DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is a five-step problem-solving methodology used to identify bottlenecks and improve processes. This methodology is part of the Six-Sigma philosophy, which started back in the 1980s in the manufacturing industry. The methodology remains relevant to date and is applied across various verticals, including project management and marketing. In today’s article, we’ll show you how to use DMAIC for social media marketing and the benefits you can expect. Let’s jump right in.
DMAIC for Social Media Marketing
DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.
These five steps can improve virtually any process when executed correctly. Let’s break them down.
Define
The first step of the DMAIC process involves defining the problem. This step sets the foundation for the reset of the process, allowing you to identify the pain point that needs to be addressed and the metrics to track progress.
A thorough Define stage also gives you context about the problem. This is important as it can help you identify exactly where the bottlenecks are and what could be done to resolve them.
A nice example of a defined problem could be;
“The Instagram campaigns for our local coffee shop are racking up plenty of likes and comments, but we’re not seeing a lot of foot traffic.”
With this problem in mind, you’ll need to map out exactly why that’s happening and what the ideal outcome or solution would look like. This will require two main things:
- Listen to your customers – First, you must listen to the voices of the customers to determine what exactly they have to say and what words they’re using. This would involve digging through the comments, replies, and DMs. You can even go a step further by collecting data about your problem through surveys and polls.
The customer’s voice gives you more context around the issue. For example, could it be that the comments are filled with potential customers asking for directions or the menu of your coffee shop? If that’s the case, then you already have an idea of what a possible fix would look like. That brings us to the next step.
- Set goals – Once you have defined the problem and collected enough data to understand the context, create goals for the improvement process. The project goals must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. A good example would be “increase weekly ‘tap-for-directions’ actions by 25% within the next 5 weeks.”
By the end of the Define stage, you should have a clear understanding of your problem, the context around it based on real customer insights, and a clear goal of the desired outcome.
Let’s go to the next phase.
Measure
Under the Measure phase, your objective shifts to data collection that can help you measure your current performance/process. The goal here is to get a baseline that you can use in the future to determine whether any changes you made translated into meaningful positive results (or negative results).
The first step here is to identify the right metrics. Let’s use the coffee shop example again here. Likes and comments are nice, but more importantly, you want to know how many people are tapping for directions, clicking the link in bio, and replying to your posts asking for directions. These metrics help you track tangible business outcomes.
Next, validate your measuring system to ensure that your data stays accurate. You can do that in various ways, like comparing Instagram insights with data from your Google Analytics. For example, how many people tapped for directions according to Instagram vs. how many people Google Analytics UTM data shows?
Make sure your measurements are accurate and the tools are reliable before moving to the next step.
Analyze
During the Analyze phase, you’ll review your data to determine why likes, comments, and other engagements do not translate into foot traffic to your establishment. You can use different testing techniques here, including hypothesis testing and regression analysis.
You could start by comparing content themes with foot traffic in the case of a coffee shop. So, for example, you can look at the days or weeks when you had brunch-related posts vs regular latte posts and see how much geofenced foot traffic you got from each.
In another scenario, imagine you’ve identified “growing negative sentiment” as a problem. This is where you notice many negative comments about your brand or a specific product on social media.
Like in the previous example, you can start by analyzing the content theme to see if there’s a correlation between the type of content you’re posting and the negative sentiment. For example, if you notice that posts with a particular influencer attract more negative comments than before-and-after posts, then you may want to dig deeper into that influencer campaign strategy because it might be the problem.
Besides content themes, you can also analyze and test things like time and audience segmentation. For example, does posting at particular times result in higher taps for directions? Or are the negative sentiments mostly coming from a specific audience demographic?
Creately’s market segmentation templates can be extremely valuable here.
You can also get a lot of value from using AI in this phase. Data analysis is one of the most powerful use cases of AI in marketing. You can use artificial intelligence to analyze your data and identify potential recurring themes, for example. You could also use it to brainstorm ideas for what elements you may want to test and analyze.
Improve
The analysis phase should give you a clear idea of what needs to be done to improve your social branding efforts.
For example, it may have shown that the type of influencer content you share (or even the specific influencer you’ve partnered with) is the reason behind the poor sentiment. Or perhaps your establishment was not getting enough foot traffic because you were posting at the wrong time, or did not have a clear address and working hours published online.
So, at this stage, you stop with the analysis and start fixing the problem. If you noticed that brunch-related content pieces drive more foot traffic, double down on that type of content. If high-end influencer campaigns produce more negative sentiment, stop the campaigns.
The fixes you come up with at this stage of the DMAIC process should target the specific friction points identified in the Analyze phase.
Control
In the final phase, you will make sure that the improvements become part of your standard operating procedures. This is done to ensure that the improvements stick and that none of the key process participants fall back to initial practices that led you to the problem you had in the first place.
So, make sure that everyone involved knows what key performance indicators they need to track and what tools they should use. You’ll also want to document your new strategy and make it available to all your stakeholders.
Remember that Control is a continuous process. Track the relevant KPIs continuously and do a comprehensive analysis every quarter or biannually to determine if the strategy is still working. If it’s not, or in case you run into another issue, start the process again by defining the new problem.
How Six Sigma Helps Social Media Marketing
Six Sigma can be beneficial for social media marketing in various ways. These include
- Identifying root causes of marketing problems – Six Sigma eliminates guesswork from your processes by encouraging you to listen to your customers through the DMAIC methodology. It also encourages extensive testing and analysis to identify the specific process issues causing problems and the potential solutions that can move the needle.
- Providing a structured approach to problem solving – Six Sigma provides a systematic problem-solving methodology through DMAIC. This tool has proven to be efficient at identifying bottlenecks and improving processes across various industries. It also encourages users to create a process map and identify and track KPIs that are important to a business’s bottom line.
- Delivering measurable results – Finally, by encouraging users to set goals and track key performance indicators, Lean Six Sigma’s DMAIC delivers measurable results to help you see whether your efforts have resolved the problem and by how much. This is great, especially if you need to demonstrate the ROI of your DMAIC initiative.
Research also shows that for every $1 invested in Six Sigma organizations can get a direct saving of $2.
But while DMAIC can be very effective at resolving your social media marketing challenges, you must also be careful about how you implement it. A common trap you’ll want to avoid is creating a complex problem definition. This can cause problems by leaving your team confused about what exactly they should be trying to resolve, i.e., the objective.
Also, make sure to collect quality data. Remember, all your decisions will be based on that data.
The best part is that you don’t have to execute DMAIC from scratch. Creately provides DMAIC templates and process mapping tools to help you implement this methodology.
Creately’s tools will help you define your social branding goals, track the right metrics, and iterate your strategy as needed until you achieve your objectives.
In closing
DMAIC is an incredible Six Sigma tool that can help you identify a problem’s root cause, develop an effective solution, implement it, and track performance over time. Though the tool was initially used in manufacturing, the practices can be deployed anywhere.
This article has shown you how to use DMAIC for social media marketing. Start by clearly defining the problem. Remember to listen to the voices of your customers at this stage.
Then, measure your existing processes, analyze your data, improve the process based on the insights from the analysis phase, and finally, control the process by ensuring all stakeholders stick to the new strategies.
Author Bio
David Pagotto is the Founder and Managing Director of SIXGUN, a digital marketing agency based in Melbourne. He has been involved in digital marketing for over 10 years, helping organizations get more customers, more reach, and more impact.
