How to Calculate Your Social Media ROI

When budgets are tight, every dollar counts. Here's how to get more bang for your buck. It’s no secret that organic reach on Facebook is declining. The average reach for any organic post hovers around 5.2% , meaning roughly one in every 19 followers see the content you are putting time and effort into creating. This presents a challenge. You don’t have the same budgets as bigger advertisers to pour into paid posts. However, that doesn’t mean you should write off Facebook entirely. Both Facebook boosted posts and paid ads can help you reach new and bigger audiences — for an affordable fee. However, the way they work is very different. Is one better than the other? It depends on your goal. Keep reading to discover when to boost your Facebook posts, and when to invest in Facebook ads. The differences between a boosted post and a paid ad A boosted post (or sponsored post) is the most basic type of advertising you can achieve with Facebook. In a nutshell, you pay to have one of your published Facebook posts appear in more of your Facebook followers’ news feeds. There’s limited audience targeting and far less creative control, because these posts are not created in Ads Manager. A paid ad, on the other hand, is designed not just to be seen — but to drive an action. For example, that action could be: visiting you in store enquiring about your services clicking through to your website and making dinner reservations Paid ads achieve this by providing a call to action and linking out to your website, an external site (such as a listing on a portal), or a contact form — whatever works for you. Of course, there’s a little more to it than that. Let’s dig deeper to understand how your business could benefit The basics of boosting a Facebook post “Boosting” simply means to take a post that’s already on your page, and make it visible to a wider audience. You’ve likely noticed them in your news feed before. A boosted post looks like this. You’ve probably noticed that Facebook will occasionally encourage you to boost one of your posts. This happens when: your post is performing well, or Facebook’s algorithms have found the content of your post similar to other Boosted Posts. Boosting a post is as easy as clicking a button and putting a few dollars behind it. Not only can it help you make up for the organic reach you’ve lost from Facebook’s ongoing algorithmic changes, but it can increase brand visibility that ultimately generates traffic to your website or bricks and mortar business. Sometimes, all you need is a few clicks to get things going. The basics of paid Facebook ads Facebook ads are created through Ads Manager. They are a more advanced version of digital marketing than boosted posts — but they don’t need to be confusing or expensive. Instead of solely working to increase brand awareness and engagement, like boosted posts, Facebook asks you to pick a marketing objective: awareness, reach, traffic, conversions… the list goes on. Basically, this is the action you want a person to take after seeing your ad. Facebook will show your ads to a slightly different audience, depending on which objective you select. Paid ads include a: headline call to action description image and look a little something like this. You can even decide where they are displayed, whether it be suggested videos on Facebook or Instagram stories — it’s completely customisable. Paid ads never appear on your business page. You can also choose whether they’re displayed on your audience’s Facebook new feed, Instagram, Messenger or Audience Network. This means that you’re able to grow your reach with precision. It also means that you can create a multi-touch point plan. Unlike Boosted Posts, you can decide what time your paid ads are shown — meaning you’re not wasting ad spend while your target audience is counting sheep. For example, a restaurant might advertise a dinner special from 5pm onwards  — as this is when the typical worker will mostly likely be scrolling through Facebook on their commute home, thinking about what to eat. Targeting your Facebook ads The main reason why Facebook ads are so effective is the array of targeting options you have at your fingertips. You can target your ads: based on location This way, you can advertise properties strictly to the people around your chosen area. Let the locals know you’re open for business, and what you’ve got to offer. based on demographics You can select an audience based on gender, age, education, relationship status, job and plenty more. This way you can market your products or services to the demographic most likely to be interested. based on behaviour Target people based on their purchase behaviour and activities. The list of behaviours you can target is almost endless. If you’re sharing a blog targeted to a particular audience, now’s your chance to get it to them. based on interests Facebook collects data on users’ interests and pops them into neat little categories, so you can target people interested in pets, or parenting, or any number of things that are relevant to your business. based on connections You can target people who have already liked your