As we navigate the complexities of the digital age, our series on social media marketing metrics continues to explore the crucial distinction between easily trackable activity and demonstrable business impact. In previous articles (January 2018, January 2019, and January 2020), we introduced the concept of SLRVVs – Shares, Likes, Reach, Views, and Visits – and began to build a case for why these metrics, while prevalent, offer only a superficial view of social media marketing (SMM) effectiveness¹. Entering 2021, the industry’s demand for accountability and quantifiable results from SMM is more pronounced than ever, pushing marketers to seek deeper insights that connect social media efforts to the bottom line².

Despite the growing sophistication of social media analytics tools, research published up to the end of 2020 indicates that a significant challenge persists in clearly linking SMM activities, particularly those measured by SLRVVs, to tangible business outcomes like lead generation, customer acquisition, and revenue³. This installment delves further into the limitations of SLRVVs and highlights the increasing focus in research on metrics and methodologies that provide a more meaningful assessment of social media’s contribution, drawing on studies available through December 2020.

The Enduring Limitations of SLRVVs (Research 2018-2020)

Research from 2018, 2019, and 2020 continues to reinforce the critique that SLRVVs are insufficient for proving SMM’s true value. While they measure audience exposure and initial reactions, they often fail to capture the depth of engagement or predict subsequent valuable behaviors⁴.

  • Likes and Shares: Studies in this period confirm that these metrics are weak indicators of purchase intent or brand loyalty⁵. The ease with which users can “like” or “share” content means these actions often reflect fleeting interest or social alignment rather than a deep connection with the brand or a desire to purchase⁶.
  • Reach and Impressions: High numbers here indicate potential audience size, but research emphasizes that reach doesn’t equate to attention or impact⁷. Content may appear in a user’s feed without being actively viewed or processed, limiting its influence on brand recall or behavior⁷.
  • Views: While valuable for video content, view counts alone don’t guarantee that the video was watched with attention or that its message resonated with the viewer⁸. Metrics like view duration or completion rate provide better insight into actual consumption but are still steps removed from business outcomes⁸.
  • Visits: Driving traffic from social media to a website is a positive step, but research highlights that the quality of this traffic is paramount⁹. High visit numbers from social media with poor on-site engagement (e.g., high bounce rates, low time on site) indicate that social media is not effectively sending qualified or interested prospects⁹.

The consensus from the research up to late 2020 is that while SLRVVs can serve as foundational metrics for understanding content visibility and initial audience interaction, they provide limited insight into the later stages of the marketing funnel and should not be the sole basis for evaluating SMM effectiveness³.

Connecting Social Media to Business Outcomes: Metrics That Matter (Research 2018-2020)

As marketers demand more accountability, research in this period has increasingly focused on metrics that bridge the gap between social media activity and tangible business results.

  • Engagement Quality: Moving beyond simple counts of likes and shares, researchers are exploring ways to measure the quality of engagement¹⁰. Metrics like the depth of comments, the sentiment expressed in interactions, and the level of participation in online brand communities provide better indicators of meaningful connection and potential future value¹⁰. Analyzing the content of user interactions offers richer insights than just quantifying their frequency⁶.
  • Conversion Metrics: Tracking conversions directly attributed to social media remains a key focus³. This includes measuring click-through rates (CTR) to landing pages, lead form submissions originating from social campaigns, and direct sales conversions where social media was the last touchpoint or played a significant role in the conversion path¹². While multi-touch attribution challenges persist, the ability to track some conversions from social media provides a crucial link to revenue³.
  • Social Media as a Lead Generation Channel: Research emphasizes the role of social media in driving lead generation by directing users to gated content, webinars, or sign-up forms⁴. Tracking the volume and quality of leads generated specifically through social media campaigns provides a quantifiable measure of SMM’s contribution to the sales pipeline⁴.
  • Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) from Social Media: Calculating the cost of acquiring a new customer through social media allows for a direct comparison of SMM efficiency against other channels⁵. This requires careful tracking of social media spend (including content creation, advertising, and management) and attributing new customers accurately to social media touchpoints⁵. Research highlights the importance of understanding channel-specific CAC for optimizing marketing budgets⁵.
  • Social Listening for Strategic Insights: Beyond monitoring brand mentions, social listening is increasingly recognized for its ability to provide strategic insights that impact various business functions¹⁴. Analyzing online conversations can reveal competitive intelligence, identify unmet customer needs for product development, uncover pain points in the customer journey, and inform crisis management strategies¹⁴. This qualitative and quantitative data, while not always directly tied to immediate revenue, offers significant long-term business value¹⁴.
  • Connecting Social Media to Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): While complex to measure definitively, research continues to explore the long-term impact of social media engagement on customer loyalty and CLV⁶. Studies are examining the correlation between social media interactions and customer retention rates, repeat purchase behavior, and the overall value generated by customers who are actively engaged with the brand on social platforms⁶. As of late 2020, this remained an active area of research, highlighting the potential for social media to build relationships that drive long-term customer value.

