How to create social media metrics that matter
Nov 9th
For years I’ve admired the real-world insights and experienced perspectives of Steve Goldner, perhaps better know as @Social Steve. I’m pleased that Steve has agreed to be the newest Contributing Columnist to {grow} and I know you’ll enjoy his work!
By Steve Goldner, Contributing {grow} Columnist
I head up social media at a performance marketing agency in New York City and I will tell you, everyone is interested in social media! But getting people to buy in and commit to social media takes MUCH more than having a shiny object.
It might be easy to get in the door, but you must show relevance to business KPIs (key performance indicators) to get commitment for social media. And budgets shift all the time so social media MUST show continuous measurable results. Social media accountability means delivering and demonstrating growth in all relevant parameters that are inputs and building blocks to stated KPIs.
So how do you even go about this? Here are three simple suggestions that will definitely put you on the right path:
Understanding the Business you Represent
Make sure you know EXACTLY what your company stands for. Formally document a position statement, target market to serve, value proposition you provide for your customers, as well as the communication objectives of the company. Share this with stakeholders of the company and make sure you have concurrence.
This is an extremely important first step for social media because your “social” activities should be aimed at reinforcing your position and value proposition and be targeted to the right people. This does not mean that you are going to explicitly communicate these positions, but you should reflect on these formal documents and look to support your brand position and values when you design your owned media.
Don’t “Post” – Publish
There are two missions when running a blog and/or community: 1) attract new readers/users, and 2) make sure the existing audience comes back. The nuance between posting and publishing is the difference between simply putting up some words (i.e. posting an article name and URL) versus gaining peoples attention and getting them interested. As an old (CMO) boss of mine would always say – “words are important.”
And if we look at the missions stated above, it is more than just using compelling, engaging words. Plan how your owned media will get easily shared. Build strategy and tactics to get earned media.
Deliver Metrics that Matter to Executives
Executives think in terms of a sales funnel. Yes, I think the funnel is dead (and I have covered that), but that does not really matter if your customer thinks otherwise.
You have to show results in a manner that is relevant to the stakeholders’ perspective. This means being able to measure awareness, consideration, loyalty, and advocacy. Notice I did not mention sales. Social media is generally a weak vehicle for direct sales, BUT awareness, consideration, loyalty and advocacy ALL contribute to sales. Here are a few thoughts (there are many more) on how to measure each:
- Awareness – is typically generated beyond your digital assets. If someone is on your website, blog, or Facebook page, they have already become “aware.” So use a social media monitoring tool. Measure the number of mentions of your brand or website URL.
- Consideration – shows up by checking out your brand and from a digital perspective this can be measured by how many come to brand website. Look at onsite parameters such as visits, pageviews, and time onsite.
- Loyalty – comes when individuals engage with brands and literally say, “I want in.” Easy loyalty measurements include number of comments and interactions, sign up on sites, and the number of friends and followers. Individually, none of these items show loyalty, but looking at them collectively provides loyalty insights.
- Advocates – publically reference your brand. This can be measured by capturing the number of retweets, reblogs, mentions, and positive sentiment for your brand.
Let’s address how these numbers should be considered in context of an overall marketing program.
Looking at specific numbers for a given month really doesn’t tell you anything. And seeing a drop from one month to another or seeing a rise from one month to another should not necessarily alarm you or be cause for celebration, respectively. You will likely see zigzag fluctuations each month based on many confounding events and factors you cannot control.
The relevant information comes from a statistical evaluation of a normalized curve over a number of months, perhaps a 12-month sliding scale. Realistic and true social media success is captured over time and short term successes are probably not be a true indication of market reality. Can you represent a 5-10% growth in each area month-to-month on the normalized curve? Now that’s meaningful success!
Winners in the social media space have a game plan, meaningful + relevant metrics, and the right people to both execute the plan and provide the appropriate analysis. Do you have a plan? Do you feel you have the right talent on board? How is this changing for you and your company as social media matures as a channel?
Steve Goldner is the Senior Director at MediaWhiz where he leads the social media practice. Steve has been a marketing executive for the past 20+ years and engaged in social media for the last 4 years. You can follow him on Twitter @SocialSteve and visit his own blog at http://socialsteve.wordpress.com .
Picking through the bones of Social Media failures
Oct 26th
By Stanford Smith, Contributing {grow} Columnist
I’m morbidly fascinated by failure.
As of late, I’ve been scouring the web looking for failed social media programs. Unfortunately, I can find plenty of victims in the corporate world.
