Small Business Marketing: 4 Social Media Metrics Tools

One of the reasons businesses use social media is for lead generation. For this reason, marketing tools are available to measure the return on investment (ROI). There is a host of tools to help companies reach their prospect goals such as Google Analytics, Hootsuite and Bit.ly. Like all online marketing strategies, social media requires knowledge and time to implement successfully.

There are some tools that measure all online marketing activities including website, referral traffic, return or new visitors and gender of the visitors that mostly read a site's content. I will start with one of the most popular measuring tools - Google Analytics.

Google Analytics: This Google software enables businesses of all sizes to measure their online marketing performance. Once the analytic code is added to the site, companies can view the amount of traffic that is coming to their website. They can also see the amount of referral traffic that comes to their site from social media networks and other links. Google Analytics also provides the option to set goals. The feature helps companies identify how many visitors converted into subscribers. Measuring this activity is extremely useful to know how many and what amount of customers you are receiving from your referral traffic.

Hootsuite: This program provides two services - automation and analytics. Using a Hootsuite paid account, companies can view the best times to schedule their posts to reach the most contacts. It is an excellent way to keep an active professional presence on the platforms. After a few posts, Hootsuite will give you a report of the best time to automate your general posts. The program will show you how many interactions, clicks and views you are receiving from your posts. I do recommend that you do not use this tool to respond to contacts as it can be a turn-off.

Click here for a FREE 30 day trial with Hootsuite to help you manage social media for your business.

Bit.ly: This program shortens your links to post on social media. You can upgrade to a paid account, and it also gives you a report on the amount of clicks, the referral clicks and the percentage of traffic that is coming from other countries like Google Analytics. You can also view mobile clicks, and the best part of Bit.ly's paid service is customisation. To upgrade customers complete a form and based on the company's position and size, Bit.ly customises a package for the business.

As implied all of the above programs, have free versions that are available to everyone. Most tools will provide a free option to give customers an idea of the benefits they provide. SocialBro follows this same model.

SocialBro is a Twitter product that helps you get the most out of your marketing activities on Twitter. SocialBro integrates with Hootsuite helping companies schedule posts at the best times to reach the largest amount of its followers.

This tool is great when you are building a following on Twitter's platform and want to ensure that your interactions are genuine. With some paid services to get more followers, the accounts that 'follow' are fake accounts. They are placeholders to gain numbers not qualified contacts. SocialBro identifies inactive followers or inactive accounts that a company follows so a list of valid contacts interested in the brand can be created. It is important to make qualified contacts because that is how to sustain brand loyalty and attract new customers.

These are just some of the tools that can help measure the return on investment for time on social media. These programs confirm if your marketing activities meet the projections stated. As the number of contacts and interactions increase so will the brand loyalty and new customers. Remember, to answer the question, "what is this social media thing doing for the business?" use measuring tools to get the numbers.

Click here for a FREE 30 day trial with Hootsuite to help you manage social media for your business.

By Electra Ford  - Article Source: EzineArticles.com/9062314