Optimizing on Key Metrics for Social Media Marketing

Analyzing metrics for social media marketing

To connect with engineers, you have to meet them where they are. Increasingly, that means in cyberspace. Of course, the rapport established through in-person conversations, such as at conferences and trade shows, will always be necessary. Yet, the internet is the most efficient means of reaching a large audience quickly. Therefore, your marketing strategy should include a presence on social media platforms where engineers congregate. Engineers use these sites to stay abreast of industry trends and discuss successes and failures, including electronic components that perform well and those that do not. To make the best use of these sites, it is essential to know the key metrics for social media marketing to track.

The Top Metrics for Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing campaigns can be structured in various ways, depending on your objectives. For example, it may be essential for you to get clicks and drive organic traffic to the content pages at your site to improve metrics like domain rating (DR) for online reputation management (ORM). Or you may be keenly interested in how users engage with your social media content. For example, how many likes and shares you get for specific posts. There are many social media KPIs you can consider as part of a quality social media marketing plan. Here is our list of key metrics that are useful for monitoring engineer engagement and strategy success.

Key Metrics for Social Media Marketing to Engineers
📊 Conversion rate	This metric measures how often your social media content results in an engineer taking a further action or conversion (e.g., download, form fill, online phone call, etc.).
📊 Click-through rate (CTR)	Measures how often an engineer visits another online asset as a result of landing on a specific content page.
📊 Cost-per-click (CPC)	This is probably the most important metric for advertising campaigns. This PPC statistic also provides essential data for evaluating the ROAS for targeted engineering campaigns.
📊 Reach	The breadth of engineers and others who are aware of your post.
📊 Impressions	This metric is beneficial to gauge engagement with your engineering audience. Note, this does include multiple views–which is also a positive sign that your content is reaching the right audience.
📊 Engagement rate	This metric is more important for social media marketing campaigns. It indicates how well your content is being reacted to by engineers; including activity like shares and likes.
📊 Amplification rate	Even more specific than engagement is the amplification rate, which measures the number of times your post is shared among engineers or other readers.
📊 Customer satisfaction score	When available, this metric can be helpful, as it is an indicator of how well received your post is by those engineers that choose to respond.

The above list is not exhaustive. However, these metrics for social marketing to engineers can be used to optimize your social media campaign ROI.

Using Social Media to Connect With Engineers

For OEMs, ODMs, and other electronics developers, engineers singularly or significantly influence what components are used in the products their company develops. Aside from exotic or hard-to-find parts that are only used for select applications, several options typically exist, which make the electronics parts industry highly competitive. And it can be challenging to make engineers aware of your products. When searching for parts, engineers typically rely on their own experiences. However, for new and/or alternative components, they rely on information provided by colleagues in the industry or from online sources, including social media platforms. Knowing which platforms your target audience frequents is as important as knowing how to engage engineers once you have their attention. Engaging your audience on social media is akin to assembling a focus group around a table to discuss your company’s products/services. There are many ways in which your audience can interact with each other and your social media marketing presence. So, how do you know if your marketing strategy works and how your engineering products are being received? It boils down to selecting your campaign’s most valuable metrics for social media marketing.

How to Best Use Social Media Marketing Metrics to Target Engineers

ROI is a major KPI for any social media marketing campaign. ROI and similar metrics, such as Return-On-Ad-Spend (ROAS) – which is a straightforward way to gauge inorganic traffic effectiveness – are good for analyzing budget effectiveness. However, they provide little to no insight that can be used to optimize your campaign strategy, increase revenue, or improve your brand or online reputation. To optimize your marketing to engineers over the long term, you need to employ a plan that includes leveraging the data obtained from important metrics for social media marketing, as listed below.

STEPS TO MAXIMIZE METRICS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Create a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy.
Choose a media platform(s) that has a significantly large engineering audience.
Create engaging content that addresses the needs, and issues engineers seek to address.
Clearly explain what your product is and how it addresses an engineering need or issue.
Track metrics accurately, collect regularly, and analyze.
Use analysis results to modify and update your strategy.

Implementing the steps above will not only help increase revenue and improve ROI, but pay dividends that can be translated into a more effective social marketing campaign. The best way to achieve these results is to work with Ultra Librarian to reach the largest number of experienced and next generation engineers online. Discover how Ultra Librarian helps manufacturers by reaching out today. With services and resources tailored to streamline CAD creation and amplify part downloads, Ultra Librarian empowers manufacturers to boost productivity and drive part downloads. By leveraging these tools, manufacturers can achieve greater success in today’s competitive market landscape.