How to track your numbers

Using social media as a marketing platform can be highly beneficial to a business, as millions of people go online every day. This means millions of potential customers can see your business and what you are offering, without even needing to leave the house.

However, knowing how to make the most of your social media platform is not an easy job, and it can be difficult to know what you should be tracking, and how you should be tracking it. Especially whilst maximizing your money in the most efficient way possible. That’s why we have come up with four key tips you can follow to reach your business goals, and keep track of all the important stuff behind the scenes.

Tip 1: Define your social media marketing plan

In order for your business to flourish, you need to set realistic, yet enthusiastic goals for you and your team to strive for. And where there is a goal, there has to be a plan. If you’re creating a business plan to reach your goals, you NEED to know what’s going on in your business – that means your numbers, your marketing strategy and your target audience.

Ask yourself questions; how many leads do you need to reach your goal of amounts of products sold per year? Where is most of your marketing directed – on social media or more traditional methods? Which is proving the most useful for your business?

From tracking your numbers, leads and the effect of your leads, you may learn that social media marketing works better for your business, or maybe traditional methods are more effective. But once you have this knowledge, directing your marketing campaigns in the future will be much easier, and more successful.

Tip 2: Outline the social tactics to support your marketing goals

Setting your goals is the easy part. Now you have to figure out the tactics needed to reach your goals. How are you going to drive traffic to your sites, blogs and social media?

Once again, the key to learning more about driving traffic to your sites is knowing what to measure. For example, if your blog seems like a high-converter, track how many people are visiting your blog, track what they are looking at and how long they are spending on it.

This way, you can see who is visiting your blog, allowing you to re-target your audience, direct them to your other sites, and use call to actions to really get the ball rolling, turning potential customers into regulars.

Tip 3: Measure metrics that inform your decision making

When it comes to tracking the behind-the-scenes information of your business, you don’t need every last detail – some of it won’t be of any use to push your business goals. Many sites, like Facebook for example, offer a dashboard system where this information (like who is looking at what on your site) is already tracked for you. However, this will track way more information than you probably need.

The Google Data Studio also tracks these results and stores them all in one place for you, so you know where everything is and what to do with the information.

These sites track your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), allowing you quick access to the key information you need to further your business. This information may include how many visitors your website is getting, how long they are spending on it, and social aspects like follows, shares and likes. So now you will know exactly where your business is along the process, and where you need it to go.

Tip 4: Keep your dashboard up to date

If you are only checking this information monthly; there are too many variable factors, and this might mean that any action you do take may be too late or not particularly effective. Checking daily is too often to see if your marketing campaign is working, and if any changes are proving to be effective.

Instead, make checking your numbers and updating your dashboard a weekly event, so you can track your progress successfully. You may also want to dedicate another day of the week to sitting down with your team and reviewing all of the information found, so that everyone is on board with what the numbers mean and what actions you should be taking to develop your business. Subsequently, you can let your team members know if their methods are effective, or if they need to try something new or work harder – it means everyone can tie in together.

Following these general steps will eventually become second nature, and you will come to know which information is important and of use to you and your business. Tracking your progress is one of the most important ways of developing and reaching your target goals, whether they be monthly, yearly, or more. Good luck!