One thing I find many people forgetting to do when they start using online marketing tools is to create their reference point for growth and numbers. In order to know if you are seeing a difference from your results, you need to have a frame of reference to start with.
What numbers do we make note of?
- Newsletter Subscribers
- Blog Subscribers
- Facebook Likes
- Facebook Friends
- Twitter – Followers, Following, and Lists you are on
- LinkedIn Contacts
- LinkedIn Group Members (if you have your own group)
- Website Analytics – Main traffic numbers – this way, you can always check back to a different period in your analytics
- Alexa Ranking on your website and Google Page Rank – These are not an exact science but a good gauge
You will want to check these results and numbers monthly. Many will be a guide to let you know if you are making progress with your marketing activities online.
Also, the more you can set up everything to track certain items, the more specific the results. For instance, if you keep your website newsletter signup in a separate list, you will know that the names on the list came straight from the website. If you have a separate one for your Facebook page email list sign up, then you know those specific results too.
When setting all these pieces up, think first how you want to track your efforts and then make certain to set up in a way to see specific results if that is what you want to see.