As Marketers, we need data. Data helps us understand our audience and the content that will resonate with them.  Social Media analytics help measure how our activities are performing against objectives on different social media platforms. My 2 favorite measurements to get started with analytics are Reach and Conversion Rate. REACH is the followers (Twitter), fans (Facebook) and group members (LinkedIn) a business is able to acquire. TRAFFIC and CONVERSION RATE is how many visitors/customers you get to your website that come over from social media.  These measures are easily available on each social media platform and google analytics.  See website below for detailed instructions.
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/10-metrics-to-track-for-social-media-success/
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What are some other social media analytics and tools you could use to track social media performance?

What is the #1 thing you have learned about Social Media Marketing? Students please include hashtag #tricsocialmediaclass2018

After reading chapter 1 in this Introductory Guide to Social Media, how do you think you could apply these concepts for businesses to your own personal online presence on social media?    moz.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media

How does a business decide what content to post in what social media platform?  This is a good question and needs to be answered before a business starts marketing within social media to help with consistency and consumer awareness.  The best way that I have found is through what has been called social listening.  This is taking the time to observe consumers on different social media platforms.  Also, completing key word searches in google and analytical tools like hootsuite. (Social media listening, also known as social media monitoring, is the process of identifying and assessing what is being said about a company, individual, product or brand on the Internet.)  How would you go about social listening?

On the Gatorade Website, https://www.gatorade.com/about-our-ads at the bottom of the page there is a link to “About Our Ads”.  Gatorade exposes how they get their customer information by tracking then advertising to consumers.  Most companies are tracking anyone who visits a website with cookies, then selling information and email lists.   These actions are legal, but are they ethical?  How about how Gatorade?  They discuss their process in detail.  Does this make it more Ethical? 
 
In 2014, USA Today published an article titled “Social Media Research Raises Privacy and Ethics Issues”.
Discussing how social media and Facebook in general are behavioral laboratories with endless sources of information on consumers.  Most of the information is free or companies are paying third parties to collect the information for them.  For Example, Gatorade states specifically in their website, “We work with third parties who help gather this information. These third parties might link your name or email address to other information they collect. That might include past purchases made offline or online. Or, it might include online usage information”.
 
There are many ethical issues to think about in Social Media.  Content should be well thought out, and taken under careful consideration.  The PSRA, Public Relations Research Association has a nice guide for Social Media Ethics.
 
Where else can you read and update yourself on Ethics and/or risk in Social Media?

Marketing is not as much about information anymore as it is about engaging the customer.  Once you find your target market you need to learn what they really, really want.  What do your customers dream of and what makes them excited about something?  People actually buy more of what they want then what they need.  Engage your customers in the process and each other.  This helps to find out these wants and helps you learn what motivates them.  Message boards, blogs, newsletters, facebook, think of anything existing in social media or your business that can help you do this.  Marketing does not happen by accident it happens by design!

I have been reading from numerous sources that less than 20% of small businesses are using social media in their marketing strategy.  Here is a graph I pulled form emarketer.com that has slightly higher percentages for respondents.  It shows me there is a huge opportunities to capture a share of the market place before competitors.  Learning social media may be the hard thing but once you get started and learn some different vehicles it is not so hard and can really help your business. 
We have to remember that most customers these days want to be engaged in a process and linked to a business and social media tools can help businesses get there big or small.  I just read how a car mechanic started a blog so his customers could compare car problems and talk about maintenance in a car.  A beauty salon sends out weekly tips on a blog and allows customers to talk about products that may work or not.