🤔 Tracking Social Media Impact: What's the Real Cost?

The Logic: Estimating Your Time Investment per Lead

This calculator takes a different approach compared to the Lead ROI one. Since it doesn't ask for direct ad spend, it focuses on estimating the *cost of your time* invested in social media activities to generate leads. It's trying to answer: "Based on the time I likely spend creating posts, how much time-cost does each lead represent?"

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Estimate Time Spent: It assumes a standard amount of time per post (e.g., 15 minutes or 0.25 hours) and multiplies that by the number of Monthly Posts.
2. Estimate Time Cost: It assigns an estimated hourly value to your time (e.g., $25/hour) and multiplies the total time spent by this rate to get a Total Monthly Time Cost.
3. Calculate Cost Per Lead: It divides the Total Monthly Time Cost by the number of Monthly Leads generated.

The simplified formula used here is:

Cost Per Lead = (Monthly Posts * Time Per Post * Hourly Rate) / Monthly Leads

This calculator uses built-in assumptions for 'Time Per Post' (0.25 hours) and 'Hourly Rate' ($25). The inputs you provide are:

• Followers: Used for context, but not directly in this cost-per-lead calculation. Engagement rate *is* calculated relative to followers, though.
• Monthly Posts: How many times you post.
• Avg. Engagement (%): A measure of interaction, good for tracking content quality but not directly used in *this* cost calculation.
• Monthly Leads: Crucial! How many leads do you attribute to your social media efforts?

Important Note: This is a rough estimate! Your actual time per post might vary wildly, your "hourly rate" is subjective, and it doesn't factor in any direct ad spend you might also be doing.

Example: Valuing Your Social Media Time

Let's use the default values:

• Followers: 2500
• Monthly Posts: 12
• Avg. Engagement (%): 3.5%
• Monthly Leads: 4

Using the built-in assumptions (0.25 hr/post, $25/hr):

1. Total Monthly Time: 12 posts * 0.25 hours/post = 3 hours
2. Total Monthly Time Cost: 3 hours * $25/hour = $75
3. Cost Per Lead: $75 / 4 leads = $18.75 per lead

So, this estimate suggests that each lead generated via social media cost roughly $18.75 worth of your *time*. You can then compare this to the cost per lead from other sources (like paid ads calculated in the Lead ROI tool).

Why Bother Tracking This? Isn't Social Media "Free"?

Ah, the myth of "free" marketing! Social media might not cost direct dollars if you're not running ads, but your TIME is valuable, right? This calculator helps put a number on that time investment relative to the results (leads).

I used to just post randomly on social media whenever I had a spare moment. I got likes, some comments, felt like I was "doing social media." But I wasn't really tracking if it led to actual business. Then I started being more intentional: planning posts, using calls to action, and critically, *asking every new contact how they heard about me*. I realized some platforms were generating zero leads despite my time spent, while others were surprisingly effective.

Using an estimate like this helps you:

• Value your time: Puts a rough cost on your social media efforts.
• Compare efficiency: Is the time spent generating a lead on Instagram worth more or less than the time/money spent on a Zillow lead?
• Focus your efforts: If the time cost per lead is super high for one platform, maybe your time is better spent elsewhere.
• Justify strategy: Helps you think about whether your content strategy is efficiently generating leads or just generating "likes."
• Identify bottlenecks: If you spend lots of time but get few leads, is the problem your content, your call to action, or your lead capture process?

It's not about precise accounting, but about direction. Is your time investment on social media paying off in terms of actual leads? This gives you a simple metric to start thinking about that question. How do you currently measure the effectiveness of the time you spend on social media marketing?