Thursday, August 03, 2006

Win the Buzz Game

Creating buzz really can be thought of like a game. There are lots of ways to measure your success (points.) Here are the different point options you have. And by the way, you can help measure ROI with this as well.
  • Sales Increase - Are your sales going up and Buzz is the only thing different?
  • Website Sales - Can you track where sales are coming from on your website through your ecommerce store?
  • Website Traffic - Is your website traffic growing faster? Do you see a bump after a buzz marekting effort?
  • Blog Mentions - How often are you mentioned on blogs? Is it going up?
  • Google Trends - If you are popular enough, google trends will show you website search trends.
  • Call and Email Volume - If you are getting more calls and emails for information, it is a good sign that buzz is paying off. Be sure to ask people how they heard about you.
  • Search Engine Ranking - Believe it or not, Buzz effects search engine ranking. Every time someone links to your page from a credible site they are helping you achive better ranking. Measure your search engine rank for main keywords.
  • Inbound Links - The same as search engine ranking. You can measure your inbound links on the major search engines.
  • Referrals - If you are creating good buzz and have good products and services that people understand, you will see an increase in referrals.

I am sure there are more ways to measure your results. I know of some more sophisticated products out there but this is a simple list you can start with today. Be sure to write down your measurements so you can compare them over time.