Measuring social media

It's been a little quiet around here since I presented at the CASE conference back in August. Firstly I took a much needed holiday to Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks (so I am now a darker shade of British pink, and just that little bit heavier thanks to the all inclusive rate and 'cocoloco' cocktails). However, what's really been keeping me busy is the follow-ups I've had since the conference. I now have a hectic diary in the lead up to Christmas running in-house workshops on social media, and helping people to develop their own social media communications plans and strategies.

I think this interest tells me something. No, I don't think my ego is quite big enough to suggest that it says lots of people think I'm fab and want to work with me. I actually think that it tells me that there is a sudden and eager interest from organisations to really start making sense and get to grips with social media. To some extent this is about stopping 'dabbling' and starting to be strategic. It's no longer about giving a nod to social media, but now about actually getting serious and getting down to business. Above all, in the current economic climate, it's also about finding creative ways to engage with inexpensive marketing-communications activities and perhaps considering what else might need to give in order to free up staff time and resource to give social media a strategic chance.

And so I really welcome Karine Joly's article 'Social Media Measurement 101' on universitybusiness.com. According to Karine 'social media is just not optional anymore'. Now, of course as a communications consultant who specialises in social and digital media I'd whole heartedly agree with that statement, wouldn't I? However, what I really welcome is her seven-step plan for social media measurement:

1. Define measurable goals for social media activities
2. Choose key performance indicators carefully
3. Plan ahead and properly set up the right measurement tools
4. Capture the data at preset intervals
5. Don’t forget some benchmarking
6. Share your measurement data
7. Use measurement data to craft your next moves.

All sensible and sound advice, and really just reinforces how social media plans should be part of an integrated marketing-communications strategy and plan.

Following a presentation I gave at another CASE conference earlier this year, I posted this article about monitoring tools (mostly free) available out there. And when it comes to benchmarking, platforms such as Technorati and Twitter Analyzer might be helpful.