Everyone's goals are different. The biggest issue is that so many people don't HAVE goals -- they create social media "just because."
Even if you "have something to say," or "want to connect," it still helps to eventually pinpoint exactly WHAT success MEANS for you, so you can then measure the steps taken.
300,000 viewers for Something to Be Desired would be amazing. Would it constitute success, or a percentage thereof? If I don't know that, I can't tell if ANYTHING I'm doing is successful...
Ike Pigott
· 2 years ago
Chris - the Map is even more crucial in driving home the key to Web 2.0: the options you give the consumer.
When I explain Social Media internally, I need a whiteboard to adequately show all the ways stuff gets into the network, and the myriad of ways it can get pulled out. Obviously, the measurements that are most valuable come at the gates of the smallest of the tributaries. They are most likely to be meaningful is describing the behaviors you're most interested in.
The challenge in selling the overall concept is cutting down to the important targets - and comparing your 10,000 What's to 5 Wows to the 100 Whistles and the 25 WubbaWubbas. All without making things *more* complicated for the Strategy people.
Dan York
· 2 years ago
Chris - Nice post. I think you do need post measurement and what you call mapping. If you can truly get a measurement of some desired outcome like Chris Penn can for FAP, that's probably the best measurement possible. Many of us, though, don't have such a focused outcome and so we wind up off in the weeds of RSS subscriptions, download counts, etc. All of which are good, of course, but difficult given that the current tools and technologies can only give you imprecise measurements at best. For that, you need your "map" to explain the overall context into which the measurements fit. Anyway, it's all an important issue, so thanks for raising it on your blog. (You forget to pimp PodCamp Boston 2, where people will undoubtedly be able to hear more on this subject! ;-)
vaspers aka steven e. streight
· 2 years ago
Funny that nobody does an ROI on corporate lawn mowing, business cards, new carpet, new signage, etc.
Some things must be done, regardless of how trackable the results are. A business must first decide, "Do we wish to engage in conversations with our customers & stakeholders? Are we willing to try new ways of communicating and hearing from the public?"
Notice how the corporate emphasis is on "our message" and "our communication strategy". More vain mercenary fluff.
Emphasis should be on "input from our customers and prospects". But most companies seem to disregard customer complaints, suggestions, questions.
You can spread out the responsibilities for blogging and other social media community invovlements, if you can't justify paying one person to do it all.
Social networking should be part of a business model, part of the marketing, sales, and customer relations. But since it's customer-centric, many firms balk at it.
Darrin Dickey
· 2 years ago
Seems kind of like mapping is a part of a good marketing plan. Although I like the concept of a visual map as part of the plan.
Chris Brogan...
· 2 years ago
Remember, I'm not a classically trained marketer. For all I know, I'm out digging up bones that you all know about. I often feel like a guy coming out of a personal jungle and finding Manhattan.
@Justin and Dan- good point. If you don't have a hard target, it's harder to consider this all. But then, "should" you? Beats me.
@Vaspers- true. In lots of ways, this all becomes "must do" for lots of organizations. But it's early still. Remember, you're a futurist.
@Ike- you're totally right. Finding the options on the map and killing the dead ends makes sense.
@Darrin- You'll keep teaching me, I'm sure. : )
Christopher S. Penn
· 2 years ago
Dude, I'd say thank you anyway :-)
Also, I wouldn't wholly discount those 300K. They may not take out loans, but they might know someone who would. Intangibles count - they're just hard to measure.
All this to say, your thoughts here are really helpful and lots to think about ... I'm in the process of putting together a workshop on this topic .. so this post is high up on the link list.
B.
Sean Bohan
· 2 years ago
Running like a loon and just got to a machine to drop this -
The map is critical. Before you can start a measurement plan you need to define the who/what/where/when/why and how you are measuring.
The nearest I can get my brain around this, it is an open form of pagerank (Google's algorithm for measuring the value of a webpage by measuring the relationships of other pages to that page through my favorite currency on the web - the link). But with social media its more than just links, its comments, trackbacks, diggs, del.icio.us, rankings, tags.
