How Good is Your Digital Marketing Strategy – Part Three?

Digital marketing is consistently a top consideration when developing strategic communications plans.  Over the last couple weeks I’ve talked about determining who you are trying to reach and setting goals for your digital strategy.

The final step in digital best practices is measurement.

What are you trying to accomplish or gain through these digital channels? And which channels are most relevant to those goals?

• The first step in your measurement plan should be to generate a list of what you’re trying to achieve from your digital marketing efforts. Then match your goals to actual metrics and behaviors you can measure. For example, if you’re trying to measure engagement, then what is the practical form of engagement you want to track? Is it retweets or reposts? Replies or comments? Clicks?
• Monitor and report your results. Use your initial findings to set a baseline or benchmark for future measurement and share these early figures with your important stakeholders. Letting the organization know how the digital efforts are performing is key.
• Review your measurement program. How are these metrics doing? Are you missing anything? Was anything superfluous or unnecessary? What can you improve, change, or measure differently?

Digital marketing is not a “set it and forget it” tactic – you need to regularly and consistently be reviewing the platforms, your key messaging, target audience and metrics of success.  Then and only then will it truly be a digital best practice.