Now that you’ve analyzed your customer journey and created a brilliant persona, it’s time to test if your research was right!
The time is now
Coronavirus has impacted how we work and play globally and is making waves both on social media and e-commerce. According to a recent consumer research survey, Izea Insights, has shared some pretty staggering statistics. Ninety-nine percent of social media users estimate they are likely to purchase online if they are confined to their homes during the Coronavirus outbreak. Take a moment with that statistic…yes, almost 100%, if you are not online and social, you are missing an opportunity!
Additionally, those who are already social, sixty-six percent of social media users think their usage will increase because they are confined to their homes. That statistic has proven true with social media noted as one of the key sectors seeing growth. If you aren’t engaging in the conversation, again you are missing an opportunity!
It’s time to be SMART on social
Social media is a great channel to connect with your customers and prospective customers. It plays a critical role in integrated marketing communications and can facilitate seamless customer journeys. And now that you have completed your personas and defined your customer journey, you know what channels you need to engage with. Remember, however, that social media needs to be approached strategically so it’s important to take a few moments to set your goals so that you can measure your efforts. Think SMART goals – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Just posting random content will not result in a return on your time invested.
Think About KPIs
What is your Key Performance Indicator (KPI)? Right now, it may be client engagement? What better time to do a little social listening and visit your follower accounts to see what they are posting about? Spend time visiting and listening with your most active or engaged customers. You have seen the benefits of market research with your persona and customer journey development, now apply that to support your KPI of customer engagement. KPIs are tracked over time to measure progress and provide excellent insights into what is working and what isn’t. A recent post by Hootsuite offers some great examples of social KPIs. When it comes to engagement, KPIs highlighted include Applause Rate, Engagement Rate, Amplification Rate, and Virality Rate. Going with the increasing engagement KPI, let’s just review the Engagement Rate example.
Engagement Rate will show how many people are engaging with your content (clapping, liking, loving, favoriting, sharing, and commenting) compared to your total followers. The applause rate helps you to focus on creating the right content for your audience. You can track Engagement rate by determining a time period (30, 60 days, etc), adding up an individual post’s total comments, likes, and shares. Divide this number by your total number of followers, and multiple by 100 (see example below). Evaluate this metric over time and compare that with your customer engagement goals.
Creating content takes time and planning and even then engagement isn’t a guarantee. According to Forrester research, on six of the seven social networks, engagement rates were less than .1%. For bring brands with a million Facebook fans, their posts average only 700 likes, comments, and shares. Even less with Twitter, 300 engagements per million followers.
With proper planning, persona research, understanding, and empathizing with your customer experiences, you may just be able to beat the engagement odds. But either way, with 99% of consumers online, there’s no time like the present to revisit or create your strategy and start engaging with social!
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