Question

• What characteristics or benchmarks can be used to assess the business value of a company such as Twitter?

Answer 1

There are three key performance indicators every social marketer should constantly be striving to measure and meet: conversion rate, engagement rate and audience reach.

The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors that take a desired action on a website. Boosting website exposure and conversion through social media is now a primary utility in ecommerce and digital marketing. Benchmarking your conversion rate, (month-to-month, week-to-week) can reveal the efficiency of your social tactics.

Engagement rate, as defined by Simply Measured, is a “consistent calculation” meant to measure the level of engagement across all pieces of content shared on a particular platform. Basically, it’s a metric that allows you to benchmark content performance based on audience interaction. Likes, shares, favorites, upvotes and comments are all performance indicators that determine how your content resonates with your audience.Engagement reporting is highly variable and dependant on your marketing goals

Reach, the total number of people your content is served to, is another familiar element in social reporting. With any reach calculation, its important that we differentiate between organic and paid reach to justify campaign costs.

Comparative Benchmarks: Competitors

If you want to make an impact in your industry’s niche, one of your first steps should be to identify your brand’s major competitors and gauge their foothold and performance in your shared social space. A clear understanding of what your competitors are doing right (and wrong) will inform your social strategy.