And don't get me started on video, audio and photos :) (favorites, playlists, comments, video comments, rankings, embedded versions of the file).
Beth Kanter
· 2 years ago
I've been pondering this again this morning.
I think selected metrics for success in the context of strategy is the only way to go. In the nonprofit space, we've been having this debate as a result of one blogger challenging key nonprofit tech organizations and bloggers to do a side-by-side comparison in quanticast in the interest of transparency. The conclusion - numbers like this without context do not mean anything. Our nonprofit association did a terrific post sharing their metrics http://www.nten.org/blog/2007/09/20/measuring-s...
What you are describing as a map probably goes one step further -- keying the metrics to strategy points. What I would love to see is a real life example of a map and with a key metric. Or maybe just a template. Then, in true social media style, perhaps a blog meme that challenges us to share our maps.
I've found it very difficult to wrap my brain around all this , with so many different metrics to choose from - you can get easily distracted and there's complexity.
I'm also look at the sublte differences between "measures of success" and "ROI" and exactly how you consider the metrics in either case. Measures of success - are your goals, plus the "evidence" you gather to determine if you've been successful. Those numbers do not exist alone, but paint a broader context for improving what you're doing while it is underway. Some people call this continuous improvement.
The ROI is more about asking questions - did we get our money's worth? What did it cost us? What did it yield? Of course, as Chris Penn notes there are also the intangibles that lie beneath and are really hard to trace and measure.
All leading me back to your point .. that KEY metrics in the context of social media goals and strategy are valuable to determine the ROI and continuous improvement.
Thanks for thought provoking article ...
Jeremiah Owyang
· 2 years ago
Thanks Chris for the mention. You've listed some great examples too
Kami Watson Huyse
· 2 years ago
I always do a "mapping" (if you want to call it that) as a part of the planning process for a social media campaign. The map includes measurable objectives along with appropriate communities in which we will engage. Mapping is equal to the planning process in a public relations campaign GOAL POST.
GOAL (set them)
P ublics (communities) O bjectives (measurable) S trategies (how to engage) T actics (which tools to use)
JasonFalls
· 2 years ago
Brilliant post Chris. I am yet another one of those out there trying to find a way to qualify and quantify what we in social media do. While I've had some clear as mud test cases, I've found no true measurment (or mapping technique), but that's because my clients and I have not gone into it with the ideal end result in mind.
This is great food for thought for us and I thank you for it.
I would like to know, however, what you think are strong ways of measuring, say, the success of a blog if the goal is just to engage the greater world about our brand? Is it number or quality of comments, popularity of the blog (Technorati, etc.), product trial conversion (and how the heck do you measure that?) ... all nuances we're trying to figure out.
Thanks for the knowledge!
Herb
· 2 years ago
Chris, good post.
I've been thinking along similar lines and I think many people have.
I like the idea of mapping because it gets at the essence that social media needs a different type of measurement. What I've been toying around with is that having the 'media' label/tag to social media has this new conversational/communication/connection inherit a lot of intrinsic media properties - like an expected amount/traditional value of ROI for the reach, measurement problems, etc.
With a different/new way of brand communicating...this social media/new media grey matter needs different thinking...
davefleet
· 1 year ago
What Jason said.
As you say, I think it's important to focus on 'outcomes' rather than 'output.' It doesn't matter if you have thousands of subscribers/readers/listeners if none of them contribute to your business objectives. That's one of the reasons I can't stand seeing view numbers given as a success criteria for YouTube videos.
I'm hoping Joe Thornley's measurement roundtable will come up with some ideas for some measurement standards so we can start to have some consistency in this. It would also help in weeding-out the useful tools from the mass of shiny new objects out there.
Thanks Chris.
Nelson Bruton
· 1 year ago
Fantastic post Chris. Well thought out.
Here are my thoughts on the subject.
