In the first part of this series (published January 2018), we critically examined the prevalent reliance on “SLRVVs” – Shares, Likes, Reach, Views, and Visits – as primary indicators of success in social media marketing (SMM). We argued that while these metrics offer a surface-level view of activity and popularity, they often fall short of demonstrating tangible business impact and can trap marketers in a cycle of optimizing for vanity rather than value¹. As we step into 2019, with SMM firmly entrenched in the marketing mix and the demand for accountability higher than ever, the imperative to measure what truly matters becomes even more critical.

Moving beyond the SLRVV trap requires a shift in focus from metrics that simply quantify exposure or superficial interaction to those that provide deeper insights into consumer behavior, track progress through the marketing funnel, and ultimately link social media activities to measurable business outcomes like leads, customers, and revenue. This second installment of our series explores the metrics that offer a more meaningful assessment of SMM effectiveness, drawing on the research and analytical capabilities available as of late 2018.

Measuring Deeper Engagement and Traffic Quality

While Likes and Shares indicate a user saw and reacted to content, they don’t tell us much about the quality of that interaction or the user’s subsequent behavior. To understand deeper engagement and the value of traffic driven from social media, marketers need to look at metrics like:

  • Engagement Rate: Instead of just counting raw Likes or Shares, the engagement rate measures these interactions relative to the audience size (e.g., engagements per post divided by follower count or reach)²’¹². This provides a more standardized metric for comparing the performance of different posts or accounts, indicating how well content resonates with the audience it reaches²’¹². A high engagement rate suggests content is compelling enough to elicit a response beyond passive consumption¹⁰.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): When social media content includes a link to a website or other digital property, CTR measures the percentage of users who saw the content and clicked the link¹². This is a crucial metric for assessing social media’s effectiveness in driving traffic to owned channels and indicates how compelling the call to action and the content itself are in motivating users to learn more¹².
  • Social Media Referral Traffic Behavior: Once users arrive on a website from social media, their behavior provides valuable insights into the quality of that traffic⁵. Metrics like bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing only one page), time on site, and pages per session reveal whether social media is driving engaged visitors who explore the site or merely sending fleeting traffic⁵. High bounce rates and low time on site for social referrals might indicate a mismatch between the social media content and the landing page experience, or that the audience attracted from social media isn’t truly interested in the website’s offerings⁵.

These metrics begin to paint a more nuanced picture than simple SLRVVs, indicating not just that content was seen or received a quick reaction, but that it prompted a more significant interaction or led to valuable traffic.

Connecting to the Marketing Funnel: Leads and Conversions

To demonstrate social media’s contribution further down the marketing funnel, marketers need to track metrics that directly relate to lead generation and conversion⁶.

  • Lead Generation Volume and Quality: Social media can be a source of leads through various mechanisms, such as driving traffic to landing pages with forms, collecting information through social media forms, or generating inquiries via direct messages⁴. Tracking the number of leads generated from social media provides a direct link to a key business outcome⁴. Furthermore, assessing the quality of these leads (e.g., their likelihood to convert into paying customers) is crucial for understanding the true value of social media as a lead generation channel⁴.
  • Conversion Rate from Social Media: This metric measures the percentage of visitors from social media who complete a desired action on a website or landing page, such as making a purchase, signing up for a service, or downloading a resource¹². Tracking conversion rates specifically for social media traffic allows marketers to quantify social media’s effectiveness in driving valuable outcomes¹². This requires proper tracking setup, often using UTM parameters and conversion goals in web analytics platforms¹².

These metrics move beyond simple activity counts to demonstrate how social media contributes to building a database of potential customers and driving them towards desired actions.

Quantifying Business Impact: Cost and Value

Ultimately, marketing’s value is often measured in financial terms. Connecting social media activities to cost and long-term value is essential for demonstrating ROI⁷.