When I see the telltale signs of a failed effort – inconsistent publishing, abandoned Twitter accounts, and Facebook ghost towns – I zero in and start picking over the dead program’s bones.
In every case, I am looking for something specific. I want to know why the social media program didn’t live up to its promise.
Like a diligent archaeologist, I scribble what I find in moleskins that litter my home office.
Over the last month, I’ve been going through these notebooks looking for a common thread, a Rosetta Stone that will help me decipher the steps that lead to social media failure.
It’s been an interesting journey.
First, I started with the “How” of social media.
The “How” of social media is all about techniques, strategies, and clever tricks to get from A to Z a bit faster than the rest.
“How” disciples quickly diagnose a social program’s failure by pointing to its lack of post frequency, failure to use power words in retweets, neglect of sure-fire Facebook apps, and other tactical oversights.
Since I am a “How” blogger, I can’t resist attributing failure to not manipulating the tools correctly.
The problem is that I see many blogs, Twitter users, and Facebook mavens do the right things but still fail to build a sustainable social program.
I moved on and began looking for the “What” of social media.
Investigating the “What” usually uncovers strategic errors.
A business, for example, that decided to do social media because it was the new thing to do. It saw its competitors doing it and didn’t want to be left behind.
Diagnostic questions are usually…
- Did the blogger pick the right niche?
- Did the business match the right social media platform with the right objective?
- Does the blogger use the right type of content to attract visitors and build reach?
Even though these “What” questions are extremely helpful, they aren’t critical.
In the end, I settled on something so obvious that it’s easy to overlook. It’s a simple question that great businesses AND great social media practitioners ask:
Why?
Every failed social media effort did not answer this question:
“Why are we communicating with our customers?”
One must-have ingredient in successful communication of any kind is authenticity. Authenticity is born out of a clear vision and purpose. Businesses with a clear reason “Why” ooze authenticity.
- Their customer service has a sense of purpose, with an unmistakable air of genuine concern.
- Their blogs tell compelling stories that turn strangers into believers.
- Twitter becomes a steady drumbeat of “proof” that they are focused on helping their customers.
- Facebook becomes the headquarters for a vibrant community of evangelists who support and spread the cause.
Social media for these businesses is an easy extension of what they already do.
Incredibly, businesses and individuals who know “Why” they are using social media grow even if they overlook the “What” and “How”.
How to Find Your “Why”
You might be shaking your head and saying “easier said then done.” I agree with you. However, you can take some simple steps to move your social media effort in the right direction.
Create a Manifesto
Successful social media players such as Ford, Best Buy, and Dell have created a clear manifesto for their social media programs. You get the sense that they know where they are headed from reading their social media policies, which are easily accessible on their websites.
Create your own manifesto and work to gain consensus around it in your organization. If you are a solo operator, spend the time to create a manifesto that captures the fundamental values of your business.
Focus on Specific Customer Interactions
Imagining a specific customer interaction makes it easier to understand why you are using social tools.
For example, list 5 aggravating customer service issues; now decide why you need to handle these issues. If your goal is to turn detractors into fans, then your social media effort will look much different than if your goal is to simply contact upset customers quickly.
Working through how you plan to use social tools to interact with customers will help focus your “Why” and give you a jumpstart on selecting the right strategies.
Make Sense?
Are you struggling with “Why” you are using social tools? What challenges have you faced in creating your manifesto?
Stanford Smith obsesses about how to get passionate people’s blogs noticed and promoted at Pushing Social, except when he’s chasing large mouth bass.
Has BP learned NOTHING about PR and communications?
Sep 27th
I saw some beautiful ads on TV promoting tourism for the U.S. Gulf Coast. But after the heart strings were sufficiently plucked, who is identified as the sponsor? BP — the company that caused the mess in the first place! This really pissed me off.
Luckily I was in Memphis at the time and had the chance to have PR Expert Amy Howell calm me down, as you will see in this short video discussion.
Did BP do the right thing with these ads? What were the alternatives? Am I right to be venting over this?
I think you’ll enjoy the conversation and hope you’ll add your views on the subject in the comment section! Thanks!
P.S. You know what else pisses me off? If you “Google” BP tourism ads, all you get is BP PR fluffy stuff. They have their SEO machine working overtime, don’t they?
P.P.S. Grrrrr.
Can you make money managing social media?
Sep 25th
In a blog post almost two years ago about the best business idea for social media marketing, I made a prediction that I think stands up. I said that there would be increasing demand for out-sourced social media management and content farms that would pump out low-cost, low value content in a Wal-Mart kind of way.
