.