Have you ever heard someone say that social media is hard to track and measure? I’m calling FOUL on that one right here and now!
Social media is easy to track IF you have the right tools and bit.ly is one of the best, most powerful and completely free tools out there.
Bit.ly is a URL shortener (like tinyurl.com) that packs some serious tracking power. When you use bit.ly to shorten a link it not only counts hits to that link but shows referral sources, social media conversations, and even the country your visitors are coming from.
You can use this for your business by strategically using bit.ly to track links that you send to different places. For example, you could create one link to your blog post that you share in your newsletter, and a separate link that you share on Twitter. You’d then be able to easily measure which one got more social media traction such as retweets and Facebook likes, as well as comparing overall traffic volume.
Bit.ly is simple to use and free.
1. First, sign up for an account at bit.ly and start making a habit of using it whenever you share a link.
2. To convert a link, just click on the “add a bitmark” on the top right corner of the homepage.
3. Next, click “save” or “save and share” if you want it to go on your social network.
4. Finally, Next, click on the “i” icon under the bitmarks section to get your shortened link.
For stats, just click on stats on the top toolbar and bit.ly will provide you with what people are clicking on, the amount of clicks on the link, number of saves, as well as if the traffic is direct or a result of a referring site.
Now get to it and measure those social media links bit by bit, then share your experience with us over at The Dash Community on Facebook!
About Laura Roeder
