An important part of my “Creating a Social Media Plan” class is talking about the ROI of online marketing efforts. So, what’s an effective way to measure online marketing performance?

A great program that we use is PostRank. It can be used along with Google Analytics, and allows you to do a number of different things:

• Measure your performance. With PostRank, you can see exactly how much money is coming in from any particular piece of content.
• Benchmark your competition. Get the scoop on the strategy and audience of your competition.
• Track your online content. This includes RSS feeds, videos, blogs and pretty much everything else. See which pieces of content have the highest engagement levels: what is being “liked” and shared the most?
• Discover your “influencers.” Your influencers are your ideal social media followers; they are the ones who are initiating conversations and moving your social networks forward. You want to know who they are!

Remember that 80% of the attention your content receives starts in a social network, so analyzing that reach is crucial. Use PostRank to identify which of your social networks are giving you the most traction and warranting the best results. Let us know if you’re interested in adding this feature to your site; it can be brought right into your WordPress dashboard. It’s the perfect tool if you’re looking to grow your online audience!