Social Media Marketing: Listening to Your Market

Content marketing grew big last year, and is set to grow even further this 2016. After all, content remains to be one of the pillars upon which online communities are built. Various types of materials, including visuals such as images and infographics, as well as audio files such as podcasts, are just some of the things that can be released especially for social media marketing.

To reap the most benefits from content marketing, however, organizations should first and foremost understand how to evaluate the results of their efforts, and how to conduct prompt and thorough “social listening.”

Google provides an excellent tool in the form of Google Analytics, through which companies can observe the impact of their efforts based on a number of factors. Many of the features on its dashboard can also be found on the content management systems of blogs and social media platforms like Facebook, but at least via Google Analytics, online community managers can measure the exposure of the company content using the same tools, parameters, and sample.

Among the important factors to look at are: total traffic, time on site, bounce rate, and exit rate. Organizations should find out which of their materials garnered the most interest and engaged the viewers for a long time. They should note the demographic drawn by this material, as well as the themes that piqued people’s curiosity.

Relatedly, community managers looking to publish promotional materials for their brand on a paid platform should choose the site that offers these types of insights and metrics, answering such questions as “Who actually reads what I publish?”, “What type of content is the most appealing for my target market?” and “What keywords do users type to get linked to my company’s social media entries?”

By going through this admittedly messy and tedious step of social listening, more effective strategies can be developed, and company resources spent towards the production of content can then be maximized. Community managers can also find the best types of platforms for publishing, and learn how to improve their content to better cater to the needs and interests of their target market.

While many companies are lacking in this task, with this New Year comes the opportunities to promote our brands with precision. Get in touch with a full-service provider of digital marketing solutions today, to become better at social media marketing this 2016, and for the years to come.