Successful Social Engagement 

Ronn Torossian, CEO, 5WPR

How does one define successful social media engagement? Social Media Today offers six definitions. The first is probably obvious and it's financial. The rest are emotional/positive, number of followers, measurable in terms of social ROI, repeatable, and enjoyable. Most CMOs agree on financial but many also concur that the remaining definitions are also important for a well-rounded strategy.

There's no doubt about the power of social media. Sprout Social surveyed more than a thousand consumers just before the pandemic and learned that 77% purchase from brands they follow on social media. The social analytics firm also talked with 1,000 social marketers with nearly half (47%) acknowledging that drafting a social media strategy that addresses and supports their brand is a challenge.

Achieving Success

Achieving success in social media and digital PR requires a lot more digging than simply keeping track of likes and impressions even though 70% of social marketers told Social Media that increasing brand awareness was their key goal. Success in social engagement is a lot more than generating awareness. It takes a well-rounded campaign based on discovery, analysis, planning and execution.

Some brands' posts reside all over social media, from Facebook to Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok and others. The task begins with determining where a brand's most successful posts are, which are successful and why. Discovering where the most successful posts are is easy.

On Facebook, it's just a matter of employing Facebook's Page Insights and seeing which had the most engagement over a certain period of time. Twitter Analytics displays a brand's top tweet and metrics while Instagram Business Profile reveals the most popular photos and allows filtering with different metrics. Using LinkedIn Page Admin, marketers can not only access data with the "show stats" tab of a post but also generate a list of updates, impressions and clicks.

Like Facebook, Pinterest delivers daily analysis of content performance along with individual post metrics. And since March, Tiki Tok's Pro account holders have had access to a detailed dashboard revealing engagement metrics within their content tab.

Next Steps

Gathering all the data and information is but the first step. The next is analyzing. Initially, it would probably be best to begin by organizing and then putting into writing details of the most successful content. Doing so is also helpful in reporting to senior staff and colleagues.

In assembling all the information, one thing to also keep in mind is whether there are any common threads or themes across the most popular posts. Some may include determining if the format was text, video or picture or if there was a similarity in the calls for action. Another consideration would be whether the most successful captions were longer or shorter and which landing pages visitors are directed to. All this data and analyses arms marketers with valuable insights on refining their content strategy with proven success points.

As with any strategic plan, goals and timelines need to be set and reviewed on a regular basis. This is where close monitoring and analysis of many of the above suggestions are valuable so that changes or adjustments in the plan can be made as needed.

About the Author: Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, a leading digital PR agency.