HOW TO Measure Your Social Media ROI: Part 4 (If you missed it, check out HOW TO Measure Your Social Media ROI Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Let’s face it, most business owners starting to utilize and leverage social media want to know what the return on investment is with social media.  Honestly, social media lacks easily and clearly measurable characteristics of other investments, but it IS very much possible to see and track the monetized return from engaging in social media.  Every person using and utilizing social media should always remember, however, that social media is most importantly about building relationships; companies that don’t understand this simple fact will likely not feel the full and complete benefits of Social Media.  So how does one actually visualize the effectiveness and ROI of social media campaigns?

Tip #5: Understand Page Rank

As your site draws in increasing traffic, it will apply more effectively to organic search engine algorithms.  Committing to specific keywords with your tweets, posts, and other public communications will help naturally raise your website and social media presence in the rankings, so paying attention to this is a solid step toward managing your ROI for social media.

Other less understood ways to get your website to grow is through interacting with other websites in your niche.  Commenting on blogs almost always provides you with an opportunity to link back to your website; blogging and commenting on blogs is a necessity for strong social media presences.  Commenting on other blogs is also a great way to identify yourself to a targeted group of people as a clear and intelligent voice on topics in your field.

HOW TO Measure Your Social Media ROI: Part 4 (If you missed it, check out HOW TO Measure Your Social Media ROI Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Let’s face it, most business owners starting to utilize and leverage social media want to know what the return on investment is with social media.  Honestly, social media lacks easily and clearly measurable characteristics of other investments, but it IS very much possible to see and track the monetized return from engaging in social media.

Tip #4: Use 3^rd Party Tools

Honestly, there are WAY too many different tools for measuring one’s impact (which works hand-in-hand with ROI).  Since there are so many to choose from, I’ll just focus on two very important resources that business owners like you should be investigating.

oneforty.com

For most businesses, a trip to www.oneforty.com might feel intimidating at first due to the hundreds of applications (apps), tools, and resources that it has to offer.  Fear not!  This particular selection of digital treats offers user ratings and sponsored recommendations.  Most of the way down the initial web page you will see a large squared section title, “What’s Essential;” this should be your next stop on the journey of social media enlightenment.  There are 10 ‘essential’ types of resources, but ‘Analytics’ is the destination that you’re looking for; this will bring you to the top six analytical tools for your twitter account.  Read the reviews and choose what best suits your specific fancy.

Alexa

It seems like so few people actually use www.alexa.com to monitor their websites, but there’s no time to start like the present.  Alexa can install a toolbar to your web browser if you want it to; this toolbar will keep you posted as you browse the World Wide Web as to the ‘rank’ of the page that you are looking at.  Ideally, people should want this number to decrease in pursuit of the #1 position (google).  How this affects your social media ROI is by monitoring the “linking” websites that drive traffic to your website.  The higher that social media sites rate in the listing of referring sites, the better the social media campaign.  Ideally, if most of a site’s traffic is coming from social media, then success has been attained.

Let’s face it, most business owners starting to utilize and leverage social media want to know what the return on investment is with social media.  Honestly, social media lacks easily and clearly measurable characteristics of other investments, but it IS very much possible to see and track the monetized return from engaging in social media.  Every person using and utilizing social media should always remember, however, that social media is most importantly about building relationships; companies that don’t understand this simple fact will likely not feel the full and complete benefits of Social Media.  So how does one actually visualize the effectiveness and ROI of social media campaigns?

Tip #1: Use Your Analytics

Today, just barely over half of American businesses even have a website.  Your website is your home base where all of your products, services, and information need to be readily available for your potential customer and clients to find.  Websites are the business cards of the 21^st century.  Most hosting companies offer their own analytics tools, but Google Analytics works with just about that you have access to editing.  After inserting a specific HTML code in to the pages of your site, Google Analytics will start providing useful information that can help identify the effectiveness of any campaign.  Most importantly, using any analytics should identify what is driving traffic to your website.  Social media campaigns should include self-promotional information that entices fans, followers, friends, and connections to investigate the company’s website.  As long as a company and the website have remarkable content, products, and services then the money will come.  If social media services become the top referring websites, then the ROI will be clear and evident.

The fastest way to see if your social media accounts are driving traffic to your website is by logging into your Google Analytics account and clicking on Traffic Sources in the left sidebar. From there, click Referring Sites and scroll below the graph to see which sites are driving traffic to your website.

Stay tuned for more.  Tomorrow’s tip: Keep track of your interactions!

I was introduced to Pluggio.com by a good friend of mine and when I received an email from them asking for feedback, I thought I would write a blog about my thoughts and comments.

First off, I recommend this website. One of the biggest things I love about it is the ability to publish what is called “Rolling Tweets” to my networks. A rolling tweet is essentially a bunch of tweets that are titles of articles that others have written that include the link to those articles for my networks to check out. These posts are generated by the RSS feeds I choose to have pulling into my RSS section. This makes it easy for me to push valuable content out to my networks pretty much effortlessly. For me, I picked Twitter and Social Media outlets like TechCrunch and Twitter Alltop to feed into my RSS section since I’m in the social media and internet marketing world, but you can add any type of website to this section as long as they have a RSS feed.

Another thing I liked about Pluggio.com is their suggested follow and unfollow feature. Each day when I login to my account, I am given up to 20 suggestions of people to follow and unfollow based off of my bio and keywords. This makes it easy for me to clean up my followers but also add ones that are in my industry.

I also love that I can have multiple Twitter account synced to one Pluggio account. So all of the above features above, I can do to all of my personal and professional accounts, as well as my clients’ accounts which mainstreams my work and saves me time!

One thing I have come across is the downtime is a little higher than I would prefer. I’ve been on their site daily and probably at least once a day – every other day, their site is down. It is a new site and I think they are making changes daily so I’m patient with them, but it can be annoying.

