Now inhabited by hundreds of millions of users from all around the world, social media is a prime place through which your brand, products and mission can now be promoted. What was once merely a place for friends and family to connect, social media has taken on the role of also being a great platform through which just about anything can be promoted, shared, liked and engaged with instantly. Many brands have worked on developing extensive social media presences, but sheer numbers in terms of followers and fans do not mean that your efforts are working as intended. How can you be sure that your social media efforts are working properly? Continue reading to find out about three simple elements you need to be aware of in order to know for sure.

Goal Defining

What exactly do you want fans and followers of your brand on social media to do with your content? Do you want them to like and comment, thereby boosting visibility among existing fans? Are you trying to convince people to convert in some way, shape or form after clicking on a link to your website? Before you can be sure that your social media efforts are working, you must first know what your actual goals are for having a social media presence. With these goals clearly defined, you can then use analytics solutions to track your progress and see where you are succeeding (and where you are not).

Demographic Verification

In order to be successful as a smaller brand on social media, you will likely have to target a niche audience. In order to do this, you’ll need to promote a particular topic or theme that few others do, and provide a reason for people to engage with you and start pinging your blog, website and other social media profiles. With that being said, can you be for sure that your targeted demographic is active on social media? Some brands discover that the audience they seek to persuade and engage is not being reached through their efforts, and instead, they are connecting predominantly with others who will not be loyal fans (often through paid advertising). You can use in-house metrics such as the ones available via Facebook to verify who is visiting and engaging with your social media efforts, as well as installing off-site analytics tools that monitor who is sharing and engaging with your content via social media from your website.

Results Tracking

Once you have concrete goals in place and have verified that your audience is the right audience, you now merely need to keep an eye on the results. As mentioned prior, you can use built-in social media analytics tools to get a basic idea of who is coming to your pages (and from where), and how many engagements are occurring. If you want to get the full picture, then be sure to install tracking software on your website, which will also help determine who is engaging with your social media presence via pinging your blog or website. At the end of the day, using both forms of tracking solutions will better help you understand if your social media efforts are having the intended effect.