Social Media Methodology: ROIs & KPIs & Tigers, Oh My!
I remain perplexed at the level of comfort some of my colleagues and friends demonstrate toward measuring social media behavior. It’s just not that easy…or at least it’s not as easy as it might look.
A ubiquitous Paul Gillin appears to agree, at least in terms of SM influence:
For all the statistical analysis and academic studies that have been performed on the early stages of social media, there is no one metric, formula or service that can reliably measure influence. Nor do any of the experts I spoke to believe that there will be a reliable metric in the near future. The best strategy is to gather together as many tools as you can, so that you can make informed decisions about how to engage when the time comes.
Yes, you can attempt to make sense of SM interactions using traditional web analytics set over against new behaviors such as mentions and retweets. Yes, you can assess ratio of conversations to conversions. Yes, you can attempt to relate customer interactions to satisfaction. But rest assured, someone will certainly ask for hard proof of SM success at some point. What then, might we ask, will you do?
Well, the first thing you have to do is be honest. There is no perfect positive correlation between social media behavior (activity in myriad social spaces) and outcomes (the positive stuff you want to happen). You just cannot predict it perfectly. The best you can do is attempt to log previous SM campaign work (well planned and executed SM work to be sure) and then adjust SM work/buys/behavior in relation to correlated positive outcomes. The second thing you have to do is develop a methodology (the study of methods – plural) for engaging in this assessment so that you are making the best choices in relation to: A. Your Goals, B. Your Resources & C. Your Desired Outcomes.
Social Media Methodology: executing, assessing and retesting methods until you get the answers you need. After you get this skill set down, you are on your way to making better SM choices!
Check out IIG’s Social Media Metrics Super List for some excellent ideas regarding measurement. And don’t forget that in the land of Social Media ROI & KPI, honesty and methodology are the best measurements for success!
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