Social Media Measurement
Can Social Media be measured?
Yes. Numerous measurement models and metrics are a source of almost constant debate and revision among industry experts and practitioners. What is important to understand is that no one has the perfect model for you. You’ll need to develop a customized approach that is based on the following:
1.) The three areas where the impact of a Social Media initiative can be observed: Enterprise Generated Media (web sites, Blogs, and other content that your company publishes); Social channels outside the walls of your web site and other EGM (i.e., people talking on their blogs, others forums and channels not controlled by your company); Word of mouth about your product that happens offline.
2.) The specific outcomes desired from your overall strategy and each tactic you’ve settled on.
3.) The tools you have, or can acquire and deploy.
4.) Your ability to create reporting (either a dashboard or manual reporting structure) to bring all the results together in a way that provides actionable insight.
Don’t freak. You probably do not have what you need to measure everything comprehensively, but you’ve likely got more data than you think. (Our clients are often shocked when we show them what they can accomplish with what they already have in place.)
No matter what the state of your current infrastructure, the important thing is to secure buy-in within your organization about how and what you will measure prior to pulling the trigger on a campaign. If you do this, you will keep yourself out of the hot seat (and be in a better position to learn and create an increasingly sophisticated Social Media presence).
Social Media Measurement Resources:
Measuring Social Media White Paper
On Serengeti’s main site we have a white paper explaining how you can measure social media and why it’s important
Making the Case: Measuring the Impact of Organic Word of Mouth
Serengeti’s chapter in “Measuring Word of Mouth Volume 4″ (Available through the WOMMA store)