You can measure a social media campaign only after you determine the objective for the social media campaign. Influence and interaction and results are the ways in which a social media campaign can be measured. Each has quantitative and qualitative elements. Below are my initial thoughts on this subject. Please bear in mind that there are probably more to add to each category. (Help, advice, and collaboration is appreciated)
INFLUENCE Quantitative - 1. the number of people in the network 2. the number of networks/social communities/platforms 3. the growth rate of your network
Qualitative - 1. who is in the network? 2. what is the motivation for people joining the network? 3. what ideas are discussed in the networks
INTERACTION Quantitative - 1. the number of communication methods within a platform 2. the number of scheduled tasks(eg. messages, replies, comments, bulletins, blogs, etc)
Qualitative - 1. the types of communication being sent out 2. who are you targeting with a particular message?
RESULTS Quantitative - 1. number of leads generated 2. number of sales generated 3. number of new contacts made 4. revenue generated
Qualitative - 1. types of leads generated 2. types of contacts made
I would also like to ask if I could repost some of your content on inSocialMedia.com
Your expertise and participation would be very welcome in the community as well.
All Comments
Even if you "have something to say," or "want to connect," it still helps to eventually pinpoint exactly WHAT success MEANS for you, so you can then measure the steps taken.
300,000 viewers for Something to Be Desired would be amazing. Would it constitute success, or a percentage thereof? If I don't know that, I can't tell if ANYTHING I'm doing is successful...
When I explain Social Media internally, I need a whiteboard to adequately show all the ways stuff gets into the network, and the myriad of ways it can get pulled out. Obviously, the measurements that are most valuable come at the gates of the smallest of the tributaries. They are most likely to be meaningful is describing the behaviors you're most interested in.
The challenge in selling the overall concept is cutting down to the important targets - and comparing your 10,000 What's to 5 Wows to the 100 Whistles and the 25 WubbaWubbas. All without making things *more* complicated for the Strategy people.
Some things must be done, regardless of how trackable the results are. A business must first decide, "Do we wish to engage in conversations with our customers & stakeholders? Are we willing to try new ways of communicating and hearing from the public?"
Notice how the corporate emphasis is on "our message" and "our communication strategy". More vain mercenary fluff.
Emphasis should be on "input from our customers and prospects". But most companies seem to disregard customer complaints, suggestions, questions.
You can spread out the responsibilities for blogging and other social media community invovlements, if you can't justify paying one person to do it all.
Social networking should be part of a business model, part of the marketing, sales, and customer relations. But since it's customer-centric, many firms balk at it.
@Justin and Dan- good point. If you don't have a hard target, it's harder to consider this all. But then, "should" you? Beats me.
@Vaspers- true. In lots of ways, this all becomes "must do" for lots of organizations. But it's early still. Remember, you're a futurist.
@Ike- you're totally right. Finding the options on the map and killing the dead ends makes sense.
@Darrin- You'll keep teaching me, I'm sure. : )
Also, I wouldn't wholly discount those 300K. They may not take out loans, but they might know someone who would. Intangibles count - they're just hard to measure.
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/04/scre...
Anyway, did some musings here
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/05/meas...
And have been obsessing about it for a few months
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/google/index...
All this to say, your thoughts here are really helpful and lots to think about ... I'm in the process of putting together a workshop on this topic .. so this post is high up on the link list.
B.
The map is critical. Before you can start a measurement plan you need to define the who/what/where/when/why and how you are measuring.
The nearest I can get my brain around this, it is an open form of pagerank (Google's algorithm for measuring the value of a webpage by measuring the relationships of other pages to that page through my favorite currency on the web - the link). But with social media its more than just links, its comments, trackbacks, diggs, del.icio.us, rankings, tags.
And don't get me started on video, audio and photos :)
(favorites, playlists, comments, video comments, rankings, embedded versions of the file).
