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Social media measurement isn't always about the math
I had the pleasure of listening to Susan Etlinger from Altimeter present at Social Media Week at Adobe just a few days ago. The topic … metrics and ROI. Now, I am certainly not the guy who is going to develop a measurement plan, forecast sales, determine the net present value of some object or provide comprehensive ROI modeling. Heck, I need a calculator when I correct my daughter’s homework and she’s only in 5th grade. I will leave metrics, measurement and ROI analytics to the math wizards like my pal Olivier Blanchard who wrote a book on the subject, Social Media ROI.
But here are a few golden nuggets that I extracted out of Susan’s presentation; as well as some of my own thoughts and experiences from talking with business leaders in the enterprise:
Social media measurement isn’t always about the math. Ensuring that the entire marketing organization is measuring social the same way is equally as important as the what and how
KPIs, PR measurement goals and ROI modeling should be done BEFORE campaigns and programs are in market
There are literally hundreds of ways to measure social; pick just a few that can be used to tell a more broad story of the work being done in social
The metrics (whatever they are .. reach, engagement, community growth, revenue) should ALWAYS roll up to business metrics in some way
At the end of the day, social media measurement is about change management. We/they/us need to change the way we think, communicate, behave, persuade, lead and act when rolling out and planning for social media measurement; which is a very small component of a more broad social business plan