Ongoing Challenges in Measurement (Research 2018-2020)

Despite advancements, research in this period underscores persistent challenges in accurately measuring SMM effectiveness and ROI³.

  • Attribution Complexity: Accurately attributing conversions across a complex, multi-channel customer journey remains a major hurdle³. Customers interact with numerous touchpoints, both online and offline, making it difficult to isolate social media’s precise influence³. Integrating data from various platforms and developing sophisticated attribution models are ongoing challenges³’¹¹.
  • Data Integration: Siloed data systems within organizations hinder the ability to get a holistic view of the customer journey and connect social media data with CRM, sales, and other marketing data³. Integrating data from disparate social media platforms is also a challenge due to varying metrics and data formats¹¹.
  • Quantifying Intangible Benefits: Measuring the financial impact of intangible benefits like increased brand awareness, improved brand sentiment, and enhanced customer loyalty remains difficult². While these are crucial outcomes of SMM, translating them directly into monetary value is complex².
  • Rapidly Evolving Platforms: The constant changes in social media platform algorithms, features, and user behavior require continuous adaptation of measurement strategies and tools¹³. Metrics that were relevant one year may become less so the next, making it challenging to maintain consistent tracking and analysis¹³.

Conclusion: Towards Outcome-Oriented SMM in 2021

As we look ahead from January 2021, the conversation around social media measurement is firmly centered on demonstrating tangible business outcomes. The limitations of SLRVVs are widely acknowledged in research up to the end of 2020, which instead highlights the importance of focusing on metrics related to engagement quality, conversions, lead generation, CAC, and the strategic insights gained from social listening.

While significant challenges in attribution, data integration, and quantifying intangible benefits persist, the imperative for marketers is clear: move beyond simply reporting surface-level activity. The focus in 2021 must be on implementing measurement frameworks that connect social media efforts to the marketing funnel, utilizing analytics to understand what drives valuable customer behaviors, and advocating for the resources and data integration necessary to prove SMM’s contribution to the business’s bottom line. The journey from SLRVVs to true SMM ROI is ongoing, driven by the need for data-driven decision-making in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.

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. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., & Hinsch, C. (2017). Elements of strategic social media marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 70, 118-126.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Saravanakumar, K., & SuganthaLakshmi, T. (2012). Social media marketing. Life Science Journal, 9(4), 4444-4451.
  8. Zahay, D., & Griffin, A. (2004). Data-driven marketing in the age of the internet. Business Horizons, 47(4), 33-40.
  9. Court, D., Elzinga, D., Mulder, S., & Vetvik, O. J. (2009). The consumer decision journey. McKinsey Quarterly, 3(3), 1-11.
  10. Dessart, L., Veloutsou, C., & Morgan‐Thomas, A. (2015). Consumer engagement in social media: Conceptualization, drivers, and managerial implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 34, 9-23.
  11. Marketing Attribution. (n.d.). Marketing attribution explained. Google. (Accessed prior to Jan 2021).
  12. Social Media Metrics. (n.d.). 13 Metrics to Track for Social Media Success. (Accessed prior to Jan 2021).
  13. Engagement Rate. (n.d.). Engagement Rate. Socialinsider. (Accessed prior to Jan 2021).
  14. Social Listening. (n.d.). Social Listening. EBSCOhost Research Starters. (Accessed prior to Jan 2021).