More on success measurement for social media

Success measures for online activities is one of my hobby-horses. I’m pleased to report that an excellent article has been published on Econsultancy outlining 10 ways to measure social media success. I suggest you follow the link and read the whole article, but here’s the list:

  1. Traffic
  2. Interaction
  3. Sales
  4. Leads
  5. Search marketing
  6. Brand metrics
  7. PR
  8. Customer engagement
  9. Retention
  10. Profits

Chris Lake writes, “The key with social media measurement, I think, is to stand back and take a widescreen approach to measurement. 

“Rather than focusing on the smaller, campaign-specific metrics, such as traffic from Twitter or the number of fans on Facebook, wouldn’t it be better to look at how it helps to shift the most important business KPIs, such as sales, profits, as well as customer retention and satisfaction rates?

“….Like TV advertising, social media will play a role in moving brand metrics, and perhaps more so (it is easier to make a noise and to be socially active; there’s an anytime, anywhere factor at work here. And hey, shit sticks around longer when you throw it online).”

As always, the comments are just as thought-provoking as the article. They include:

“Engagement is certainly on the lips of every nonprofit digital person; as mission-based organisations that’s supposedly what we exist for. But i’m losing faith with the idea of measuring it. Dare i suggest it’s something that you have to _feel_ …?”

“I’ve often asked industry experts how to measure social and nobody has a compelling answer. The industry as a whole is divided on this. Social media is the new mullet!”

“There’s a contradiction at play. With TV and print, measurement doesn’t seem to be a big deal, despite the fact that they often claim the vast share of ad budgets. However these same people will make demands for ‘a single planning currency’ for online, to ‘improve’ measurement.”

This will become a more salient issue as experience in the medium grows and measurement technology improves. Watch out TV!

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Posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 10:17 pm under Marketing, Uncategorized, e-marketing, social media.

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One Response to “More on success measurement for social media”

  1. James Gurd Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 4:08 am

    Yep definitely agree - great to see so many people commenting on the original article and you extending reach with your blog. As i said in my comment, nobody seems to know what to do with social, it’s the hot potato. I say embrace it and learn for yourself.
    thanks
    james

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