By: Chris Ourand
If measurement is the obstacle to beginning a social media program, have a look at Unicorns, Leprechauns and other Social Media Measurement Myths Busted on SlideShare. Nichole Kelly, director of social media at CareOne Services, outlines the challenges, how to address them and build a program that ties into specific objectives and value propositions.
Top takeaways, as heard from her last week at the American Marketing Association-Baltimore’s AMA in the AM:
1) Monitoring does not equal measuring;
2) Metrics such as number of friends/fans, visits or mentions don’t lead to ROI or justify higher budgets; and,
3) A solid beginning pathway is to use Google Analytics, Hootsuite, and salesforce.com.
Most challenges revolve around being overwhelmed with tools and data and fear of the unknown such as how much to spend. Identifying the outcomes of the effort, such as brand awareness, lead generation or customer retention, leads to a stronger program where system limitations and opportunities are known. Components such as landing pages, calls to action and ads are track-able, and use of tools such as Radian6, Social Toaster (the event sponsor) and Hootsuite don’t require large budgets.
“It takes time to deliver ROI here,” says Kelly, “so take your time and learn what you can do within your resources.”