Social Media Metrics Chapter 10 Learning Objectives What

Social Media Metrics Chapter 10

Learning Objectives ● What is the role of metrics in social media marketing programs? ● What are the steps in the DATA approach to measurement? ● What characteristics do most commonly used social media metrics share? ● How do we calculate social media ROI? ● How do we assess the costs and benefits of a social media marketing program? ● How do we track social media results? o DATA

What Matters is Measured Advertisers measure… ● Reach - number of people exposed to the message ● Frequency - the average number of times someone is exposed ● Site Stickiness - the ability of the site to draw repeat visits and to keep people on the site ● Relative pull - a comparison of how well different creative executions generate a response

What Matters is Measured cont. Brands monitor… ● Clickthroughs - the number of people exposed to an online ad or link who actually click on it ● Sales conversions - the number of people who click through who go on to purchase the product ● Viewthroughs - the number of people who are exposed and do not click through, but who later visit the brands website

A First Date or Marriage? ● Quality of interactions o Degree of engagement during and after the interaction § How these exposures influence feelings about the brand ● Diagnostics ○ Brand likeability ○ brand image ○ Brand awareness ○ Brand loyalty ○ Brand affiliation ○ Congruency ○ Purchase Intent

A First Date or Marriage? cont. ● Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - metrics that are tied to organizational objectives o Measurements with a defined context are metrics. o Measurements require context to provide useful feedback. o Metrics that are tied to objectives are KPIs. o Objectives must be well defined before you can identify KPIs.

The Evaluation & Measurement Process : DATA ● ● Define Assess Track Adjust

Define ● The first task is to define what we want to occur and what we need to measure o In other words, we must define the objectives of the social media marketing campaign ● Objectives can vary from brand to brand but they will likely include: o Motivating some behavior from the target audience (such as visits to a website or purchases of the product) o Influencing brand knowledge and attitudes (particularly among those who are likely to spread the message to their own networks) o Accomplishing the first two objectives with fewer resources than might be required with other methods

Define ● Are Your Objectives SMART? o o o Specific Measurable Appropriate Realistic Time-oriented Example of a SMART objective: “We will promote our new Facebook page in print advertisements we will place in the June issues of Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, and Maxim. On July 15, we will count the number of Facebook users who ‘like’ our brand compare sales to the same period last year. ”

Define ● Metrics o Next step is to decide on the METRIC (specific standard of measurement) we will use to measure the objective o Commonly-used metrics: § Asset popularity, virality ● sharing, viewing, bookmarking, downloads § Brand liking ● fans, followers, friends ● growth in fans, followers, friends § Sentiment ● nature of comments, tag attributes, attitudes

Define ● A Social Media Marketing Metrics Matrix o ACTIVITY METRICS § measure the actions the organization takes relative to social media o INTERACTION METRICS § focus on how the target market engages with the social media platform and activities o RETURN METRICS § focus on the outcomes (financial and otherwise) that directly or indirectly support the success of the brand

Define ● Return on Investment (ROI) o common metric to gauge success o ROI is a measure of profitability that captures how effective a company is at using capital to generate profits § must assign financial value to the resources used to execute a strategy, measure financial outcomes, and calculate the ratio between inputs and outcomes ● Social Media Return on Investment (SMROI) o applying the ROI concept to a brand’s investment in social media marketing o answers the question: “How much income did our investments in social media marketing generate? ”

Define ● Other ways of measuring return: o Return on Impressions Model - demonstrates how many media impressions were generated by the social media tactics employed ● an impression is an “opportunity to see” for the target audience o Return on Social Media Impact Model - attempts to track coverage across media & in different markets against sales over time o Return on Target Influence Model - relies upon survey data to assess the effectiveness of social media marketing o Return on Earned Media Model - uses a metric called advertising equivalency value to equate publicity in news media outlets to its paid advertising equivalent

Assess ● The second step in the measurement planning process- to identify the investments required for specific activities and how to value the outcomes. ● There is little value in measuring without a process for applying what is learned to future activities and investments. o Opportunity Costs: What else would employees or volunteers have done if they weren’t spending time contributing to the brand’s social media activity? o Speed of Response: Social media enable companies to identify crisis situations quickly and respond quickly. o Message Control: Brands accept a risk that the brand’s message will be shared or manipulated in ways that the brand would rather not have happen. o Blog Value Index (BVI): The BVI is a simple equation that enables a company to assess whether the blog adds more value than it costs.

Track ● Baselines o A baseline is a metric often expressed visually that allows a marketer to compare its performance on some dimension to other things such as how competitors are doing ● Measurement Maps o A measurement map displays the types of branded messages produced and distributed and invitations for consumer engagement with the brand as well as the online location for these materials ● The tracking step in the DATA process involves the following components o o o Identify tracking mechanisms Establish baseline comparisons Create activity deadlines Develop transaction data Measure transaction precursors Overlay timelines and look for patterns

Adjust ● The final step ● There is a little value in measuring without a process for applying what is learned to future activities and investments.

Simple Ways to Start Measuring This list highlights a few metrics that provide a good start: ● Content Consumption: Who is interacting with and consuming the brand generated and consumer generated content? Is it who you want to consume your content? ● Content Augmentation: Who is adding to your changing your content by continuing the conversation with response posts? In what ways is the content augmented? Is it consistent with what you want from campaign?

Simple Ways to Start Measuring ● Content Sharing: At what rate are those exposed to the brand messages sharing the content with others using Share tools? Does the rate of sharing suggest campaign momentum? ● Content Loyalty: How many consumers have subscribed to branded content with RSS feeds or by registering for site access? ● Content Conversations: Who is discussing the brand? Who is linking to brand websites? What is the comment to post ratio? ● Content Engagement: Is the number of friends to brand profiles growing? Are people contributing content like comments and photos?

Chapter Summary ● Metrics are measures to which marketers can compare results that relate to specific marketing objectives. ● Metrics allow us to determine the extent to which our strategies have been successful, if at all. ● Without metrics, we would be unable to assess the effectiveness of our campaigns.