08 Feb 3 Ways to Connect Paid Social to Business Metrics
Since our agency started, back in 2007, social media has evolved drastically. There are social channels that have come and gone, hundreds of algorithm changes and just as many new ad units. One of the most exciting advancements the social channels have made is the metrics associated with paid social ads. These metrics have evolved beyond impressions and likes into metrics that impact the business. We will evaluate a few ways to connect those paid media results to business metrics.
Mapping Paid Social Metrics to the Customer Journey
According to research from GlobalWebIndex, we know that social plays an important role in the customer journey. As a full-service social advertising agency, we are able to integrate analytics and paid seamlessly to map paid social metrics to the customer journey for clients. Customer journeys can look
very different depending on the industry which is why we take a unique approach for each brand. Mapping these metrics is the first step to understanding how to connect your paid social to business metrics. For example, under awareness you should place your total reach and social impressions. We have outlined the map below as a helpful starting point to laying out your social metrics along the journey.
Since it is usually the lowest funnel metrics that gets upper management excited, we will focus on just that for the remaining metrics.
Online and Offline Social Conversion
One of the most exciting ad objectives Facebook has implemented is conversions. To use this objective, you will need to have the Facebook pixel. Online conversions are obviously more straightforward when it comes to attribution because e-commerce analytics platforms can track referral paths via tags, cookies and the pixel.
Offline conversion is more difficult, but it is worth the effort to fill in the large gaps of paid social efforts that come from in-store sales. At a high level, Facebook matches what it knows about the user to sales record data uploaded by the brand. Sales data includes date of purchase, purchase value, and a customer identifier (name and email). To understand the process in more detail, check out our post on What You Need to Know About Facebook Offline Conversions.
Driving Lead Generation
Another lower funnel objective is driving lead generation. We typically see this as a focus for B2B clients but also some B2C. Lead generation campaigns can be run across just about every social network. The calls-to-action can range from sign-up for a newsletter to follow-ups to receive information via phone or email. These leads can be used for retargeting on social but also passed to other areas of the marketing departments for cultivation. Gathering leads from social can show a direct correlation to business metrics.
Bonus tip—to see the best results with your paid media spend, you need great content. Check out our methodology for creating great content in our Mindset in the Moment™ Whitepaper.
If you need help mapping your metrics and even your social media content to the customer journey, we have come up with a new approach that does just that.
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