I’m not not saying this is necessarily recommended! I just thought it would happen … and it is. Now, here’s the next big question … can you make money managing social media for others?
My original prediction was based on a statement I heard at many companies: “Can you please just do this social media stuff for me?”
Of the course the purists will contend that everybody should do their own social media because of the “authenticity” value. Certainly that is an ideal, but I’m also a realist. If people want to out-source their social media and there is a buck to made, it will certainly happen somewhere. I also think there is some value to a consultant or agency helping people along for some period of time. When you first got your driver’s license somebody still had to sit beside you and teach you how to drive, right?
In my job as a consultant, and especially in my job as a college educator teaching grad-level students from a variety of corporations, I see many approaches to social media management. Now, this is a short blog post and there are lots of nuances and exceptions, but IN GENERAL, here are some broad trends in social media management:
Mega brands – I can’t name names, but I have had a chance to witness some AMAZING and sophisticated social media marketing programs. These companies are beginning to make correlations between “share of voice” and true marketshare, using listening platforms to track micro-trends and the “cool kids,” and taking location-based marketing to a whole new level.
These companies have the resources to hire the biggest agencies and best minds in the world to help them navigate social media labyrinths and determine a strategy, but generally, they are organizing and resourcing to respond to the new opportunities. One brand has renamed part of their marketing department “Customer Connections.”
Medium-sized companies. I have a limited view of the world (of course), but I’ll be honest. Unless you are an elite brand, I believe at least 95 percent of the companies I see are desperately confused about what to do about social media. I think they would just like for it to go away so they can return to having a trade booth at the annual conference in Las Vegas.
They probably don’t have a corporate culture that can easily adapt to the transformation needed to “listen” instead of “broadcast” and they simply want to check a box to do SOMETHING. You, know … I actually think there is some value in that. A company that is at least thinking through the platforms, attempting to listen on the new channels and dipping their toe into content marketing is taking a step in the right direction. Most of these companies at least have the vision and budget to hire an agency to get them started on social media marketing.
Small businesses. As I wrote last week, I think social media can provide an advantage to most small businesses, but that doesn’t mean it actually does unless they are working on it! Why isn’t it happening?
- They’re overwhelmed by the concept and don’t know where to start.
- They started a Facebook page and nobody “liked” them so they quit.
- They understand the concept but don’t have the time or resources to do anything consistent and meaningful.
- Their marketing budget is tied up in local newspaper and TV ads and they don’t have anything left for something new.
- When you bring it up, they stare you down and tell you they “Don’t need the Facebox or The Tweeter,” usually followed by ”Dammit.”
Unless your customer falls into Category 5, they may be asking you to manage their social media program for them. I see the following business models emerging:
Local support. The new category of social media gurus are trying to teach best practices and perhaps do some hands-on social media management. My take is that most of these efforts eventually fail because you are communicating for somebody else, which is probably not sustainable, and the labor cost to actually do this stuff is so high –and the results so undefinable in the short-term — that customers lose interest. People with a limited budget need this to work NOW.
Cookie cutter. I am seeing a ton of people and small agencies offering social media packages — “our gold package features two tweets per day, a Facebook update, and one blog post per week!” I truly despise this approach because it institutionalizes lazy marketing. But it is happening, a lot. I also forecast that most of these efforts will fail because at some point, the customer is going to wonder when all the new sales are going to start coming in from these two tweets per day they are paying for … and of course there will not be any. So this is a band-aid but I don’t see it working broadly.
Overseas. Kind of a hybrid. Let’s solve the labor cost problem by hiring low-cost virtual assistants in Vietnam or The Philippines to do the tweets and blogs for us. I have a friend offering this to customers now and the VA can set-up WordPress websites so inexpensively he gives them away. There are a multitude of problems associated with this approach but it at least addresses the labor issue.
Coaching. I think the only viable long-term solution for most small businesses is to get some coaching. I have successfully taken this approach with several clients. They buy an hour or so of my time each week and we methodically work on a step-by-step plan to eventually create a culture, an organization, and an actionable strategy appropriate for the company resources and budget. This seems to be the approach that will work best. It is not fast (and a lot of people hate that! ) but it does slowly integrate these practices into the fabric of the company, get real employees involved, and become a natural extension of their sales and marketing strategy.
I know it’s a big world and there are probably lots of other advances and models around. What are you seeing? What’s working or not working? Have you found a way to monetize social media management?
Illustration: Courtesy Toothpaste for Dinner.com
Subscribe
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
Groups We Believe In