page, or expressed interest. Or, you can exclude them to find new audiences. If someone’s already expressed interest in you (through liking your page), you’re a step ahead. Which one should you choose? It all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you're in a hurry to get more exposure for your business and reach new online audiences, a boosted post can help at a moment's notice. Boosted posts are also useful for generating social proof. When users come to your Facebook page, they’ll be more likely to engage through likes, comments and shares if they see that other people are too. However, boosted posts are typically less useful for turning your Facebook audience into paying customers than a paid ad campaign. For a start, there are very few ways to target a boosted post. You have the option to boost your post to people who have liked your page, friends of people who have liked your page, and people who you choose through a few basic targeting options. These limitations also curtail the effectiveness of your post; you’re not reaching the most interested audience. Secondly, boosted posts aren’t as effective as paid ads at turning followers into customers because that’s not what the functionality was designed to do. Boosted posts are designed to generate likes and comments — not drive action (eg. a click through to your website). So, while boosting can sometimes be useful for blog posts (where you’re aiming to get more eyes on your brand), it’s not as useful for advertising your business. It’s also worth noting that a post can only be boosted for one to seven days, which means the people who you want to see your boosted post might miss it, if they’re not active during that time. Your audience is also less likely to see your brand multiple times. This can be a problem, as you need multiple touch points to make an impact. A budget-friendly option for your business There are pros and cons to both boosted posts and Facebook ads. To get the most value for your marketing spend, try using them in conjunction. First, boost a relevant blog post for one week. Preparing your home for summer storms is a perfect example. Then, run a paid ad campaign advertising your gutter cleaning special. You’ll plant the seed with your blog post, then convert the reader into a customer with your paid ad. Not everyone will immediately become a customer of course, but Facebook has remarkable retargeting abilities. Once someone has shown interest in your paid ad, you can keep showing them more, different ads to remind them about your business until you win them as a customer. To get useful insights about growing your customer base delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to the Business Blog .

Instagram offers a huge opportunity for businesses to capture customers' attention and increase foot traffic. With more than one billion users on the platform and roughly 200 million people visiting at least one Instagram business profile per day, Instagram is a great way for businesses to expand their reach and increase customer engagement, and loyalty. On the flipside, not paying enough attention to your business’s social media presence could be detrimental. For example, a recent study found that 30 per cent of millennials are likely to avoid restaurants with a weak Instagram presence. (This is the demographic that spends an average of five days per year browsing food pictures on Instagram, after all.) When you also consider the fact that millennials visit restaurants more frequently than any other generation, the financial benefits of maintaining an Instagram profile are clear. However, it’s not just restaurant owners that could grow their profits through Instagram. No matter which industry you operate in, your customers are looking you up on social media. With so many people on Instagram each day following and engaging with their favourite brands, learning how to build your business and brand on the platform is vital to your business’s success. Read on for our beginner’s guide to Instagram to learn how to set up your business account, and post quality content that reaches your intended audience. How to set up your business account on Instagram When you’re starting out on Instagram for the purpose of promoting your business and your brand, you’ll want to curate an attractive page with frequently updated posts that draw your target audience in — so they become engaged followers and excited fans. Instagram provides a quick and easy way to get your brand noticed by the right type of people. If you’re looking to fire up your social media presence, but aren’t sure where to start, here are the answers to your important questions. Is the business account free on Instagram? Yes, a business account is completely free of charge on Instagram. You can easily transform your personal profile into a business profile, or start up a new one whenever you need. Once your account is set up, you can choose to create ads and promote posts (which you pay for, depending on the ad budget you set). How to change your Instagram profile to a business profile If you’re switching your existing Instagram profile to a business account, firstly, ensure