What do you do if your social selling success is difficult to measure and track?

1 Define Goals

Start by clearly defining your social selling goals. These should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Whether it's increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or establishing thought leadership, having concrete objectives will make it easier to measure success. Remember, not all social selling outcomes can be quantified with hard data; sometimes the value lies in qualitative feedback or the growth of your professional network.

2 Align Metrics

Once your goals are set, align them with measurable metrics. For instance, if lead generation is a goal, track the number of connections that turn into prospects. If brand awareness is the aim, monitor likes, shares, and mentions. Tools built into social platforms often provide analytics to help measure these metrics. Keep in mind that the relevance of each metric will vary depending on your specific goals.

3 Monitor Engagement

Engagement is a key indicator of social selling success. Pay attention to how your content resonates with your audience by tracking likes, comments, shares, and direct messages. High engagement rates often signal that your messaging aligns with your audience's interests and needs, which is a precursor to building meaningful relationships and eventually, closing sales.

4 Adjust Tactics

If tracking your social selling efforts reveals less-than-stellar results, it's time to adjust your tactics. Analyze which types of content perform best and which times of day yield the most engagement. Experiment with different approaches, such as varying your content mix or participating in different groups. Remember, social selling is not a 'set it and forget it' activity; it requires ongoing optimization.

5 Leverage CRM

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can be invaluable for tracking social selling activities. Many CRMs allow you to record interactions and touchpoints with prospects, including those initiated through social networks. By leveraging CRM data, you can gain insights into which social selling strategies are leading to conversions and sales, helping you to fine-tune your approach.

6 Analyze ROI

Finally, analyze the return on investment (ROI) of your social selling activities. This involves looking at the time and resources spent versus the revenue generated from leads attributed to social selling. While some benefits of social selling are intangible and long-term, such as relationship building, understanding ROI helps in making informed decisions about resource allocation and strategy adjustments.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?