Why Social Media Measurement Needs to Catch Up to Adoption

Forrester Research recently noted in one of their latest reports that four in five US adults online are participating in social media once a month. With this continued consumer adoption and year over year acceleration — many marketers, PR, and customer services groups at brands are attempting to transform their customer interaction tactics with customers and prospects. But what does this rush to be social really mean for brands? And are they pushing forward without having a clear line of sight about what levels of effort are required or what success metrics should be put in place? A recently published study reveals some interesting insights why social media is being adopted and the gaps between adoption and measurement.

The August 2009 survey by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education found that 86% of respondents from a variety of industries had adopted social technologies. Most said they were using the tools for marketing (57%), followed by internal collaboration (39%). Almost three in 10 respondents reported using social technologies for customer service and support.

Some addition data was reveal about headcount, support and funding - such as that it was more common that employees, either full- or part-time, were being devoted to working on social media initiatives (57% of respondents) than it was to commit budget dollars for social media (40%). Not sure if that second percentage mention was about tools or programs, but must social applications are being integrated within Websites or another site. While standalone community sites and third-party widgets were popular among 40% and 39% of professionals, respectively.

And despite widespread adoption and investment in social media, measurement of this investment and activity still lags. A scant 16% of those polled said they currently measured ROI for their social media programs. Now that is astounding in my opinion!! Additionally, more than four in 10 respondents did not even know whether the social tools they were using had ROI measurement capabilities.

Measuring the success of social media marketing can be a challenge, but using a variety of hard and soft ROI metrics can absolutely be accomplished. I would offer that volumes of conversation over competitors, sentiment (the good, the bad, the neutral), the level of reach and influence of those who are interacting with your brand, the amount of community involvement (answers or “love” your brand ambassadors give), call deflection, downloads, registrations, donations, etc are but some of the measures that can be used to construct a dashboard of success.

Before launching social programs beyond an experimentation phases it’s necessary to actually work backwards from what the end outcomes could or should be to ensure programs and consumer engagement tactics are aligned with tangible measures. Also, it is critical to ensure that brands put in place the time, resources and potential technology investments to scale the programs. Jumping in is not a easy as sustaining and scaling which must be done based on success and results which require measurement.

Blake Cahill

Visible Technologies