If you want to find out if your social media efforts have been effective, you’ll need to conduct a social media analysis. Quite frankly, it doesn’t make sense to keep posting on socials if you don’t have a plan. If you do have a plan, it should be assessed for effectiveness. Social media analysis can provide the metrics you need to guide future marketing campaigns.
An analysis of social media is no small task. However, it is worth mentioning that leading companies like NetBase can make the process much easier. In fact, they can do all of the leg work for you through social media listening and deep-dive analysis. NetBase is a leader among social analytic companies for a reason. It’s because they help brands develop successful marketing strategies with remarkable results.
Choosing the Right Metrics
There are different metrics that you can use for your social media analysis. Which metrics to review will depend on your goals. It will also depend on the platform that you have chosen to use. A simplistic way to assess metrics so that you have an at-a-glance view of what’s happening with your socials is by creating a spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet should have all of your social accounts listed with the metrics that you want to examine.
The metrics that matter for one platform won’t matter as much for another one. However, if you focus on the percentage of change, that will matter across the board. Why? Because change can be an indication of growth. It can also give you insights about potential problems.
Understanding Audience Behavior
There is often a lot of talk about the number of followers a brand or influencer has. While that is one element that should be considered in social media analysis, what’s more, important is audience behavior. You can have a million followers, but very few that actually engage with your content. When examining audience behavior, you will need to look for outliers. This is because an abrupt and significant change is something that can point you in the right direction.
If you all of a sudden experience a significant increase in activity, it’s prudent to analyze why it happened and what you can do to recreate that increase. NetBase offers tools that can interpret what has happened so that you can create a strategy in response to it.
Monitoring Engagement
There’s no way around the fact that engagement is important and you must try to increase it at all times. Highs and lows in engagement matter. There should always be an effort to obtain likes, retweets, and comments. It keeps the conversation going and can result in more traffic to your website.
By understanding what’s happening, when it’s happening, and why it’s happening, you can steer the ship with a greater level of effectiveness. When there are lows in engagement, you should definitely pinpoint why and how you can prevent them in the future.
Managing Brand Reputation
The reputation of your brand should be managed with intention. You can analyze the sentiment of your brand to understand any issues that exist and what must be done to address them. The most powerful tool for this purpose is social listening. It’s great for gathering and analyzing mentions so that you can develop an appropriate response.
Performing a social media analysis isn’t a one and done task. It’s something that will require your ongoing attention. This is partly because things can change quickly online, including the sentiment about a brand. It’s always prudent to stay in front of issues to mitigate the impact.