mollymarshallmarketing.com

bet you can think of someone “new” to the scene that has an impressive following and loyal fans that wasn’t on the scene when you started. You don’t have to stay this niche forever, but it REALLY helps create momentum in your business in the beginning. Yes, this helps with engagement, which helps with algorithms and all that stuff… but the most IMPORTANT reason to ask questions is to create a dialogue with your audience. More advanced ways to create this feedback loop are to ask strategic questions in your email auto-responder, segment your email subscribers, and conduct surveys.

Some ideas are:Visits to your website from socialInquiries (like direct messages, calls, or emails from social)Views (for Stories or video, number of views, average amount of video watched, etc.)Best days and times to postBest post formats (for Facebook and LinkedIn: what performs best? If your goal is to increase awareness of your brand, you might want to track:Followers – More followers mean more new people are finding your brand. More people talking about you to their own connections and audiences means that you are reaching even more new people!If your goal is to increase leads or sales, look at things like:Website Visits – You get to decide what you include in your own social media analytics report, but a simple place to start is:Number of followers on each accountNumber of website visits from each platformNumber of new email subscribers (total number OR by platform)The post on each platform that got the greatest reachThe post on each platform with the highest engagement rate (total number of engagements like likes, comments, and shares / total reach)Where to Find the DataSo where do you get this social media data to analyze?

They create their lead magnet, maybe put it up on their website on the home page, post it once on social media… and then wait for the magic to happen. Every blog post, social media post, speaking engagement, (insert customer touch point) should be used as an opportunity to build your list. Your ideal customer is consuming your content (blog posts, podcast episodes, live streams, videos, social media posts, etc.) and subconsciously asking themselves, “ They have their offer of joining their email list for 15% off your first order as their Facebook cover image.

One of the biggest things keeping people from using Stories strategically is that it feels like yet another thing you need to create content for. Before you start thinking about what you are going to post, always look back at your social media strategy and what you are trying to achieve in your business with social media as a whole. Your social media strategy should also outline your goals – the ways that social media is going to support your overall business objectives. Again, for 50+ content ideas and actual calendar/planning sheets to fill out, download my Instagram Strategy Guide.