5 ways to make social media measurement easier

Unfortunately, measurement is a beast that must be tamed to justify your efforts, improve effectiveness, and monitor your progress.

Don’t fret. We discussed how to make measurement more manageable in a recent #RaganSocial Twitter chat. Here’s some advice from your peers in the trenches:

1. Set clear goals.

Don’t blindly measure likes, retweets, shares and other metrics. Have a strategy. Your measurement plan (and your overall social media strategy) should reflect your company’s business objectives.

Is your company trying to market a particular product? Measure how effective your posts about the product are. Do people share, like and engage with those posts?

Perhaps your company is trying to align itself with a specific service. Measure how much you engage with people in your industry and if your audience begins to see your company as a thought leader in that space.

2. Stay organized.

Use an Excel document to track your goals. I created an Excel document with tabs for each social network Ragan has a presence on. Every Monday—and because I like alliteration, Monday Measurement—I track the following: