Measuring the ROI of Social Media: KPIs

As social media continues to grow and is more frequently used as part of targeted marketing strategies, so does the need for marketers to prove the return on investment (ROI). One of the best ways to determine the ROI of a marketing channel is to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for it and then to measure them to see how successful your efforts are.

According to a recent study by Aberdeen Group, “Social Media ROI: Customer Engagement, Brand Interactivity, and Revenue,” one of the, “top three actions associated with social media initiatives is to define KPIs relevant to measuring the success of social media initiatives.”

The study, which surveyed marketers between July and August 2010, showed that the top KPIs for measuring social media ROI are:

1.   Quality of customer insights (43%)
2.   Number of repeat visitors (39%)
3.   Quality of new sales leads (36%)
4.   Quantity of new sales leads (31%)
5.   Number of comments (17%)
6.   Frequency of postings (11%)

These results show that social media measurement is becoming a priority for marketers using this channel. What KPIs do you track to determine the ROI of your social media efforts? Do you agree that the quality of your customer insights should be you’re the number one KPI?

Posted by Amberlie Denny at September 7, 2010 8:00 AM

Comments

Rob Brevé

I agree that the number one KPI is the quality of customer insights. However I had to disagree with the number two on the list. In my opinion is the quality of new sales leads definitely number two. It is far more the main goal of social media initiatives by our clients.