Infosys BrandEdge - Cloud-based Digital Marketing Platform

 More and more businesses are using social media for marketing, yet most fail to utilize it to its fullest potential. In 2011, over 40 percent of companies were turning to social media platforms to market their brands, according to a Regus survey.  However, many brands are not utilizing social media analytics in order to maximize their ROI on social media engagement--and that's a serious mistake. Instead of just assuming your efforts are working, you must specifically examine how they are succeeding in order to craft and maintain your presence. Here are five reasons why social reporting is key.

1.  Helps identify conversions. The evolution of web analytics now allows brand managers and CMOs to measure and monitor which calls to action are currently most successful on their websites. This way you can track exactly where you're excelling, and where you may need to boost your efforts.

2. Helps determine where to spend your time. Engagement, reach, and other quantitative data help marketers determine where to invest more time for maximum effect.  Social Media Examiner's 2011 analysis found marketers who spend six hours or more per week on social media have stronger lead generation, and 78 percent report an increase in website traffic. But the key to using your time effectively is knowing exactly where your energies are best directed. Using analytics can help brand managers maximize results while minimizing effort.

3. Helps you understand your customers. Analytics can provide insight into what, when, where, and how your customers are interacting with a particular brand.  For instance, Mashable reports that businesses who post outside normal business hours see a 20 percent increase in engagement. This is a great example of why brand managers need to use analytics to get a more comprehensive picture of their target audience.

4. Helps marketers look at the big picture. Beyond the day-to-day, analytics help you look at long-term growth. Too often data analysts focus on narrow data sets and forget how the data is applied to the rest of the business. Kaushik.net praises data analysts who report on economic value, conversions, and profitability (big picture metrics) because these metrics are usually what's most important to businesses.

5. Helps analysts calculate real ROI. At the end of the day, the one question that CMOs and brand managers want an answer to is, "Are my campaigns increasing the bottom line?" With social reporting, brand managers are able to track revenue and costs associated with specific campaigns.

Businesses not monitoring social metrics are missing opportunities to refine and focus messages to their target consumers, drive conversions, and boost ROI. Ultimately, utilizing social reporting is something you can't afford not to do.