What is the value of social media? This is a question I have received many times.

At face value, it seems like a simple query. And the intention is good. It means the person asking it is thinking beyond basic engagement metrics and pressing for business value.

But it’s the wrong question. There is not one single blanket answer. It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with social media. Is your end goal a sale, a lead, a donor, a volunteer? What is that end goal worth to your business?

When measuring social media efforts for our clients, the first thing my team and I ask is what are their business objectives.

From there we want to establish KPIs (key performance indicators), which are outcome-oriented measures that are tied to business objectives.

Then, we determine social media objectives that ladder up to those KPIs.

And…finally…wait for it…we determine the social media metrics that best represent those objectives.

The mix of metrics is different for every client because every client scenario is different. Even various programs for the same client often call for different metrics.

But while the metrics are customized, we have a standard framework that works in pretty much any situation. What we want to do is determine the appropriate metrics that fit into each of five moments in the consumer journey:

• Exposure
• Engagement
• Influence
• Impact
• Advocacy

Exposure is most straightforward – usually impressions.

Engagement generally contains two components: Engaging With You (liking/commenting/sharing posts you’ve published in your owned social channels) and Talking About You (mentioning your company/brand/product within social media but not directed at you in particular).

Influence is ability to cause or contribute to a change in the beliefs or behavior of your audience. Ideally this is measured through something like a pre/post survey, but when budget isn’t available, common proxies are tone, message delivery, click-throughs, etc.

Impact is the bottom line. What’s the ideal outcome of the social media effort? This can be financial or not. Sales, registrations, downloads, leads. Whatever the end goal is.

Advocacy is the final step. The virtuous circle of social media. Once someone has an experience with you, do they recommend you to their networks?

Once this framework is in place, quantifiable goals should be set and measured against regularly. Don’t wait for a final campaign wrap-up. Measure frequently to determine what’s working, what’s not and how to optimize moving forward – once you see the great results in the wrap-up report, you’ll be happy you did.