EVERY Thursday at 1pm Made in Britain hosts #madeinbritainhour on Twitter. During that hour Made in Britain asks questions of its 21,000 followers and the results are fascinating. Previously this information was enjoyed by the audience at the time and then left to drift away in the Twittersphere, rarely read again. So, we have decided to capture some of the best comments and re-present them for a new audience and easy reference. Some of the responses have been edited but most have been left in their casual Twitter style.
This week we look at social media and digital marketing: metrics and objectives.
Question one: What are the most important metrics to determine social media performance? Can these sometimes be misleading?
Response: It depends on your objectives in which you define 'most important' I think timing plays a critical role of know when to post, so you should be scrutinising follower metrics i.e. Instagram, TikTok etc. Link clicks are important if you want to direct your audience to a blog etc. Likes and Retweets do help, especially for the algorithms of social media, and comments from my understanding tell these algorithms that your post is engaging and puts this forward to more users online Hashtags should also be carefully examined and view how many convos use these
Made in Britain: Comments is something that comes up regularly as a way to be visible to algorithms and possibly comments from different people rather than just 2 having a chat?
Response: Yes definitely, I'm not sure on what level it competes with likes and shares, but it's something that has helped, especially on Instagram Reels and TikTok
Made in Britain: Does SM channels actually want people to link click?
Response: Too many posts with links can be counter productive and mix of posts is recommended i.e. posts that draw in conversation, posts that link to your website (helpful for SEO)
Response: It is important to be there when you post. Many who use automated systems are not present when they post goes live and do not respond until later, losing the opportunity to create interaction with others.
Response: Agreed, social media shouldn't be solely automated! We using automation to help free up time for us to engage, plan etc. throughout the day
Response: Any idea if SM algorithms work out the difference between real likes/shares and "bought" likes/shares?
Response: The only people who really know this is the social media giants themselves which is a closely kept secret!
Response: Let's take on of our TikTok vids that currently sits on 679.5K views alone, it has 19 comments & 5647 likes & 22 shares. You could determine in this instance that likes were more powerful However, the average watch time was 71% (2051 hours total play time) views were important. I don't think one metric is THE answer, but a combination. There's a lot that you need to think about on Tiktok in this example, i.e. timing, hashtags, video length, content, likes, comments, shares, audience i.e. where they're from, gender, etc.
Made in Britain: Does anyone else use Tiktok for business reasons here?
Response: We joined Tik Tok not too long ago and have a couple of videos up on there, but something to bear in mind is even though it’s a huge platform at the moment - is it where your target audience are spending their time? For us? Not so much
Response: It's still a growing platform, one I think is here to stay. We've seen a large audience in Artisan / design something that we're actively working with The audience too appear to have a keen interest in our craft which is always nice
Response: Engagement & interaction, whether in comments, click-throughs or shares. It doesn't matter how many followers you have if they are mostly dormant and unresponsive
Response: I think that sometimes a lot of 'likes' come from people within the business. We share posts on multiple platforms and encourage the team to share also. This can be sometimes difficult to track engagement. So we often discount likes and shares and concentrate on views & clicks
Response: The team are acting as radiators & pushing out the messages. This is quite important as it means your posts are getting seen by a wider audience. Concentrating on views and clicks is good and then look at the analytics...ideally you also have a CTA so that you can track that too.
Made in Britain: Sometimes interesting to look at who does the "likes" and "shares" - are they relevant to the business as a customer, influencer? or have you no idea who they are?
Response: It is the retweeting that counts for growing your followers. The likes misguide you into thinking it getting out but tends to be a bubble.
Response: It is also the engagement that drives the algorithims, share and likes are not enough
Response: It must be engagement above a certain number of views/impressions that triggers it?
Response: Views are considered engagement, on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, a view is only counted after a set amount of time a user watches your video. After all, views can reveal how invested people are in your content
Response: We track this more so on LinkedIn than anywhere else as we feel that's where we make the most meaningful business connections - though it's definitely a point of interest across our channels
Made in Britain: Do businesses actively check out the people who like and share do you think?
Response: I tend to on Instagram to better understand my audience that I'm directing content. Understanding the type of things they like or share will help me determine what content will work and what won't. They can give a hint of what country they reside in to understand timings etc.
Response: I would have said so as it is a common and valuable data type to take into consideration - we certainly do but as to whether other businesses do I’m not sure!
Response: Yes many tend to look at your followers and will see who is commenting... your competitors will do the same.
Response: I think they should, gives you an idea of what sector, business / person who is interested in your post. Does it also depend on your ultimate goal? Are you simply wishing to raise your brand awareness?
Made in Britain: It should also help you target, maybe you are using wrong hashtag for sector for example, or the messaging is wrong in the posts. That is so important to see who is actually engaging
Response: It can be indeed. Best thing is to combine your social media engagement with your other customer engagements as part of your pipeline and relationship building. We touched on this earlier on this week. Consider the #customerjourney and the channels they prefer for communication.
Made in Britain: I heard someone the other week saying we have a "really high engagement rate" on LinkedIn. Doesn't that need quantifying though based on the denominator of impressions?