For more information on Pluggio.com check out the video below are visit their website. Definitely try it out, it’s worth it!

With the growing number of users on Twitter (now at 105 million registered accounts) it’s important to treat your followers the way you would like to be treated…or tweeted J

Here are a few tips to make sure you are being respectful on Twitter:

Never Spam – Many people, especially business owners think Twitter, as well as other free social media platforms, are a place where they can sell their products or services within a week and drive instant traffic to their website. In rare cases this will happen, however if you create a Twitter account and all you do is talk about your product(s) or services, you are spamming your following. Make sure 70% of the content you are tweeting is adding value to your audience. Things like links to industry news, new laws or standards, quotes, tips and advice, and just general networking; talking to other Twitter users. 20% of your posts need to be the sharing piece meaning you are ReTweeting/RTing (reposting) other people’s post and making comments on their posts/blogs. Only 10% of your tweets will be self promotion, so make sure you start following this rule so you aren’t spamming your followers.

Be a Human, Not a Robot – The thing that is beautiful about Twitter, but also overwhelming, is how many applications there are to manage and automate your Twitter account. Even though there are many tools for automation, I strongly urge you to have human participation with your Twitter account, especially if you are using it for business. You have probably seen Twitter accounts that put out several feeds at once linking to blogs or promoting squeeze pages and that can be ok to do, however you must combine your automation with human interaction. Also, I recommend turning off auto Direct Messages (DMs). Since Twitter users have been given the ability to auto-respond to new followers via direct messages, the DM section has become complete spam and I rarely check my DMs due to this issue. I also know of people that will automatically unfollow you if you send them an auto DM. Use DM’s for private conversations, not to sell.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T and Customer Service– Hopefully as a business person, you are already treating your potential clients and peers with respect, but now with advances in technology people get to see a much more insightful look into our lives and businesses. I’ve seen a lot of people on Twitter start fights and arguments and they’re business owners starting arguments under their business accounts! This behavior will put you on the fast track to damaging your credibility and reputation which can take a very long time to rebuild. Think of Twitter as a customer service tool and know that tone is very hard to read via Internet, emails and texting. Be attentive and helpful and if someone is upset with you and challenges you online, think before you type! Make sure you are handling the person with professionalism. There might also be times when it is just not necessary to respond to someone if they are intentionally starting a fight. Remember, people can see what you say and it can be saved to use as proof or to be used against you, tweet wisely.

As you tweet, remember that Twitter is a free brand management and relationship tool, don’t abuse it and always Tweet people how you want to be Tweeted! J

This edition of Happy Minutes includes Mari Smith, name the Pied Piper of Facebook by Fast Company. Mari explains how to research your demographics on Facebook. It’s important to know what your target audience looks like as well as where they are on and off line. Mari gives you a great tip on how to see the number of people that are within your exact target audience on Facebook.com.

2nd Episode of Happy Minutes…Cause Who Really Can Be Happy For an Hour? 3 Ways to Find People to Follow on Twitter brought to you by ME and Beth Buczynski.

An easy way to spread your social media links to the world, include them in your email signatures! And don’t forget to put them on all other marketing materials.

Understanding if you should use your personal Twitter profile for business, or if you should create a new one; all while rescuing her shoes from waves.

What I wanted to say was whether or not a business should use their personal Twitter profile or not is completely dependent on the type business and goals for Twitter. In my opinion, authenticity is key so using your personal profile for you biz is fine. However if you work for a company, you need to know what their social media policies are and have open and clear communication to know what exactly you can and can’t say about the company on your personal account

2009 was absolutely incredible. As I look back I feel like I made things happen! I started a social media company called 3 Elements LLC in May, I lived in New York City for almost 2 months, and I traveled all over the country from Los Angeles to Dallas to Chicago to New York. I met the beautiful and wise Ellen Burstyn, the fun and energetic Linus Roache, saw the cast of Glee sing Christmas carols, listened to Jenny McCarthy announce the world’s largest Elf Festivity and partied in the streets to Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys and Michael Buble (just to name a few) as we counted down the lighting of the breath taking tree at the Rockefeller Center.

I’ve met and befriended people from Argentina, Turkey, Columbia and Tibet and have learned from them how different and diverse the world is; giving me a peek inside another culture and way of living; creating an internal craving for diversity within my life.

What my eyes have scene, my nose has smelled, my hears have heard, my mouth has tasted, my body has felt and my mind has experienced in one year is incredibly overwhelming in the most amazing way. I feel truly blessed and fortunate to have experienced what I have in 2009.

From my experiences I have learned so much about life, people and myself. I have found new passions to learn another language, travel the world and help others in need. I have learned the importance of following your heart and trusting yourself; finding love and strength from within. I have understood the importance of a good, genuine friend.  I have experienced such openness and beauty within myself and others that brings tears to my eyes and touches my soul. Words cannot explain what I have scene and experienced in 2009, but all I can say is I am extremely thankful for my life, for my family, for my friends, and for the opportunities.

For 2010, I can feel amazing things to come. I feel love, growth, strength, wealth and happiness. I’m so anxious for the next 365 days but I am trying to focus on today, and live it to the fullest both personally and professionally.

I’m excited to help conscious business owners tell their story to the online world and I’m thrilled to be a part of their businesses. I’m anxious to be a part of something larger than me, being challenged and therefore gaining insight and wisdom to pass along to someone else.

Today is the first day of 2010 but it is another day adding to my 24 years of age. It’s an addition block to the building that I have been working pretty damn hard on and it feels good to feel what I feel for the future.

So cheers! Here’s to today, here’s to tomorrow, and here’s to the opportunities that we will be presented with and hopefully take advantage of; giving us greatness. Happy 2010!