May 1, 2009
Measuring Social Media
In a marketing world focused on ROI, social media present some fascinating challenges. HOW do we measure? WHAT do we measure? And ultimately, how do we prove social media’s importance to our organizations?
First, we need to look at the “I” in ROI. If you think that playing in the social media space is free, you’re sadly mistaken. Sure, it doesn’t have the big retail price tags of traditional media. But there are investments, nonetheless. Think of it as investing intellectual capital vs. financial capital. You’ll need to invest in developing content, creating conversations and monitoring the chatter. Many companies are hiring folks who do this full time.
Second, as with any metrics, we need to establish a business objective up front, before you build your social media strategy. What is it, exactly, that we want our social media efforts to do? Build loyalty? Drive leads? Introduce products?
You might be tempted to go for the “quick and easy” and just count the number of followers, but what does this really tell you? Maybe that you’re getting attention, but that’s about it.
If you’re looking to build a thought leadership position, for example, you might want to measure the number of industry mavens who tweet or write about you over time. Or the number of industry blogs that link to you.
If you’re looking to increase sales, you might track how many people respond to a promotional offer (such as a link to a coupon or discount code). If you’re looking to generate leads, you might track the quantity and quality of people following links to web pages or microsites and, ultimately, filling out forms once they get there.
Whatever you do, don’t settle for “it’s not measurable,” because in this economy, if you can’t prove its value, it’s not worth doing.
Posted in How to Go Social, Measure and Refine