Tracking Success with Social Networking

Tracking social networking success is something that most businesses struggle with in the beginning of their campaign. Adding value through creating communities is not a new concept, but businesses seek concrete numbers to assure them that their funding the most effective marketing initiatives. Here are a few of the ways you can track your success with social networking.

Google Analytics – If you don’t already have this set up, you’re missing out. It’s fairly simple.

1. Set up a Google Analytics account here: http://www.google.com/analytics.
2. Next, paste the code into your website pages just before the tag: </body>.
3. Check tomorrow morning to see if your results show up.  Google updates them every 24 hours, so what happens today shows up tomorrow.

Tip: If you’re using a program like WordPress or Drupal to manage your blog or website, there are plugins and modules available to make this process even easier.

Once you’re set up, you can access your Analytics account to view “referral sources” such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc.  You can also see how many visitors came from each source and which keywords were used to find your website.  This is a great tool for making your website more user-friendly.

Twitter Management Tools

There are many options for managing your Twitter account aside from Twitter itself.  A few of options are Brizzly, TweetDeck (very popular) and SocialOomph.

One of our favorites is Hootsuite which tracks clicks as long as you use their built-in link shrink system.  Hootsuite links are also tracked in Google Analytics.  With this system, you can manage multiple accounts seamlessly, and track clicks per individual tweets or over a period of time.

Coupon Codes & Twitter Incentives

If you’re in the business of selling online, you’re in luck.  Many businesses are tweeting coupon codes to their community which can then be tracked back to their websites and sales.  I live in the New York City area, and many of the local street vendors are using Twitter to let their regular customers know where they’ll be parked for the day.  Street vending is a big business in the city and many of these vendors attribute Twitter and Facebook with their high rate of  repeat customers.  Be creative, if you post a tweet that says the next person in your store to quack like a duck or sing the Star Spangled Banner will get a 50% discount, you’ll probably be surprised at the reception.

Ask Your Customers

There’s a good chance that you have Twitter and Facebook followers who have never even clicked into your website directly from Twitter or Facebook.  With that said, they may visit your store, check you out at the local farmer’s market or remember your name when they need some law consultation done. Only you will know the best way to track your social network.  Ask your clients.

• If you’re an online store, include the “Where did you hear about us?” question in your order form.
• If you’re a retail store, leave a “Thanks for following us on Twitter! Let us follow you back” sign on your counter and see how many customers will leave you their Twitter name.  This is a great way to reach out to your current customers with on-going sales and reminders.

Being yourself and contributing to your community is the secret to success in social networking.

Tags: ask, facebook, google analytics, management tools, social networking, tracking, twitter