I think selected metrics for success in the context of strategy is the only way to go. In the nonprofit space, we've been having this debate as a result of one blogger challenging key nonprofit tech organizations and bloggers to do a side-by-side comparison in quanticast in the interest of transparency. The conclusion - numbers like this without context do not mean anything. Our nonprofit association did a terrific post sharing their metrics
http://www.nten.org/blog/2007/09/20/measuring-s...
What you are describing as a map probably goes one step further -- keying the metrics to strategy points. What I would love to see is a real life example of a map and with a key metric. Or maybe just a template. Then, in true social media style, perhaps a blog meme that challenges us to share our maps.
I've found it very difficult to wrap my brain around all this , with so many different metrics to choose from - you can get easily distracted and there's complexity.
I'm also look at the sublte differences between "measures of success" and "ROI" and exactly how you consider the metrics in either case. Measures of success - are your goals, plus the "evidence" you gather to determine if you've been successful. Those numbers do not exist alone, but paint a broader context for improving what you're doing while it is underway. Some people call this continuous improvement.
The ROI is more about asking questions - did we get our money's worth? What did it cost us? What did it yield? Of course, as Chris Penn notes there are also the intangibles that lie beneath and are really hard to trace and measure.
Both are valuable to do.
I did a post awhile back riffing on Kaushik's blog metrics post
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/05/meas... -- as part of exploring this topic
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/google/index...
for a screencast on google analytics and some workshops
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/06/new-...
All leading me back to your point .. that KEY metrics in the context of social media goals and strategy are valuable to determine the ROI and continuous improvement.
Thanks for thought provoking article ...
GOAL (set them)
P ublics (communities)
O bjectives (measurable)
S trategies (how to engage)
T actics (which tools to use)
This is great food for thought for us and I thank you for it.
I would like to know, however, what you think are strong ways of measuring, say, the success of a blog if the goal is just to engage the greater world about our brand? Is it number or quality of comments, popularity of the blog (Technorati, etc.), product trial conversion (and how the heck do you measure that?) ... all nuances we're trying to figure out.
Thanks for the knowledge!
I've been thinking along similar lines and I think many people have.
I like the idea of mapping because it gets at the essence that social media needs a different type of measurement. What I've been toying around with is that having the 'media' label/tag to social media has this new conversational/communication/connection inherit a lot of intrinsic media properties - like an expected amount/traditional value of ROI for the reach, measurement problems, etc.
With a different/new way of brand communicating...this social media/new media grey matter needs different thinking...
As you say, I think it's important to focus on 'outcomes' rather than 'output.' It doesn't matter if you have thousands of subscribers/readers/listeners if none of them contribute to your business objectives. That's one of the reasons I can't stand seeing view numbers given as a success criteria for YouTube videos.
I'm hoping Joe Thornley's measurement roundtable will come up with some ideas for some measurement standards so we can start to have some consistency in this. It would also help in weeding-out the useful tools from the mass of shiny new objects out there.
Thanks Chris.
Here are my thoughts on the subject.
You can measure a social media campaign only after you determine the objective for the social media campaign. Influence and interaction and results are the ways in which a social media campaign can be measured. Each has quantitative and qualitative elements. Below are my initial thoughts on this subject. Please bear in mind that there are probably more to add to each category. (Help, advice, and collaboration is appreciated)
INFLUENCE
Quantitative - 1. the number of people in the network 2. the number of networks/social communities/platforms 3. the growth rate of your network
Qualitative - 1. who is in the network? 2. what is the motivation for people joining the network? 3. what ideas are discussed in the networks
INTERACTION
Quantitative - 1. the number of communication methods within a platform 2. the number of scheduled tasks(eg. messages, replies, comments, bulletins, blogs, etc)
Qualitative - 1. the types of communication being sent out 2. who are you targeting with a particular message?
RESULTS
Quantitative - 1. number of leads generated 2. number of sales generated 3. number of new contacts made 4. revenue generated
Qualitative - 1. types of leads generated 2. types of contacts made
I would also like to ask if I could repost some of your content on inSocialMedia.com
Your expertise and participation would be very welcome in the community as well.
Respectfully,
Nelson Bruton