Through my research for this blog I have discovered several different methods to measure Social Media success.\u00a0 Some try to draw a direct link to sales volumes, while others try to measure web traffic levels and link them back to company objectives.\u00a0 What I have learned from my research is that there is no shortfall of people trying to find the best way to measure success in this relatively new forum.\u00a0 There is an endless supply of \u201c10 Ways to Measure Social Marketing\u201d type articles that come up after a quick Google search.\u00a0 While this can be helpful as eMarketers try to find the metrics that work best for their business, it can also result in companies using the wrong metrics to measure their marketing investments.\u00a0 With so many options, it can also be easy for eMarketers to pick the metrics that make them look the best to the company\u2019s executives for personal gain!<\/p>\n
So what are the metrics that should be used for Social Media campaigns?\u00a0 I wish I had an answer to this question.\u00a0 In fact, I wish anybody had an answer!\u00a0 In my search for the answer, I found that Don Bartholomew (SVP Digital and Social Media Research at Ketchum Inc.) summed it up best in his personal blog posting<\/a> a few months ago.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t agree more with his opening statement, in which he states the following:<\/p>\n “<\/strong>We are at a crossroads in social media measurement. Expectations for rigorous and relevant measurement have risen more quickly than delivery. Too many are fixated on quantitative outputs \u2013 speeds and feeds \u2013 at the expense of understanding the outcomes achieved by social media marketing and social business. There is still too much emphasis on vanity metrics and not enough on business results.“<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Bartholomew goes on to list some of the key steps required to truly have useful Social Media metrics, and the most intriguing one is the requirement to have a standard set of measurements and definitions across industries.\u00a0 This would create a system whereby campaigns can be measured against each other, and misleading metrics can be abandoned completely.\u00a0 To my surprise, there is already an international and cross-industry organization setup to reach this goal!\u00a0 Smmstandards.org<\/a> bills itself as \u201cA Cross-Industry Effort to Simplify and Unify the Measurement of Social Media\u201d.<\/b>\u00a0 This organization met in 2011 and set out the following set of priorities for which standardized measurements should be created:<\/p>\n Impact & Value is of most interest to me, as this is where the valuation of programs from a financial perspective would fall in.\u00a0 I believe that a standardized measurement system will go a long way in validating the benefits of Social Media marketing, and will push the medium further as eMarketers increase presence there.\u00a0 Smmstandards.org has already made some progress in this regard, and I look forward to monitoring the evolution of their value metrics as Social Media space becomes more and more popular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Through my research for this blog I have discovered several different methods to measure Social Media success.\u00a0 Some try to draw a direct link to sales volumes, while others try to measure web traffic levels and link them back to … Continue reading \n