your profile is set to Public visibility. Private accounts cannot be changed to business profiles. Then, head to the menu icon at the top right of your page and select Settings. Next, tap Accounts, then choose Switch to Professional Account. It’s as simple as that. How to get your business location on Instagram Instagram location tags, or geotags, are precise location coordinates you can add to a Story or post. Geotags put your business on the Instagram map. To create a geotag, you will first need a Facebook business page that’s linked to your Instagram account. Follow the below steps to get set up. Sign in on the Facebook mobile app Enable Location Services Tap Check In within your status update box Type in your business name and add your location Choose a category Select a physical geolocation Add any additional details, then tap Create Claim your location When you add your location tag to Facebook, it will also appear on Instagram. How to link your Facebook business page to Instagram You can link your Facebook page to Instagram from within the Facebook app or the Instagram app. From Instagram, go to your profile page and tap Edit Profile. In Public Business Information select Page. Then you can choose from the list which page you want to link to, and select Done to complete the process. How to promote your Instagram business page Instagram can be a crowded place, however there are a few things you can do to attract more eyes to your business’s Instagram page. Here are some ideas. Ramp up the number of times you post to Instagram every week. Increasing your post frequency gives you a better chance of appearing in your followers’ feeds, and helps to attract new followers. Cross-promote your Instagram posts across other social media networks. Sharing an Instagram post to Facebook or Twitter is a simple way to get even more ROI out of one piece of content. Share user-generated content on your Instagram story. This means finding an Instagram post or story created by one of your customers, and resharing it to your own business’s profile. What to post on my business Instagram One third of the most-viewed Instagram stories come from businesses. Given its potential to reach a wide pool of potential customers, there’s little wonder why savvy business owners turn to Instagram as the lead player in their content marketing strategy. But how do you make an impact? It can be confusing trying to figure out what to post on your feed, what strategies you need to employ, and the best practices to optimise your engagement. Variety is key. You will need to post pictures of your products or services, of course, but you’re not limited to this type of content. If you run a coffee shop, you might feature your customers’ dogs. If you own a restaurant, you could share recipes. If you run a trades and services business, you could turn customer reviews into Instagram posts. What you choose to post depends not only on the type of business you run, but also on your brand as well as the demographic of customer you are hoping to attract. What is the best time to post on Instagram? Knowing when to post and how to navigate the tricky Instagram algorithms will help achieve the best ROI for your efforts. It’s widely considered that posting at lunchtime between 11am and 1pm and in the evenings between 7pm and 9pm will get your posts the most traction. However, it will always depend on your target audience and their location — so it may take a little time to find the sweet spot for your business. Ultimately, it’s a good idea to use the time zone that most of your followers are in when posting the bulk of your content. When your post receives a lot of engagement soon after posting, Instagram will likely show it to more people. Using a tool like Hootsuite to plan and schedule your social media in advance makes it much easier to keep on top of what you're posting, when. The best time of day to post may be your busiest hours of the work day — scheduling your Instagram posts in advance means you still get the benefit of prime time engagement. Which hashtags should I use? Leveraging hashtags is one of the best ways to get your Instagram content in front of more potential customers. Posts with at least one hashtag typically average 12.6% more engagement than posts without; it’s an easy way to grow your reach, and get more comments and likes on your Instagram content. Here are some tips for using hashtags on Instagram. Experiment with the number of hashtags you use. You can use up to 30 hashtags per Instagram post, but sometimes less is more. Use trial and error to see how the number of hashtags used affects your reach. Don’t just stick to the popular hashtags. Use a variety of hashtags so your content doesn’t get lost in the crowd — from trending hashtags, to niche or location-centred hashtags. Use a tool like All Hashtag . Hashtag tools help you create and analyse the top relevant hashtags for your content, and you can easily store your hashtags for when you need them. Once your business is up and running on Instagram, it's time to start building your online community . For more ideas on how to grow your business, sign up to our Business Blog.

