How do you prove the ROI of social media to your boss?

1 Define your objectives

The first step to proving the ROI of social media is to define what you want to achieve with your social media efforts. What are the specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that you have for your public relations and social media strategy? For example, do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, drive traffic, improve customer service, or enhance crisis management? By setting clear and realistic objectives, you can establish the purpose and direction of your social media activities, and how they contribute to your overall public relations and business outcomes.

2 Choose your metrics

The next step to proving the ROI of social media is to choose the metrics that will help you track and measure your progress towards your objectives. Metrics are the quantitative indicators that show how well you're performing on social media, such as impressions, reach, engagement, followers, clicks, conversions, and revenue. Depending on your objectives, you'll need to select the most relevant and meaningful metrics that reflect your public relations and social media success. For example, if your objective is to increase brand awareness, you might use metrics like impressions, reach, and followers. If your objective is to generate leads, you might use metrics like clicks, conversions, and revenue.

3 Collect and analyze your data

The third step to proving the ROI of social media is to collect and analyze your data using the metrics that you've chosen. Data is the evidence that shows how your social media campaigns are performing, and whether they're meeting your objectives or not. You can use various tools and platforms to collect and analyze your data, such as Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Twitter Analytics, Instagram Insights, and so on. You can also use dashboards and reports to visualize and summarize your data, and to compare your results with your benchmarks and competitors. By collecting and analyzing your data, you can gain insights into what's working and what's not on social media, and how you can optimize your public relations and social media strategy.