Other factors relating to social media marketing measurement

In addition to pure social media metrics, there are also other issues to consider in social media marketing measurement. According to the findings, several DMOs (I2, I3, I5 and I7) mentioned metrics relating to the web page important in their measurement. Other important factors in social media marketing measurement are the success of content production mentioned by three interviewees (I1, I3 and I8) customer behavior relating to the website, as three interviewees (I1, I2 and I4) mentioned them. In general, factors relating to the audience in their measurement was mentioned also by three interviewees (I1, I2 and I5). On the contrary, interviewees I6 and I7 mentioned in their interviews that their partner (typically an advertising agency) takes care of the measurement of social media marketing, so it is them who have the most prominent information concerning measurement, especially when it comes to paid advertising. In addition to this, one interviewee (I3) mentioned they do competitor analysis on a regular basis as part of their social media marketing process.

Further thoughts of the interviewees concerning these issues will be presented more below the following the table.

Table 7. Other findings relating to social media marketing measurement

I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8

Metrics relating to web page x x x x

The success of content

production x x x

Customer behaviour relating to

the website x x x

Factors relating to the audience x x x

A partner takes care of social

media marketing measurement x x

Competitor analysis x

Metrics relating to the web page

According to the findings, website is an important part of digital marketing, since from social media channels the customers can be directed to the website to read more information, and even more importantly, to make bookings, thus resulting in sales for DMOs and especially to tourism companies in the destination. Four interviewees (I2, I3, I5 and I7) mentioned metrics relating to the webpage as other important metrics in their digital marketing. Examples of the metrics mentioned in the interviews included conversions (to the landing page), clicks, impressions, bounce rate, cost-per-click and time on site, to name but a few.

I2 also mentioned that it is in their interests to follow, how well social media marketing and websites go together: “But we have the main goal of growing the number of our followers, our web traffic. And to increase web traffic, it is not enough that we absolutely get redirected traffic to our main page or landing page, but we also need to get them to stay on our site.” (I2)

The success of content production

Two interviewees (I1, I3 and I8) mentioned the success of content production as an important factor in their social media marketing measurement. Here are some thoughts of an interviewee concerning the issue:

“After all, we measure the basics there - number of followers, engagement, reach, who we reach, what messages we are interested in, and in the ads, of course, if the themes in those ads were interesting to the audience and thus, that can be seen in the numbers there that indicates what there is. But after that, it in a way that path ends, we see the things there, but we do not see whether they travel to the destination.” (I1)…”It remains nothing but a measure of content work. Not so much the final product, which is to bring passengers or bring tourists to the destination, then it does not measure that final goal, but just the success of the content work.” (I1)

Another interviewee emphasizes that to be successful, the content should be in line with the main products of the destination:

“If we talk, but randomly put the content we want in social media, but yes, the content has to be in line with our main products. That is, for example, if we have a certain product for the summer, we must embody the main message in social media from many different angles, considering different target groups.”

(I3)…“So, by that I mean maybe that, that even though we know that in Instagram a brim hat raincoat girl in a canoe works, but because kayaking is not our main product, then we can’t keep sharing that image. Even if

we knew that it would collect no matter how much – how much audience it would reach and how many people would be committed to it, then it is kind of the wrong angle.” (I3)

So, an important aspect of social media marketing measurement is that it relates to the measurement of the content work. However, the content produced must be well considered and in line with the main message that the destination wants to spread.

Customer behavior relating to the web site

Some interviewees (I1, I2 and I4) brought out the importance of the connection of the social media channels and the web site, as visitors in social media are often directed to the web site.

According to the interviewee (I4), the behavior and differences of social media visitors are being followed on a regular basis:

“And then, of course, social media has been added even more in our operations, and then we are trying to follow those as well. In other words, to follow, how those who come from social media differ in quality from other web site users, and what kind of things are there that become significant in social media” (I4) …”If you think of visibility, reach and engagement, they are probably checked per channel, and then how much we make them as an example go to the site, then how they will differ in terms of quality, bounce rate or time-on-site.” (I4)

Interviewee (I1) states that they are interested in measuring what customers do in their web site:

“Of course, at the moment it is measured by the success of the work, the success of its content work. And the fact that we care about our audiences.…

And, are they of such interest that they go to our website, what happens on our website; do those of our customers find the information they need on our web site, or buy services there, so a little loosely, all these sections are measured and tracked….” (I1)

Factors relating to the audience

In general, a few interviewees (I1, I2 and I5) mentioned they are also interested in factors relating to the audience when measuring the success of social media marketing. These include knowing the target group as well as how much and what kind of audience is reached, to name but a few. Here are some thoughts of an interviewee:

“And then of course, if we're just talking about some social channels then that, then, visitor profile is of course important, we also try to know what type our

followers are. But what's interesting about marketing is to know where our potential target audience is and how do we reach it?” (I2)

In the future, the purpose in one DMO is to improve the measurement so that they would be able to get even more information concerning the customers:

”…that what kind of customer buys where, where does that customer come from, what it researches, does it buy what it buys, how much does it buy? And, like that, you also try to increase that customer understanding, and in a way, I don't know if it's after customer measurement, not really, but kind of collecting that customer information because it helps again, in marketing.” (I1)

A digital marketing partner takes care of social media marketing measurement

Using an advertising in marketing measurement to a certain degree depends on the DMO. In some interviews (I6 and I7) it turned out, that as the advertising agency or another digital partner takes care of the social media marketing especially with regards to paid media, the DMO itself may not have very accurate information concerning the measurement of social media marketing, even though the analytics are delivered to the DMO from the agencies.