Growing an active, engaged online community is a tried and tested way to drive customer loyalty and increase revenue. To say that Instagram has the potential to drive business revenue would be an understatement. While it’s true that an engaged online community typically translates to dollars in the real world, the benefits go far beyond that. As restrictions and social distancing measures continue to pervade many aspects of our daily lives, the ability to reach your business’s intended audience online — while facilitating meaningful exchanges — is critical to achieving growth and forging deeper connections that bring customers back to your business again and again, and attract referral business. Read on to discover 5 tips to build a strong Instagram community. 1. Ask followers for their opinion as consumers Growing a strong community isn’t just about sharing your business’s story. Creating opportunities for your audience to speak up is equally as important. You can do this by using polls or directly asking questions on your stories, Instagram Lives, or posts. For example, if an apparel retailer decided to release a new colourway of their best-selling jumper, they could ask their Instagram community what colour they would buy. Tapping into your Instagram followers in this way gives you a snapshot for what your wider customer pool wants to see in-store. Plus, by deferring to your followers about what they want or like, they will be more invested in your brand and develop a deeper sense of loyalty and trust. Make sure to reply to your followers' comments and messages as much as possible, even during busy periods. Your interaction with them will make them more likely to engage with you regularly and become active members of your Instagram community. 2. Host an Instagram Live Hosting a Live on Instagram is a great way to show an authentic side to your brand and connect with your community in real-time. During the first of the COVID-19 lockdowns, Instagram Live views spiked , doubling in reach and proving the value of building an online community and forging meaningful connections. Pique your audience’s interest with content that is helpful in nature, rather than purely promotional. Content should be complementary to your products or services, without appearing like a sales pitch. For example: a plant nursery could teach followers how often to water common types of houseplants a restaurant might host a live cooking demonstration of a simple recipe viewers can make at home a bar owner could share how to make a seasonal cocktail an apparel retailer could explore different ways to build a capsule wardrobe a gift shop might walk through the steps to wrap presents at Christmastime Consider collaborating with like-minded brands on Instagram Live broadcasts, as this can increase your reach and strengthen your community too. 3. Make your brand values known Incorporating your brand values into your social media strategy is a surefire way to reach a demographic that aligns with your brand mission. For example, if your business sells locally-made or environmentally-friendly products, you might champion these lifestyle choices on Instagram to draw more eco-conscious consumers into your community. You might do this by sharing tips to become more environmentally conscious, such as upcycling clothing. Alternatively, you could promote a social cause you believe in and reach people who also hold the cause close to their hearts. As a retailer, that cause might be a clothing drive to help people experience hardship to get back into the workforce — such as Fitted For Work or Ready Set . 4. Develop a user-generated content strategy User-generated content or UGC is content created by consumers, not brands. This Instagram strategy can help businesses grow an engaged and lively community rapidly; it’s essentially free publicity to your followers’ own network. When users share a positive story about your brand’s products and services with their audience, it creates an authentic connection and acts as a soft introduction. The content may be a photo, a video or even a review and can include a brand-generated hashtag. You can then share this content on your business’s platform to boost credibility with your audience. One technique to get your members creating more user-generated content regarding your brand is to host a regular contest with giveaways and a specific hashtag attached to it. Asking your Instagram followers to tag their friends in these posts is another effective way to drive follower growth quickly. 5. Give back to your community Rewarding your community with giveaways, loyalty programs and discounts is a way you can thank your followers for their loyalty and engagement. For example, a hair salon could offer customers who mention their Instagram campaign a 15% discount on a haircut and colour. Another way to give back is by donating a certain percentage of your sales to a social cause. This gives your customers a sense of contributing to something larger than themselves and helping others, which can be very rewarding. Ready to get started? As you begin to build your Instagram community, you will figure out what strategies work best for your brand, what your followers enjoy seeing and how they like to interact with your business. The key to a community-minded approach is to be present and regularly post fresh content. A local business doesn’t need to have a huge following to reap the benefits. If followers are loyal and engaged — business profits will show it. Don’t forget to remain authentic each step of the way, so you continue to attract the people who align with your business. Sign up to our Business Blog for more tips to improve your online presence and drive more foot traffic to your business.