JSB Talks Digital is a weekly digital marketing and social media podcast hosted by author, strategist, consultant, speaker and trainer Joanne Sweeney-Burke. Each Friday Joanne shares her digital marketing and social media insights from her work as CEO of Digital Training Institute. 

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In this episode, I discuss metrics! What to measure and why to measure in digital marketing and social media.

Coming up in the podcast:

• In social media news:
  • New Facebook video creation app for influencers
  • Extremist content on YouTube to be removed
  • Facebook wants to stop creeps downloading your Facebook profile
• I interview Amanda Robinson about what metrics matter in digital and social;
• In shout-outs – Three social media metrics that matter and free tools to measure them
• Ask JSB – I answer my listeners questions;
• In JSB’s column – Take my advice on how to measure metrics that matter; and
• Find out what social media tool saved my working week.

Listen to this week’s podcast:

Social Media News

New Facebook video creation app for influencers

Facebook is aggressively targeting the YouTube market as it attempts to become a destination for watching video. It’s hard to see it ever catching up with the world’s second largest search engine, but let’s face it, it has got two billion users!

During a video panel discussion at VidCon, Facebook announced that it was going to roll out a video creation app for influencers.

According to Mashable it’s an update to the Mentions app which is for high profile accounts:

The app will still feature access to Facebook Live as well as a new live creative kit, where creators will have access to special tools that include adding intros and outros to live broadcasts. They will also have custom stickers that viewers can use and custom frames for the creator.

The update includes a new Community tab, where creators can more easily connect with their followers on Facebook as well as Facebook’s other apps, Instagram and Messenger. The app also will have more insights, such as who the creator’s followers are and how they are consuming the creator’s videos.

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Extremist content on YouTube to be removed

Google has announced that it will take more stringent action to remove terrorist or violent extremist content on YouTube.

In a blog post, titled: “Four steps we’re taking today to fight terrorism online” , writer Keith Walker admitted that the search engines needed to do more to tackle modern-day warfare.

While we and others have worked for years to identify and remove content that violates our policies, the uncomfortable truth is that we, as an industry, must acknowledge that more needs to be done. Now.

The four additional steps Google intends to take to fight online terrorism are:

• They are we are increasing our use of technology to help identify extremist and terrorism-related videos.
• They will increase the number of independent experts in YouTube’s Trusted Flagger programme. Walker says:

“machines can help identify problematic videos, human experts still play a role in nuanced decisions about the line between violent propaganda and religious or newsworthy speech.”

• They will take a tougher stance on videos that do not clearly violate their policies but contain inflammatory religious content. These videos will have less engagement and be harder to find.
• They will expand its role in counter-radicalisation efforts and are working with Jigsaw to implement the “Redirect Method” more broadly across Europe. This approach harnesses the power of targeted online advertising to reach potential Isis recruits, and redirects them towards anti-terrorist videos that can change their minds about joining.

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Facebook wants to stop creeps downloading your Facebook profile  

Have you ever had your profile picture stolen on Facebook? Well the social network is testing a new feature in India that allows you to add an extra degree of protection to your profile photo.

Simply, tap on your profile photo and select “turn on profile picture guard.” In the company’s own words, once activated:

• Other people will no longer be able to download, share or send your profile picture in a message on Facebook;
• People you’re not friends with on Facebook won’t be able to tag anyone, including themselves, in your profile picture;
• Where possible, we’ll prevent others from taking a screenshot of your profile picture on Facebook, which is currently available only on Android devices; and
• They’ll display a blue border and shield around your profile picture as a visual cue of protection. 

Facebook found it could also deter misuse by applying overlay filters:

Based on preliminary tests, we’ve learned that when someone adds an extra design layer to their profile picture, other people are at least 75% less likely to copy that picture.

Interview | Amanda Robinson

In today’s show, I’m joined by Amanda Robinson, the founder of Social Savvy Society, based in Toronto.

Amanda’s digital marketing niche is in Facebook Advertising, Google Analytics and SEO which she describes as “social tactics that supercharges marketing efforts making every marketing dollar work more efficiently.”

She’s a perfect guest for this episode as she’s all about making things measurable. Be sure to tune in to hear our conversation.

Ask JSB

Ask JSB brings the voices of my listeners onto the show. So you now have an opportunity to ask me a question, have it aired on the podcast and I will respond.

If you want to hear your voice on JSB Talks Digital simply log on to www.digitaltraining.ie/askjsb and you might find yourself and your question on air!

Today’s question is from Dermot Devlin, a disability campaigner from Omagh in Northern Ireland:

“I’ve started creating videos for My Way Access in recent days. What is the optimal length for visitors/viewers’ attention span?”

Tune in to the podcast to hear my response.

Shout-Outs: My Favourite Content Creators

In this part of the show I give shout-outs to brands, organizations or individuals whose work online is remarkable and worth talking about.

In this week’s show I’m giving shout-outs to three free tools that will help you analyse your social media marketing efforts.

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Followerwonk

Followerwonk shows you detailed breakdowns of your followers and activity. Click on the Analytics tab, enter a Twitter username (either yours or someone else’s), and view information on followers and following.

