Hugo D. There are numerous ways to market your brand to consumers in today’s digital world. Traditional media placement, like commercials and ads, is available, but newer options, like social media, are gaining popularity.
In some cases, social media options overtake print ads and commercials in prevalence. Paid media placement, including sponsored content and influencer partnerships, can target specific demographics. Additionally, programmatic advertising leverages algorithms to optimize real-time ad placements, ensuring higher engagement rates.
From affiliate marketing to influencer collaborations, your media placement options are virtually limitless. That makes tracking your efforts and measuring their effectiveness more important than ever. Knowing where you’re getting the highest engagement and conversion rates will assist you in increasing your return on investment (ROI) and optimizing your reach, meaning you’re getting the most bang for your buck.
We have a few tips and tricks to help you do just that. Here are some ways to evaluate the success of your media placement efforts:
Identify Key Performance Indicators
Maybe you’re thinking of spending your time, money, and energy on media placement without taking the time to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. In that case, you may as well be tossing darts at a dartboard with a blindfold on and hoping to hit the bullseye.
Whether it’s a social media mention or a news article in a major publication, you must know what’s working and what isn’t to make the most of your media placement efforts. To do so, you must identify your key performance indicators (KPIs).
KPIs are quantifiable measurements that enable you to evaluate the success of your media placement strategy. For instance, are you trying to grow your reach, increase engagement, or generate website traffic that leads to conversions?
Be specific when outlining your media placement goals. Then develop a plan for what KPIs you’ll track to evaluate the effectiveness of your media placement efforts in hitting those desired benchmarks. This level of precision allows you to adjust your strategy as needed, ensuring that every dollar spent contributes to your overall marketing objectives.
Find the Right Tools
There is no shortage of tools available to assist you in tracking your media placement efforts. Our list here is not all-inclusive but a starting point to help you get going.
Owned Media
Owned media refers to the media you own and generate yourself. Examples of owned media include your website, blog, newsletter, and social media channels.
Think back to the KPIs. What did you identify as your media placement goals? Figuring this out is important because you’ll use different tools depending on what exactly you want to track.
For instance, if you want to see how much website traffic you can generate regularly, you can use a tool like Google Analytics. This free tool provides insight into how consumers interact with your website and apps. Adobe Analytics is another tool that provides helpful consumer insights, while Adobe Target allows you to run A/B tests to determine which website user experience may work best.
Want to track the effectiveness of an email marketing campaign? Use tools like Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Both feature A/B testing options that allow you to gauge the effectiveness of your email marketing for optimal performance.
Earned Media
Earned media is the type of media placement you earn from other sources. This form of media placement is often generated organically. It may include an interview with a media outlet, a mention in an article or on social media, or something as simple as a customer review.
To track your earned media placement, consider setting up an alert through Google Alerts, a free-to-use tool that will notify you once someone mentions you or your brand on the web. You can also track mentions using a tool like BuzzSumo.
Once you receive these alerts, you can use other tools to track whether your earned media boosts engagement, grows your audience, or results in other desirable outcomes.
Paid Media
Paid media is a simple concept; it refers to the media placement you buy. It could include radio or television spots, a digital advertisement, or an influencer collaboration. Using a tool like Comscore will assist you in evaluating your advertising across multiple platforms. Meanwhile, a tool like SEMrush allows you to track and analyze rival websites and marketing strategies to get a leg up on the competition.
Pro tip? Many of these tools offer free trials, so you can evaluate them and see which works best for you before subscribing.
Incorporate What You’ve Learned
Once you’ve analyzed the effectiveness of your media placement efforts, it’s time to incorporate what you’ve learned by refining your marketing strategy. Perhaps there are specific platforms where your brand performs better than others, or maybe you need to work on your marketing campaign altogether to increase your engagement across all channels.
Whatever your situation, you should apply what you’ve learned from the metrics you’re gathering. If you need help refining your marketing strategy or optimizing your media placement efforts, consider working with a marketing company like InnoVision Marketing Group. An experienced marketing company can offer insights you don’t necessarily see at the ground level and provide recommendations for capitalizing on media placement opportunities moving forward.
Whether you’re looking to make the most of your time and energy through owned media or get the most value out of your money with paid media, you should always look to maximize your ROI. It may take some trial and error, but with the right metrics and expertise in place, you can position your brand in a way that differentiates you from market competitors and ensures your media placement always puts you front and center in the minds of consumers.
