How to Measure the Success of Your Campaigns

Marketing campaigns have many moving parts and one of the most important aspects is how you will measure the success of your campaign. Knowing how to measure the success of your campaign is important because it will help you determine if you’ve met your goals, as well as what worked and what didn’t.

Defining success

In order to measure your success, it’s important to consider what you want to achieve. Knowing what you want to achieve is part of the foundation of any campaign because it will help shape what you do, how you do it and it will help you choose the right metrics for measuring success.

We’ve talked about vanity vs. growth metrics before, but in short, vanity metrics are metrics that look great but don’t necessarily give you the results you’re aiming for. For example, you could be trying to grow and strengthen your community on social media, so having thousands of followers sounds and looks amazing, right? Well, what if those thousands of followers don’t engage with your business? They don’t like, save, or share your posts, they don’t comment, etc. 

When it comes to thinking about what you want to achieve, it is helpful to think about SMART goals, which are goals that are…

S - Specific - Instead of a generalized or broad goal, create a goal that is specific

M - Measurable - Your goal should be measurable, this will help you measure your progress and success

A - Achievable - Think realistically, is your goal actually achievable?
R - Relevant - Your goal should align with your overarching goals and in this case, your business.

T -  Time-Bound - Think about when you would like to see results. Each goal (and campaign) should be rooted in a time frame, for example, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, etc.

We also suggest creating smaller goals and milestones along the way, these small wins can show you how you're progressing and can help motivate you.

How to measure your progress and success

Measuring your progress and your success will depend on a variety of factors.

Here’s a quick example…

Let’s say your goal, in simple terms, is to grow your social media awareness by x date and one of your tactics is to have a giveaway.

You may want to look at metrics such as…

• Reach - This will tell you how many people saw your content or profile

• Followers - You can measure your growth during the contest period against your typical growth

• Engagement - Engagement metrics such as saves, shares, comments, and likes help boost your content with the social media algorithms, which can lead to more eyes on your content, and therefore more awareness and visibility. 

There are a variety of tools that can help you measure your progress and success, for example:

• Google Analytics

• In app social media insights such as TikTok Studio or Meta Business Suite

• Mail Chimp

• Social Media management tools such as Later will track analytics 

• Personalized tracking through spreadsheets such as Excel or Google Sheets

You’ve created a goal, created your campaign, tracked your progress, now what?

You’re not quite done yet. After all of this, it’s time to analyze and review.

Here are a few things to consider:

• Did I meet my goal?

• What worked?

• What would you do differently or what could have been improved upon?

• Did you gain any specific valuable insights?

If you are planning an upcoming campaign and feel like you need more guidance, we can help! Book your free 20 minute consultation.