Keeping an eye on marketing trends and how effective they can be on the market can be a vital tool for some companies, to the point that specialists have been hired to keep an eye on such trends and create new ideas that could be effective with building a new customer base.

That said, The Next Web has come up with a key list of metrics that such companies and marketers should keep in mind, especially with the New Year coming and plenty of new ideas being passed around.

The full lowdown can be found here, but we’ve provided each of the basic points, as you can see below:

Reach and Engagement
With each social platform providing its own set of metrics, reach and engagement are critical for consumers. “I’d still argue that it’s useful to monitor how your social media activity is faring since for so many organizations, effective social media activity provides a platform for actual business impact,” the article explains. “This metric is not to be touted as evidence of ultimate success – but rather a step on the way there.”

With the familiar elements of reach and management in place, social media profiles should be kept in check as far as “health” is concerned. The article suggests measuring accordingly, like with Facebook at a 28 days post reach and engagement rate.

Total Conversions
Google Analytics continues to be a vital tool when it comes to measuring statistics. However, it’s vital to keep goals in place, along with watching overall site averages. Without them, the article states, “you can’t see whether visitors to your site are taking the actions you want them to take i.e. buy something, subscribe to a service, download a brochure or sign-up to a newsletter.”

Looking at total conversions or breaking them down by audience segment type are effective ways to measure customer behaviors.

Conversion rate by channel
Keeping an eye on certain activities making an impact is a must. By measuring conversion rate by channel, you’ll be able to calculate your Return on Investment (ROI) much better.

Google’s campaign tracking tool goes a long way with helping with that, but you’ll need to make sure you’re consistent, according to the article.

Cost per sale/acquisition
Using campaign tracking is a mart move when keeping an eye on cost per sale or acquisition (CPA). “Sometimes this is used interchangeably with cost per conversion but whereas a conversion can be non-revenue based i.e. sign up to newsletter, an acquisition is about a customer spending money,” reads the article.

“A simple way to start out with this is to work out the average revenue per customer and from that you can see how much you’re spending (on average) to obtain a customer.”

Return on investment
Return On Investment is a huge part of the process, expressed as a percentage, according to the article. “While a high ROI is good, it should always be considered alongside other metrics, such as cost per sale and overall conversions.”

Specific goals and objectives of your business should play vital parts, as most people can be blinded by numbers and feel that they’re somehow useful. Closer attention needs to be given in these certain areas, without being overlooked. “It’s only useful if it helps to tell you and others within the business that your activity is contributing genuine value.”

The full article can be found here.