ROI Metrics

Within social media, the return on investment (ROI) is not just connected to immediate monetary returns such as revenue or sales. It encompasses a range of non-financial outcomes, too, that are equally vital to a brand's social media performance. These include:

Increased brand awareness

Higher audience engagement

More followers

As much lead generation as can be had in a space where landing pages are few and far between

No shortage of website traffic and other sorts of digital visitation

Various other KPIs that get thrown around in the service of aligning a brand's social performance with its overall marketing goals

The ratio of the benefits gained from social media activities to the costs incurred in implementing those activities is what ROI Metrics are really all about. For marketers, this makes them a vital tool for understanding and judging the real, measurable value that a social media strategy can deliver.

These metrics might include data like the conversion rate of posts, the cost per click (CPC) for paid ads, the click-through rate (CTR) for links, the engagement rate of content, and revenue-driven actions from campaigns.

For instance, ROI from social media could show how $500 spent on an ad resulted in new paying customers or how a viral campaign allowed a brand to reach potential customers whose number far exceeded the reach given by the initial paid efforts.

ROI Metrics tells social media marketers about their content's performance. From high-performing pieces, we can infer what kinds of content connect with an audience. If our top posts have certain characteristics, we might look to replicate those characteristics in new, potentially high-performing posts. For posts that don't perform well, ROI can help us understand the audience disconnect and pinpoint a possible remedy.