How do I measure social media ROI?

Split paid from organic first. Paid social measures like any ad channel: spend ÷ attributed leads (UTM-tagged links, platform conversions) → cost per lead → against break-even. No special social math applies.

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Split paid from organic first. Paid social measures like any ad channel: spend ÷ attributed leads (UTM-tagged links, platform conversions) → cost per lead → against break-even. No special social math applies.

Organic social mostly can't be ROI'd honestly at small scale. Its jobs are proof-of-life and staying known, whose shadows show up as branded search, direct traffic, and 'saw you on Instagram' at intake. Measure EFFORT against those shadows: hours in, signals out.

The trap: engagement-rate theater. Likes are the vanity metric wearing its own costume. If a quarter of consistent posting moves no shadow metric and books nothing, reallocate the hours without guilt.

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Everything here is free to use yourself. That’s the point. If you’d rather a senior marketer just handle it, in your accounts and your name: 20-minute call, no pitch deck.

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