One of my good clients called me last week and asked straight up, “how do I make a good impression?” I was about to suggest that perhaps he should swap his jeans and Chuck Taylor’s for a suit – when Bob continued, “on Twitter right? You know, like when I look at that analytics thingy, it says I have 975 something what-not impressions on one tweet which was retweeted twice. That’s odd right?”
And this was just Twitter. Impressions, page-views, engagements and bounce rates across Google, Facebook and LinkedIn have become commonly used, and often misunderstood, words we come across regularly. How we measure things and activities have taken on a whole new life digitally, and now my clients want to know that they are getting bang for their buck. Up to the minute.
“Well sure, an impression is counted whenever your tweet appears in a timeline. It could be anyone’s…“ -“Wait, what? What about my followers, didn’t they see it?” Bob interjected.
“Ah ok Bob, think of it this way: remember when we went to that art gallery in Brixton to see the sculpture exhibition, and you remarked on all the people who stuck their head in the door and immediately turned on their heels and walked out – that’s what we’d call a high ‘bounce rate’. An ‘impression’ is everyone who walked through the gallery. Some people would linger, viewing a piece for a while adding a ‘page-view’ if you would. Those who placed a bidding sticker on the display case, showed it as a ‘favorite’, and definitely an intent to purchase. It’d be hard to say how many people saw each sculpture, but the owner told me she collected 127 email addresses on the opening night from the 600 or so people who came to see.”
“Those who posted their photo’s on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtags, and were reposted on the gallery’s website, well those she counted as ‘conversions’ to her Exposure Goal on Analytics. The actual sales orders she got online, from the email she sent to all of those people who expressed interest, topped out at 43 orders. Those were her ‘eCommerce conversions’ paying off.”
“So how many followers do I have to get before I should buy a suit?” asked Bob.
#contentmarathon
The views expressed herein are personal and do not reflect the views of any of my clients or employers.