Chuckie Oliver

We’ve arrived at the year social media takes off. Clearly, social media is already booming, but in 2010, businesses are embracing this new marketing tactic like never before. Twitter and Facebook aren’t just for mindless procrastination anymore. Fortune 500’s are signing up for Twitter handles, budgeting thousands of dollars around year-long social media campaigns. But there is still one very important question to answer: What’s it all worth?

Mainstream Embrace of Twitter

In year’s past, marketing gurus and branding experts touted Twitter as a revolutionary force in communications. The only problem was a lack of measuring sticks. Social media campaigns of yesteryear lacked the means to measure the all important Return on Investment that CEO’s and accountants like to see before they give the green light. In 2010, web-developers have caught up to the industry and have produced a wealth of resources for measuring your social media campaigns.

If you are a marketer and you can use these tools to prove the value of your Twitter presence to clients.

Twitter Analyzer

This tool is offers one of the most comprehensive snapshots of your Twitter account. In one clearly-labeled window, you can gather a bounty of client-impressing information. Some key attributes include:

A graph displaying the amount of users that clicked on each Tweet sent
A “Unique Readers” reach total
Percentage of your Tweats that are retweeted
Which links were read the most
How popular your Tweets were on any given day

This data can be assessed and presented to any client wishing to see the results of a social media campaign. In this sense, you have more access to audience information than with a TV commercial or Radio advertisement.

Klout

Klout is a valuable resource when it comes to evaluating the essence of your Twitter presence. It is also one of the most respected measurement applications and was recently integrated into CoTweet – one of the internet’s most heavily used Twitter assistants.

Klout’s rating system defines a Twitter user by a number of factors, identifying who the major influencers are on the Twitter-sphere. A score in the 70’s or 80’s indicate that your campaign is a success and people are listening to your message.

TweetBeep

For the ultra-obsessed client, set them up with a TweetBeep account. This (free) service allows you to keep tabs on your Twitter progress by monitoring each Retweet, product mention, direct message, website link, etc. with hourly updates sent to your email account. The more updates they get, the more respect your campaign receives.

Tweet Stats

I prefer Tweet Stats for long-term evaluations of my Twitter progress. I usually use this site for personal analysis of my various campaigns, but clients occasionally like to see these colorful graphs as well. This program graphical displays data on the amount of Tweets you send per month along with which of your Tweets receive the most traction on the web.

Tweet Effect

This tool is incredibly valuable if you are focused on reaching the most followers possible. Simply enter your Twitter handle and the application determines which of your recent tweets affected your following; that is, which tweets resulted in an increase or decrease in the number of followers to your account.

This insight can prove invaluable if your client lists “a huge number of followers” amongst campaign priorities. You’ll be able to Tweet more effectively in the long run.

Your Tweets Matter

There are many other Twitter tools on the web for Twitter analysis and evaluation, and more coming out each day, but these resources will answer many of the questions your client has in regards to ROI. Like and TV commercial or billboard, you and your client need to know the reach and frequency of each campaign. In the past, these numbers were merely estimates based loosely on polls and meter systems. But now we have exact measuring sticks and tools to see precisely the effectiveness of your campaigns.

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Case Ernsting is a guest blogger for Web Analytics World. He is a Marketing Representative and lead blogger for MetaSpring, LLC, a leading Michigan web design firm in Ann Arbor. MetaSpring works with clients both big and small around the country, specializing in web design, development and web marketing.