At a time when every marketing penny counts, it is really easy to fall into the trap of using the number of fans or followers to quantify the success of your latest online marketing campaign.   Instead, I try to focus on the few that really matter.  Marketing is not a popularity contest.  For many small brands a successful marketing campaign is about finding those idea clients that will love your product and service forever, value it more than those offered by your competitors, and remain steadfastly loyal.  Building a strong relationship with such clients will lead to word of mouth recommendations and repeat business.  However, like all other important relationships in life,  the kind of long term love affair we are talking about here takes time to build.

In terms of your client base, how many friends do you have in comparison to fans? In real life, friends enjoy two way communication.  For fans, very often, it is a much more linear affair.  Think through this analogy to evaluate the way you engage with your chosen audience.  There are lots of online tools (many of which are free) that allow you to measure the effectiveness of your marketing activities.  Look for referrals and repeat visitors to your website.  Study the flow of traffic to your site, not just the big numbers.  What drives their activity and entrance to your site?  Where do they lose interest and disappear? Speak to your clients.  Find out what they love about your brand, as well as discovering the elements that they are less than impressed with.  This kind of intelligence not only helps you to write cracking content, but also allows you to build multi layer campaigns that maintain regular, and critically, well received contact with your clients.