Clients often ask how to determine if social media marketing is an effective use of their time and money.  When working with lawyers, accountants and executives, I always find  simple answers tied to clear goals work best … so, here's my answer.    Determining the return on investment (ROI) of social media marketing is easiest when you (i) are clear about your goals, (ii) know which social media tools are best suited to make the goals a reality, (iii) know what must be tracked to determine success and (iv) have systems to measure the impact of the information being tracked.

A popular follow-up question is “What information should we track?”   Here's my list of favorite things to track when implementing a social media marketing program.

1. Page views for your website.
2. Page views for your blog.
3. Number of unique visitors to your website.
4. Number of unique visitors to your blog.
5. Sources of traffic to your website.
6. Sources of traffic to your blog.
7. Number of comments on your blog.
8. Number of RSS subscribers to your blog.
9. Number of RSS subscribers to your website.
10. Number of registered users of your blog.
11. Times of day/night people are most often viewing your website.
12. Times of day/night people are most often viewing your blog.
13. Days on which you get the most page views (for your blog and website).
14. Days on which you get the most comments.
15. Number of qualified leads from Facebook.
16. Number of qualified leads from Twitter.
17. Number of qualified leads from LinkedIn.
18. Number of qualified leads from MySpace.
19. Number of qualified leads from YouTube.
20. Number of sales from social networks (account for each social network separately).
21. Number of new subscribers to your list from social networks (account for each social network separately).
22. Number of new product ideas from social networks (account for each social network separately).
23. Number of product improvement ideas from social networks (account for each social network separately).
24. Number of customers/ client needs taken care of via social networks.
25. Number of off-line relationships initiated online (be clear about from where each relationship was initiated).
26. Geography of your visitors.

Once you are clear about what must be tracked, the next step is to develop systems to measure and analyze the data.

Inquiring minds want to know: What information will you start to track today?  Leave your response in the comment section. I want to hear from you!

Expect the Best!

Coach TC

Tasha Cooper Coleman, Esq. (Coach TC)
Speaker, Author, Executive Coach
Personal Branding & Digital Marketing Strategist for Lawyers, Law Firms and Professional Service Providers
WeCare[@]UpwardAction.com

PS – Need help developing a compelling personal brand? We can help! Brainstorm with Coach TC to get yourself moving in the right direction!