Social media is a powerful tool that allows small business owners to connect with their customers and grow their businesses. When used correctly, it can even be your biggest sales generator. One of the best ways to identify new growth opportunities and increase your sales is through social media analytics.

Social media has a unique advantage over other marketing channels: It’s in real-time. This means that you can use social media analytics to find out what your customers want, what their concerns are, and where their pain points are at the exact moment. You can then use this information to pivot your strategy as needed.

Before jumping into how you can use social media analytics to your advantage, let’s go over just what kind of information you can gather about your customers from social media.

Social media analytics give you a wealth of information

There are various ways to use social media analytics, from a simple social media profile analysis to more complex analyses of your social media listening and engagement data.

Social media analytics give you a wealth of information about your customers, market, and industry. You can use this information to understand your customers, improve your marketing strategy and identify new opportunities for growth.

4 ways to use social media analytics to identify growth opportunities

Social media can feel overwhelming at times, especially if you are just getting started. Fortunately, there are valuable tools available to help you navigate the platforms, including social media analytics, which are often integrated on the sites. Here are four ways to use social media analytics to identify growth opportunities:

1. Identify opportunities for targeted marketing

Social media analytics can help you determine which topics your audience is currently interested in. Then, you can tailor your content to these topics of interest to reach them more effectively. This is a powerful way to reach your customers and solve their pain points.

Targeted marketing not only allows you to run a more effective content strategy, but it’s what your audience wants to see from you as well. In fact, according to a recent survey, 42% of consumers consider irrelevant/non-targeted content and messaging to be "annoying."

On the other hand, targeted content has tremendous potential to boost your sales, with 76% of people reporting that receiving personalized communications increases their likelihood of making a purchase, according to McKinsey & Company's report.

2. Gather vital feedback from your audience

Social media analytics also allows you to gather vital feedback from your audience, which you can use to identify growth opportunities.

For example, if the content you post about a particular product is really resonating with your audience, you can start offering similar new products to grow your revenue. Conversely, if your analytics reveal that your audience isn’t engaging with posts about one of your products or services, you can discontinue that product and make improvements to your future offerings.

3. Track your current strategy’s success

Another way to use social media analytics to identify opportunities for growth is to track the success of your current content marketing strategy. For example, you can track the performance of your paid advertising campaigns and identify ways to increase the reach of your social media ads in order to attract new customers and increase sales.

To do this effectively, it’s important to have specific metrics in place to help you understand how your current efforts are impacting your overall business goals. Here are some key metrics to consider tracking:

• Leads generated
• Revenue made
• Overall ROI
• Website referral traffic
• Most engaged demographic
• Top-performing content

4. Predicting future trends

Social media analytics can also help you predict and prepare for future trends within your industry. Predictive analytics use statistical modeling and machine learning technology to generate future predictions about market demand based on historical data. You can then use this information to shape your content and business strategy in the months to come.

Make the most of your social media with tips from the BBB

Whether you’re using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn to promote your business, social media has become an integral part of marketing. By using social media analytics, you can fine-tune your social media strategy and identify opportunities for growth. This is a great way to expand your reach, attract new customers, and increase sales.

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BBB of Southern Piedmont and Western N.C. contributed this article.