See stats like when your followers are online, when you typically post, and how your followers fall into categories like social authority, activity, total tweets, and follower count.

This is an important tool when building out your Twitter strategy.

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Google Analytics  

The No. 1 use for Google Analytics is for analyzing website traffic. And as part of the analysis, you can dig into the referral stats on your social media marketing as well.

Click through to Acquisition > Social > Overview, and you can check out how many visits your site receives from each of the major social networks.

If you choose to add goals to your GA tracking, you can see the direct impact of social on the goals and paths as well.

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Keyhole

Keyhole offers hashtag and keyword tracking, which will provide you with a wealth of information such as reach, top posts, share of posts, and more.

For account tracking, you can monitor your brand’s or competitor’s engagement on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

JSB’s Column | Metrics That Matter

In today’s column, I share my thoughts on how to re-visit your social media marketing strategy by focusing on metrics that matter.  

I recently developed a one-day workshop on this very topic and it’s getting great feedback. So I thought I’d share some of my approach in this episode.

Sprout Social defines social media metrics as data and statistics that give you insights into your social media marketing performance. They say that while some social media marketing metrics are universal, there are also platform specific metrics you need to learn. Plus, some data is calculated differently depending on the platform and social media metrics tools you’re using.

First things first, set social media goals

In order to measure social media success, you need pre-defined goals. Social analytics will prove results but you must ensure your goals are aligned with the company’s vision.

So here are some questions to consider

• What is our brand voice and how do we adapt that for social?
• Do my social goals support greater business goals?
• Are the social strategies and tactics outlined attainable?
• What resources, human and technological, do we need to flourish?
• What processes are in place to test, learn and adjust as necessary?

Set SMART Goals

• Specific: Your goals should be clear, simple and defined.
• Measurable: This is where analytics come in. You want a goal that has one or more metrics.
• Achievable: Is it achievable or is it not possible within your resources?
• Realistic: With your current resources of time and money, is it possible to achieve your goals?
• Time sensitive: Every goal needs a time frame, whether it’s one year or several months.

Some common, broad social media goals include:

• Increase brand awareness
• Improve ROI
• Create a loyal follower base
• Increase sales

Identify Goal Metrics

Define the metrics you’d like to use for each goal. We’ll use “increase brand awareness” as an example goal.

In reaching “increase brand awareness” on Facebook, you will want to pay attention to:

• Fan count
• Page and Post Impressions
• Post Reach
• Link clicks (if you are linking to your company blog)
• Website analytics for Facebook referrals

In a SMART breakdown, “increase brand awareness in the next 3 months” for a cafe would look like:

• Specific: Increase brand awareness on your Facebook account within a 5-mile radius of the cafe.
• Measurable: Increase fan count by 15%. Increase link clicks on posts about the new cafe by 15%. Have an average Post Reach of 1000 people per post.
• Achievable: Yes
• Realistic: Boost new cafe posts with advertising by €20 per post, targeting an audience within a 5-mile radius. Consider also posting neighborhood specials to get the word out about the cafe.
• Time sensitive: 3-month time limit on achieving the goal.

Audit Your Social Media Profiles to Set Baselines

Once you determine your metrics, audit your profiles to create a baseline statistic. This is important because you need to know where you were at when you first started tracking the goal.

Review Your Efforts

Finally, create a feedback loop of taking time to review your statistics. Depending on your goals, you may want to check in on analytics once or twice a month to see what’s working. Is €20 per Facebook post for boosting enough and is it reaching the audience you want? Or are your efforts better focused on other strategies for increasing brand awareness? 

Increase Your Social Media ROI

It’s important to understand that social media ROI (return on investment) is one way to measure your marketing efforts. It’s not the only way.

For social media ROI to be measured, you’ll first need to add up all of the costs associated with social media marketing. This includes employee hours, advertising spend and social media marketing tools.

Common metrics include:

• Conversions from social networks
• Trials of your product
• Landing pages and email signups
• Affiliate marketing with social media influencers

Create a Loyal Fanbase

Have you noticed how some products have fans posting about them without a prompt from the brand? It’s the ultimate goal of marketers to have such loyal fans and advocates talking positively about the brand without any initiation.

Common metrics of measuring a loyal fanbase on Instagram can include:

• Photos tagged of you
• Brand hashtags being used
• Stories that tag you
• Number of engagements per post
• Engagements per follower

Are you measuring the right metrics in your social media strategy? If you have a question or would like to take my 1-day metrics that matter workshop, then get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Social Media Tool of the Week: Trendsmap

The tool that saved my working week this week is Trendsmap for understanding trends.

When I was working on an international account recently, I had to research what topics were trending locally in another nation state. Trendsmap helps you discover what is gives you real-time local Twitter trends.

Their features include:

You can so a full price/feature comparison on their website with a freemium option to get you started. Log onto www.trendsmap.com.

I love feedback

I’d love to know what you think about this episode. So please get in touch by commenting below or tweet me @tweetsbyJSB or send me a snap to jsbsnaps.

Listen: JSB Talks Digital | Episode #55

I would like to thank Eoghan Murphy aka The Galway Gamer for producing my podcast series and to Flirt FM on the campus of NUI, Galway where I am based for the use of their studio.