By DJ Muller
Despite the possible negative effects of using social media to interact with your users, it is still an absolute sin to not participate and have a presence. According to PewResearch, 73% of online adults use social media too large of an audience to ignore. That is your audience and the audience of the future!
Why Is 4% A Great Number?
We hear the same questions daily: What is a good number of social media visits? Website visits? Leads for my website? Unfortunately, there isn’t a set answer to those questions. From a study done by Conductor, which indicates which channels are primarily responsible for website traffic, social media only accounts for two percent. The study takes it a step further and breaks down sources of website traffic across a few different industries. For instance, the travel and hospitality industry is the industry that is using social media most effectively, and it only derives 4% of its website traffic from social sources.
Using Google Analytics for Social Media Success
You need to get your 2–4%, but how do you do it? If you’re using Google Analytics to measure your website, then you know there are many easy ways you can track almost anything. Google obviously has a huge stake in tracking and analyzing social traffic since it is a competitive player in the space.
Here is a list of available social media strategy activities you should be doing and how you can use Google Analytics to measure your effectiveness:
- Social Media Listening:
If you are ‘listening’ to members, donors, consumers and social media users, then you can use their questions to provide links to your best content. By using the top ranking pages report from Google Analytics, you’ll know which pages to submit.
- Social Content:
By developing ‘sharable’ content, you make it easier to submit content to your social platforms and you allow others to help you distribute your content to their circles. Mixed media like video, infographics, and slideshares of webinars are typically better content types to share since there is a visual element to them.
- Social Media Ads:
If you’re doing social ads, you can link back to your landing pages that are optimized for the social experience. Also, be sure to optimize your website for the mobile user. Review the Google Analytics mobile reporting to see how much non-desktop traffic your website is getting.
- Social Influencers:
If your industry or profession has big social media players (think lots and lots of followers), you should considering partnering with them to develop content you can share on your website. You can see via the Website Referral report in Google Analytics which websites are already sending you traffic. This will help you track down some of those industry thought leaders.
Almost all reports will help you better understand where you should be spending your time. Remember that not every social interaction will lead to a new member or a sale, but the relationships your organization can build will pay off in the end.
DJ Muller is President, Founder, and Chief Business Development Officer of WebLink International. He can be reached through the website at http://www.weblinkinternational.com.