Marketing companies need to focus on building strong relationships and connecting with their fans.

The metrics used today to measure the effectiveness of Social Media are excessively basic, focused on quantifying the number of followers. A user is not a number, but a human being, with values, able to make their own contributions, in the form of suggestions and comments? in short, a set of data that is impossible to quantify with the usual systems.

Fortunately, companies are becoming aware of this, they are increasingly showing concern for consumer engagement. According to the survey carried out by Awareness in the United States, engagement is the main goal pursued by brands in Social Media;as recognized by 78% of respondents. In general, the objectives highlighted by the participants in this study reflect a concern on the part of the companies to build a solid relation with its users, to close with them the ties and to consider them as more than fans.

Still the main unit of measurement to determine the online relevance of a brand is its number of fans, with a percentage that includes practically all of the respondents. But this is not the only reference that is taken into account today, also have a notable presence other indexes, as they are, for 89% of companies, the amount of traffic that social networks derive towards the web of the company , or the number of mentions in Social Media; a figure that takes into account 84% of the participants.

Other practices that could be considered more advanced are also gaining ground; for example, 66% of the brands recognized that they are working to increase their presence in Social Media through several platforms; and 56% acknowledged having increased the frequency with which it publishes content.

The study reflects a greater awareness of the effectiveness of social marketing actions, which has awakened a greater interest in unraveling their secrets. Mainly, 50% of the respondents are willing to invest in a better integration of Social Media with other marketing initiatives; and even 35% conveyed their decision to go further and work to achieve social marketing integration in the rest of the organization.

The road to full integration of Social Media in the marketing strategies of companies is long, but the brands have already begun to travel, and are getting closer to achieving their goal.