When a company decides to follow a social business approach, it should understand how to measure success. It is necessary to know this information to see whether the results are worth the effort. Now, there are a few measures that can be used for this purpose. However, it is reasonable to focus on four of them, including volume, reach, engagement, and influence. According to da Silv, volume stands for how many people discuss a company and its services on social media. Even though it is not the most significant metric, it reflects whether the firm is popular among customers.
Furthermore, Agius explains that social business is successful when the given indicator continuously grows, which means that the company manages to increase its volumes. In turn, reach shows the number of social media users who have seen the company’s content. Various social sites have specific resources that reflect this number. In addition to that, engagement measures how people interact with a company. This metric relies on likes and shares to show whether clients are interested in the organization’s content.
The more likes a post has, the more useful it is for customers. Finally, da Silva argues that influence is the most significant measure of success. This phenomenon focuses on the ability of a company to influence its clients’ behavior and force them to make necessary decisions. Thus, a social business becomes more successful as the given indicators increase. However, one should emphasize that companies should also make efforts to minimize the gap between volume and influence. It means that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to social media.
At the same time, it is reasonable to draw attention to the share of conversation. According to Brenner, this term stands for “the percentage of brand mentions around the topic”. As for Comcast, the share of conversation will reveal how often customers mention this company when discussing telecommunication services. The given information is essential for measuring the success of the organization. On the one hand, it shows how popular the firm currently is. On the other hand, this percentage demonstrates the market position of a company against its competitors. Consequently, a higher share of the company will indicate that the firm’s performance is productive.