Guest blog: How to Measure the ROI of Twitter

Wednesday, 09 May 2012 08:19

Guest blog: How to Measure the ROI of Twitter ^Featured

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Is Twitter working for your business or using time that could be better spent elsewhere? Stop guessing and find out with this guest post.

Editor's note: Carolyn Knight is a guest blogger who writes about social media management, startup management, and order management software that works with Shopify, BigCommerce, and 3dcart.

People usually think either one of two things about social media. Some people think it works and is essential, and other people think social media is overrated and unnecessary. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy to measure the ROI of using a service like Twitter. So, many businesses dismiss its value. If you’re still interested in making Twitter work for you, there are ways you can measure its ROI, although these ways won’t be quite as precise as how you’d measure the results of other marketing efforts. Here are some things you can do to see if Twitter’s actually working for you:

1. Check your web traffic

You can use Google Analytics to figure out how much traffic is driven to your website from Twitter. If you post a link to your company’s latest blog article or product on Twitter, and you notice that quite a few Twitter users have clicked on it, it’s safe to say that your Twitter account is providing you with the kind of results you want. If, on the other hand, few people are coming to your website from Twitter, it’s time to re-examine your efforts. Analyze your tweets and try to make them more appealing. Additionally, you should pay attention to which tweets have driven the most traffic to your website and try to generate that same kind of interest using similar tweet copy in the future.

2. Check your followers

If you only have ten followers, you can’t possibly expect your Twitter to do you much good. The amount of followers you have is directly related to how many people out there know about you and what you’re doing. Try to increase your number of Twitter followers each week by ten or twenty. It’s safe to say that you can measure some of your success on Twitter based on how many followers you have. Whenever you tweet, you get free press on each of your follower’s feeds.

3. Check your conversion rate

When you step up your game in terms of Twitter, keep an eye on your sales. Twitter isn’t likely to cause a dramatic spike in sales, but it may make a subtle and important difference. If you notice your sales are going up after you tweet about certain products or services you provide, keep tweeting. If Twitter brings a few new customers to you a day, it’ll be worth the effort down the road.

There’s no an exact science to measuring the benefits of Twitter for you company. However, you can measure who’s coming to your site from Twitter, how many people you’re reaching with your tweets, and whether or not your sales are going up.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in guest blogs are those of the contributing author and do not necessarily represent the views of BcnIn.