Response: They should be able to see analytics as to who is engaging and at what level.
Response: Think of Social Media as a broadcast medium, like radio. Building the audience grows coverage. Find intermediaries who retweet your content to potential customers. Study analytics. Likes are for vanity, shares and conversions are for sanity.
Made in Britain: Find intermediaries (organically or by way of payment?) - there are a fair few out there, and in manufacturing sector too, who charge a monthly fee to do this sort of thing.
Response: Organically. Suppliers and clients can create great conversations. Create a strategy, build a team and help each other. If you have the budget then yes pay for it
Made in Britain: Is this where having relevant content and knowledge comes in? e.g. SM team put something online, target customer sees it and comments technical stuff..... what happens next?
Response: The team should have the technical knowledge to respond. Training is important for social media success.
Response: Conversion I suppose would be the most important aspect
Response: Engagement is one of the key metrics to track. So often an account can have tens of thousands of followers, which seems impressive in theory, but if none of them see or acknowledge the content it means little!
Made in Britain: Can engagement be misleading?
Response: Just to add - ideally positive engagement!
Response: Don't just look at your post likes and followers...check who is your list of followers and how they are engaging and interacting with you. Build your KPIs based on your goals.
Response: I think that sometimes a lot of 'likes' come from people within the business. We share posts on multiple platforms and encourage the team to share also. This can be sometimes difficult to track engagement. So we often discount likes and shares and concentrate on views & clicks
Response: It’s good to get followers however engagement is key
Response: Engagement needs to go hand in hand with views/impressions don't you think?
Response: Ideally yes - increased followers with content that’s shared
Question two: What factors can drive the open rate and click through rate in email marketing campaigns?
Response: I agree with @JB_SpringsLtd, timing is important,
- actually email those who 'opt-in' for your emails
- have an effective subject line
- Use preview text effectively too
- Format your email correctly i.e. mobile-friendly
- make sure content is relevant and personalised
Response: It would start with your list. ‘A small list that wants exactly what you’re offering is better than a bigger list that isn’t committed’ in the first instance
Response: I’m sorry to say it but gimmicks catch people’s attention. Giveaways and competitions increase engagement.
Response: Are they the people who will buy?
Response: Freebies
Response: Timing and subject line are the key factors I would say. Getting these right helps to stand out in what is undoubtedly an ever-changing and overloaded inbox!
Response: Timing definitely. What makes a good subject line? and equally what makes a bad one? (spam filters at the ready)
Response: Short and snappy and straight to the point! It's the make or break of open rates in a sense so something to draw them in and encourage them to spend time reading it! Yes as you say, anything which sounds spammy or too sales is likely to find itself in junk!
Response: There can be SO many!! But as @JB_SpringsLtd said I think the key ones are certainly timing & subject line if not key then they're pretty high up there. Get those wrong and no-one will bother clicking to read further.
Response: Subject line and preview text also.
Response: We do suggest testing your subject lines to see which work better for your segments.
Response: So true. I've known businesses who spend so long creating content and then neglect the critical part which is the subject line. Make them want to open it
Response: Personalisation...and look at layout, colours, images topics & relevance. Avoid words which will push your email to the spam box, & avoid sending them out on
Response: Monday morning or Friday afternoon. Keep them short, relevant to topic and once again - personalise - as much as possible.
Made in Britain: Bizarre question - could some people learn from SPAM? some subject lines on SPAM emails are so convincing and get under the spam filters?
Response: Beware spammers and hackers...you should ask your mailing list to whitelist your urls so that the emails do not end up in the spam box because of the filters...
Response: When I started out on SEO it was the adult industries that were the best at SEO. As you suggest look at the layout and subject lines of click bait and other ne'er-do-wells that can provide ideas
Response: Looking outside of the box, there is a lot from other sectors that many can learn from. How well done is SEO do you think these days?
Response: I would say it can be improved. Search terms change and you really need to stay on top of the SEO to keep your site performing well
Response: I think it's definitely one of those things which slips down the priority list but it should be right at the top. At the end of the day, your SEO is going to lead your potential customers to you! It can be quite a time-consuming thing to track, however
Response: Including a question in the email title can help, and as @MarketAccents explained in the recent MiB webinar - avoid words like 'FREE' or 'Offer' in the title as the emails can be flagged as spam.
Response: Another word to avoid is "Hot" as in "Hot Topic" that certainly gets the spam filters twitching.
Response: There are many words to avoid. There are a number of guides out there this is just one https://journeys.autopilotapp.com/blog/email-spam-trigger-words/
Made in Britain: Maybe this is a topic for a future discussion. What makes a good subject line
Response: We can look at this and see how we craft subject lines
Response: Great email marketing campaigns have engaging imagery, concise content, and most importantly clear call to actions
Made in Britain: Providing the recipient opens the email? That can sometimes be the biggest challenge?
Response: Different subject lines can be tested to find out which is going to work. It’s important because if it doesn’t get clicked it doesn’t get read
Response: Providing the recipient opens the email? That can sometimes be the biggest challenge?
Response: There is a longtail factor as sometimes, people keep emails in their mailbox to go back and read carefully later. This is especially the case with newsletters that may have longer content or pdfs or whitepapers.
