During part one we discussed the demographics of Facebook and Twitter and the importance of defining your specific purpose for using both networks in comparison with their capabilities. Today we are going to talk a little bit about driving traffic through either channel and checks and balances for ROI, including tracking tools for monitoring time spent on social networking sites.
Driving Traffic through Twitter or Facebook
If you are planning to use Twitter or Facebook to drive traffic to your business, let me be clear about one thing - anyone can spot a fake. People join social networks in order to make real connections with people, not to be sold a product. They are there to learn or to communicate. If your business is planning on utilizing Facebook or Twitter, your strategy needs to center around how are you going to add value with no strings attached. What can you offer your audience that gives them a reason to come back?
Checks and Balances Help with ROI
The #1 goal of the business minds behind every social network is simple… to keep you online. When beginning the process of using social networks, the ability to limit the amount of time you spend on social networking sites is critical and must be watched closely.
Here are some basic pointers to social networking ROI:
(1) Setup a quantitative business goal. What are you trying to get out of your social networking usage? Make it quantitative so it can be assessed.
(2) Keep detailed track of your time. In order to combat the #1 goal of social networking sites, you’ll need to track your time so you don’t find yourself spending an excess amount of time that could be spent speaking to a live client, making an immediate sale.
ROI Tracking Tool
Recently, as I was looking for websites that will help monitor the amount of time spent on social networking sites, a friend recommended RescueTime to me. Not to be dramatic, but this may have changed my life — at least when it comes to combating the #1 goal of social networks. RescueTime is a download that monitors everything you are doing on your computer. You can go onto the RescueTime dashboard and categorize websites, applications and even computer programs and tell it what is distracting and what is not. This means that if you are using Twitter and Facebook and want to monitor how much time you are spending, you can label it “distracting” and when you are ready to focus your time, you click a button and RescueTime will block the site. In addition, it will look at the overall productivity of your computer usage during the day and give you a report. It’s what my co-worker and author for the technical pillar, Matt, had the graciousness to call “automated self-control”. It’s a great way to help track ROI.
(3) Classify time spent as “extra hours” or detail what daily tasks took a back seat.
Evaluate after 90 days. This is where you can see what is working and if your social media is a productive use of your time.
I trust this ROI discussion regarding these two social networking sites has been helpful as we’ve only just begun to discuss socializing and how it can work for you.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the idea on the Rescue Time program. I definitely need to try it out. It’s scary to think about how much time I might be wasting on some of these sites.
Yes! It’s a great site and the ability to block a particular site(s) is probably my favorite feature. You can even make it to where it blocks your email so that you can focus on work rather than just being in response mode. From what I’m seeing the first 30 days is a free trial with that feature and then you have to sign up for premium service which is $8 a month. Well worth it I still think.