It is neither easy nor cheap to run an online marketing campaign. You need to create a unique strategy, hire experienced online marketers, partner with influencers, and others to achieve your goal which is to increase brand awareness and, therefore, sales.
However, how exactly will you know if the time, energy, and money you invested in SEO services and social media management tools were worth it? Here’s how you can measure the impact of your online marketing campaign.
Performance of Your Website
The most immediate effect that you would notice if your online marketing campaign is successful is through the behavior of your website. Even if you are not selling products and services through a web store, there should be an increase in visits as potential consumers search for your business after you have piqued their curiosity.
Viewing traffic over time will show whether there is a spike of people looking at your website. There should be more traffic from organic search to know if your SEO efforts have been fruitful.
However, traffic alone should not be your sole metric. You also have to look at page views per visit, time spent on the website, and bounce rate.
The page views per visit indicate that a consumer is interested in your business. It means they are clicking through your website to see what you are offering. It will also help you determine which product or service seems to be getting more attention and, therefore, should be promoted.
Time spent on the website is also an important metric. The more time a customer spends on your website, the more likely they will make a purchase.
Your bounce rate should be low. Bouncing in the digital world is bad because it implies disinterest. The user viewed one page on your website and then left. You want them to stick around longer, to click links and check out more pages, and, most importantly, make a purchase.
All these can be tracked through Google Analytics.
Social Media Mentions
Social media is a great tool not just to advertise to potential consumers and to directly interact with customers, but also to gauge the effectiveness of your online marketing campaign.
Through the strategies you have implemented, there should be an increase in your follower count. Your followers should also be engaging with your business, either through likes, comments, or sharing.
You can also manually search for keywords associated with your business to see what people are saying about you. This can help you alter your strategy in case it has been creating a negative buzz.
Boost in Sales
At the end of the day, the metric that matters the most is your sales. Online sales are easier to track, but how do you know if the increase in revenue of your brick and mortar store is thanks to your online marketing campaign.
Although a little challenging, it is possible to monitor online-to-in-person purchases. You can offer online vouchers or codes that can be redeemed in your stores, for example, or collect personal information from your website that can later be compared with data from your cash register.
You can also go low-tech by asking your customers how they found your business. It is a simple and very effective way to see whether your online marketing campaign was a success.
Tracking the success of your online marketing place depends on the goals you set for yourself at the beginning. While developing the campaign, you should decide how you want to track your performance. This way, you can run a campaign that will give you the exact results you are aiming for.
