How Knowing the Numbers Strengthens Your Social Media Presence
Everyone wants to have a strong social media presence. Everyone wants to go viral and get the most followers, likes, retweets, and shares. All of this is important in creating a social media presence, but how do you get to this point? The simple answer: studying the numbers.
Social media really does come down to a numbers game. Which of your tweets is getting the most engagement? What Facebook posts are people sharing with their friends? When is the right time to upload a picture to Instagram for the most people to see it? All of this can be figured out through analysis of your social media accounts.
Be Aware of Awareness
Social networking produces measures of branding, influence, trust, and dispersion of ideas through platforms like Twitter and Facebook. To increase awareness of your brand, now your audience.
If you are selling the newest energy drink, posting on Facebook for the 50+ demographic is not going to increase business for you. But if you tweet about the new energy drink to the teen and young adult demographic, then you’re getting somewhere.
Starbucks has done this very well. They created a must try, unique, and instagramable drink “The Unicorn Frappuccino” that was targeted to the social media savvy generation. It racked up 155,000 Instagram posts in free advertisement. It spawned popular reincarnations from “The Zombie Frappuccino” to the Ariana Grande inspired “Cloud Macchiato”. New Starbucks drinks have become so big that they are the basis of popular YouTube videos.
Awareness is all about volume, reach, exposure, and amplification. Check the reach of your social media posts and evaluate what is working and what is not. Once you have determined what is being successful, you can create a social media strategy that will get your message out there.
One brand that caught my attention by running social media campaigns to raise awareness of the company was Aerie. I would always pass that store when I would go to the mall, but after seeing all the good they do on social media, I always walk in and see what is new.
Congrats on the Engagement
Are people commenting on your posts? Are they tweeting about you? Are the writing Facebook posts to you? Know what metrics you should be monitoring to increase engagement.
See what people are saying about you. Read the comments on your posts and check your comment count. Also, check what people are retweeting on Twitter and sharing on Facebook. Pick the right day and time to post in order to get the most engagement by social media users. Find what is working the best and stick with it.
IHOP created great brand engagement with their temporary switch to IHOB. So many people tweeted out what they thought the “b” could possibly stand for which increased the brand’s engagement through 30,000 tweets. This is also a good example of electronic word of mouth.
I love live-tweeting events. Anything from award shows, The Superbowl Half Time Show, popular television episode premiers, and anything in between. A lot of these programs have specific hashtags that encourage fans to tweet with, some even include special icons. Sometimes on the TV screen, there will be specific hashtags pertaining to the scene that is happening in order to get people to post about it. Sometimes cast members of the shows will even live tweet with the fans which encourages even more engagement on social media for the program.
It’s a Numbers Game
The best way to build a strong social media presence is looking at the numbers. Knowing what posts did better likes, shares, and comment wise, gives you an insight on what posts would be best to make in the future. Analyzing your social media posts will give you insight into what is working and what is not which can help you create the best social media plan for you.
Caro's Corner 
Hi Caroline! I really love the fact that you chose to focus on two brands that have recently done an excellent job of using analytics to increase brand awareness, engagement, and ultimately, their sales. I think that Starbucks is a very interesting case in the sense that I’ve heard that the drink looked better than it tasted and the mass appeal was very aesthetically driven. The fact that they not only targeted an audience that is very social media savvy but also very concerned with the appearance and aesthetic of the content they share was a brilliant way to garner free advertising, like you mentioned, and make sales. I also love that you mentioned Aerie and how just hearing of what they’ve done for body positivity through social media campaigns is enough for you to always stop in and see what’s new. That really speaks to the power of successful monitoring of analytics and turning that information into something tangible like a successful campaign on Instagram. Great work!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Caroline,
Your blog started off very strong, you opened with such a strong first couple of lines. You’re becoming “viral” seems to be the goal with everyone starting and trying to create a brand. I like the example you gave about Starbucks, their advertisements have defiantly started a trend throughout many social media platforms. I also talked about Aerie in my blog post, their campaigns have defiantly been changing the industry for the better! Overall you talks about some great brands and strategies for becoming a “trend”. Great blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person