  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) from Social Media: CAC measures the average cost of acquiring a new customer through a specific channel⁵. By dividing the total spend on social media marketing (including content creation, advertising, tools, and personnel time) by the number of new customers acquired directly from social media, marketers can calculate the CAC for social media⁵. Comparing this CAC to other channels and to the customer’s expected lifetime value provides a crucial measure of social media’s efficiency and profitability⁷. Research available up to late 2018 highlighted the increasing importance of calculating channel-specific CAC to optimize marketing spend⁵.
  • Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) Influenced by Social Media: While directly attributing a customer’s entire lifetime value solely to social media is complex, research is beginning to explore the influence of social media engagement on CLV⁶. Metrics like customer retention rates for customers acquired through social media, or the CLV of customers who actively engage with the brand on social platforms compared to those who don’t, can provide insights into social media’s long-term value contribution⁶. As of 2018, this area was still developing, but the recognition of social media’s potential impact on long-term relationships was growing⁶.

These financial metrics provide a more compelling case for social media investment than simply reporting high SLRVV numbers.

Listening and Understanding: Beyond the Numbers

While quantitative metrics are essential, social media also offers rich qualitative data that provides context and deeper understanding¹⁴.

  • Social Listening and Sentiment Analysis: Monitoring conversations about the brand, products, competitors, and industry on social media provides invaluable insights into public perception, emerging trends, and customer needs¹⁴. Sentiment analysis, which uses natural language processing to determine the emotional tone of social media mentions, helps marketers understand how people feel about the brand, not just how often they mention it¹⁴. This qualitative data is crucial for informing content strategy, identifying potential issues, and understanding the impact of SMM on brand health¹⁴.

Conclusion: Towards a More Meaningful Measurement Framework in 2019

As we move forward in 2019, the era of relying solely on SLRVVs to demonstrate social media success is rapidly fading. While Shares, Likes, Reach, Views, and Visits still have a place in the measurement framework, particularly for tracking initial awareness and content distribution, they must be complemented by metrics that provide deeper insights into engagement quality, traffic behavior, lead generation, conversion, and ultimately, financial impact.

Metrics like Engagement Rate, CTR, Social Media Referral Traffic Behavior, Lead Volume and Quality, Conversion Rate from Social Media, CAC from Social Media, and insights from Social Listening offer a more robust and meaningful way to assess SMM effectiveness and demonstrate its contribution throughout the entire marketing funnel and to the business’s bottom line.

The challenge for marketers in 2019 is to implement the necessary tracking and analytics capabilities to capture these metrics, integrate social media data with other marketing data sources, and develop a comprehensive measurement framework that aligns social media activities with overarching business objectives.

In the next part of this series, we will delve deeper into the challenges of social media measurement, including data integration and attribution, and explore more advanced analytical approaches available as of early 2019 for quantifying SMM’s true value.

Endnotes

  1. Hoffman, D. L., & Fodor, M. (2010). Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing?. MIT Sloan Management Review, 52(1), 41-49.
  2. Berger, J., & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What makes online content viral?. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192-205.
  3. Saravanakumar, K., & SuganthaLakshmi, T. (2012). Social media marketing. Life Science Journal, 9(4), 4444-4451.
  4. Zahay, D., & Griffin, A. (2004). Data-driven marketing in the age of the internet. Business Horizons, 47(4), 33-40.
  5. Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. M., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination. Journal of Marketing Channels, 21(3), 314-330.
  6. Rust, R. T., Lemon, K. N., & Zeithaml, V. A. (2004). Return on marketing: Using customer equity to focus marketing strategy. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 109-127.
  7. Michaelidou, N., Siamagka, N. T., & Christodoulides, G. (2011). Usage, barriers and measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and medium B2B brands. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(5), 765-778.
  8. Culnan, M. J., McHugh, P. J., & Zubillaga, J. I. (2010). How large US companies can use Twitter and other social media to gain business value. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4), 243-259.
  9. Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., & Hinsch, C. (2017). Elements of strategic social media marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 70, 118-126.
  10. Hollebeek, L. D., Glynn, M. S., & Brodie, R. J. (2014). Consumer brand engagement in social media: Conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(2), 149-165.
  11. Marketing Attribution. (n.d.). Marketing attribution explained. Google. (Accessed prior to Jan 2018).
  12. Social Media Metrics. (n.d.). 13 Metrics to Track for Social Media Success. (Accessed prior to Jan 2019).
  13. Engagement Rate. (n.d.). Engagement Rate. Socialinsider. (Accessed prior to Jan 2019).
  14. Social Listening. (n.d.). Social Listening. EBSCOhost Research Starters. (Accessed prior to Jan 2019)