I see some brands that are reluctant to integrate traditional marketing (website, blog, email, or offline/online advertising, promotions etc.) until their social media programs are deemed “successful enough.” For these clients, it helps to have good analytics, a focused pilot, and to plot out the integration with their marketing strategy in phases.

Other brands have jumped head-first onto the social media bandwagon because they HAD to be there, but with minimal strategy, focus, and expertise and haphazard alignment to marketing/business objectives. They’re now wondering why they aren’t seeing the returns hyped by the media. These clients are open to integrating social media into their marketing mix – they just need help evaluating the best way to go about this – choosing the right channels, campaigns, and communication strategy.

What accountability does the social media aspect of brand management have? What metrics are in place and what tools do you use to measure progress?

The social media segment is finding itself increasingly accountable. At first, there were a lot of people talking about how social media doesn’t have traditional ROI, it has all kinds of other types like ROE, and how it was impossible to quantify the monumental impacts on brand equity and community. But that doesn’t fly for long with brand management.

You need to justify and quantify your efforts and the resources spent. And you need to be smart about it. There are numerous applications and platforms out there and it can be difficult for companies to know what to use and how to put it all together in a report that is really useful. I have my own selection of favorites which I customize to report both financial and non-financial indicators and present it in a compelling, useful, and actionable format.

While measurement and analytics are carefully tailored to each client, those of you trying this at home will want to include these same elements in your reporting – financial ROI to measure sales, transactions and customers; non-financial metrics to measure mentions, sentiment, link click-throughs, exposure, virals (retweets, comments, shares, etc.), and conversations/engagement.

I guide my clients in creating a social media brand persona, and we define its limits together. I usually help craft or tailor guidelines for interaction and participation for all employees/contributors.

There is a lot of hand-holding that goes on – brands are sometimes stuck in the traditional push marketing voice – you know, the one devoid of human connection. They have to be educated on how to speak with a personality that people can connect with, and one that reflects their brand values.

Tomorrow: Social media culture change and consumer info overload!