Response: The 'Click Through' rate depends most on the 'Open rate'. The 'Open Rate' depends entirely on the ability to write an inspiring, engaging, informative & exciting 'Subject' line ... nothing else
Made in Britain: Is the subject line often overlooked in terms if importance do you think?
Response: It's certainly the case that crafting an excellent Subject line is very hard to do. And in appreciating that, most would have to say 'yes' in answer to your question. It takes time, true writing skill & testing
Response: Emoji's can help stand out in inboxes, but it's a balance based on what industry you're in and who you're audience is. An idea we can all A/B test to improver those open rates!
Response: Don't forget to send test emails before you hit send. Check out how it looks as a notification on your phone in Gmail for example. Could you adjust the secondary subject line to attract your readers attention some more?
Response: Email Marketing has changed considerably since it was the main customer COMM's. We used to look forward to it in the late 90's. Time, Spam and Phishing has made many wary. Send emails at the same time on the same day with the same email address. Make the email a "Quick read" link to further details. Follow AIDA in the storylines. Remove those who do not want to receive it.
Made in Britain: AIDA is a really useful tool and one that seems to be overlooked by many
Response: So true, They catch the Attention, create the Interest, build the Desire and forget to tell the potential buyer what to do next. The call to Action.
Question three: Do businesses set realistic targets for digital marketing/social media teams and if so what targets are set?
Response: I think followers are always measured. That’s good as it helps to get your name out but they also need to be engaging in your posts as well.
Response: On Instagram you can now remove bots and spam accounts who randomly follow you. We did this and it improved overall engagement as the algorithms put our content in front of people who are genuinely interested
Response: I think that sometimes, unrealistic targets can be set for digital marketing/social media as everyone wishes that they had 'that' content that went viral and sent their engagement through the stratosphere. Some companies see their digital followers as the be-all-and-end-all.
Made in Britain: Do you think many businesses set any targets for SM etc?
Response: On the whole they probably do and in some respects it's a good idea to as it helps to focus the content so that you can deliver
Response: Not always. We read the stories of a company doing exceptionally well and think it can be a panacea for selling. Without a strategy and the right training for those embarking on SM as a sales tool, they are likely to very disappointed with the results
Response: Targets are set depending on what type of marketing campaign is being carried out.
Made in Britain: What would be included in an example target/objective - would it be numerical? How much engagement on SM? What rate of opening of email marketing?
Response: We will cover this in a webinar. Businesses must set targets based on actions they want to see from that channel...some may not deliver immediate leads but serve to widen the digital footprint. You do not need to be present in all channels, be where your segment is engaging.
Made in Britain: Connected to Q1 today - do businesses actually set targets for the SM/DM teams?
Response: Yes, otherwise no point in blind messaging by the SM/DM team
Response: I have seen targets of getting 5,000 followers. This is not dependant on quality. A search online shows they can be bought instantly for a fee
Response: It's easy to set targets in considering 'paid for' digital marketing/advertising. Otherwise it's the same discussions about targeting that PR teams have suffered for decades (pre-digital). "they produce a lot/what/over the long term/how? yada yada ...
Response: Its going to be brilliant and we will get millions of customers! Whilst everyone could be a customer not everyone wants to buy your product. Managing expectations is one of the jobs I have to do with my clients.
Response: In the last 12 months, it's important to think about the things that have been out of our control when trying to reach those targets - Working from home, Weather & lockdown. Don't forget to review targets after 1-3 months and adjust accordingly?
Question four: What techniques can be employed to measure the ultimate effectiveness of social media in terms of leads and sales?
Response: After securing a sale, a simple way of finding out where they found you is by simply asking and then record this as part of your CRM
Made in Britain: Does that apply to all businesses?
Response: I would think so, a simple "how did you find us" or "where did you hear about us" is a simple yet effective method of understanding what marketing tools are actually working! We find a lot of word of mouth stemming from someone seeing us on social media has helped
Response: "You would think so" Sadly, I have found on too many occasions that companies in all sectors never ask this Key question
Made in Britain: More difficult if your product is on the shelf in Tesco or B&Q?
Response: There are ways to get that info as well. The clever marketing guys always come up with one. We printed labels for a customer last year that offered a hamper worth £100 for Christmas for a product that was selling in the supermarkets.
Response: We document sales which have come directly from social media enquiries/leads in monthly reports to keep track.
Response: We have previously set-up an email just for a specific social media post / email campaign, and asking where they heard about us from
Response: Excellent, Simple actions can bring you the information you need. This is why we used to see "Quote the following number in your reply. It shows which campaign the buyer had seen.
Response: Track the follow up actions and the engagements/relationships. You can add codes to follow up emails and you can also post links to pages with codes
Response: Asking how a customer heard about you or running a promo where the customer/interested party has to quote a certain code which can be different for each channel is another good way.
Response: What not to do. Don't sell, sell sell. 1 negative response can undo most of the good you 'think' is done.
Response: We keep a note in our CRM and attribute the enquiry to the social media channel it came through.
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By Made in Britain 3 years ago | By Made in Britain