Seven Steps to Measurable Social Media Success

 

How to get started in social media --
and how to know if it's working for you.

This article is a summary of one of Katie Delahaye Paine's most popular presentations. If you'd rather just watch the PowerPoint slide show, here it is:

7 steps to measurable success in social media

View more OpenOffice presentations from kdpaine.

Step #1: Conquer your fears

• Typical fear: "I'm afraid of what I'll hear!"
--How to conquer it: Remember that, if you're deaf to the conversation, your enemies will still hear it. There is a lot of talking going on out there, you might as well listen in.

• Typical fear:"The lawyers won't let me!"
--How to conquer it: It's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. Try it, prove that it works, and you'll trump the lawyers every time.

• Typical fear: "I'm afraid of losing control!"
--How to conquer it: Remember that you never had control, anyway. You just sometimes thought you did.

• Typical fear: "I don't have anything to say!"
--How to conquer it: Don't talk, listen. And learn.

Step #2: Set clear measurable objectives

Goals drive metrics, and metrics drive results. So figure out what problem(s) you need to solve, and those goals will determine your metrics:

If your goal is improving reputation or relationships with your audiences, then measure:

• relationship scores
• recommendations
• positioning
• engagement

If your goal is sales, then measure:

• engagement index
• cost per customer acquisition
• web analytics
• sales leads
• marketing mix modeling

Remember: You can't manage what you can't measure, so set measurable goals. And if, for some reason, social media is not going to add value to your program, just don't do it.

Step #3: Investigate your stakeholders: Who, What, Where?

Should you blog, or Twitter, or go on Facebook, or what? Before you can decide, you must find out about your customers or audience by asking them.

• What's important to them?
• Where do they go for information?
• What do you want them to know?

Step #4: Start listening

Search for relevant topics; what are people talking about that is important to you? Monitor those topics with:

• www.socialmention.com
• Google Alerts
• Join Twitter, then search Twitter and use TweetDeck.

Step #5: Take the plunge

Learn about social media by using it yourself:

• Join Facebook and find family and friends.
• Join Twitter and start following people important to you or your organization.
• Join Linked-In and find a job.
• Join Flickr and share photos and images.
• Join YouTube and podcast.
• Use Ping.fm, a simple and free service for updating social networks.

Step #6: Obey the rules

Do:

• Be interesting
• Share things that excite you
• Ask advice
• Join the conversation
• Comment on blogs
• Reply to Twitter

Don't:

• Talk about boring stuff
• Scream about your product
• Be a narcissist
• TWI (Twitter While Intoxicated)

Step #7: Measure success

These measurement tools are powerful, but most any marketing person can use them (no IT staff required).

• To measure web traffic, use Google Analytics. It's free and easy to use.
• To measure your incoming marketing (search) effectiveness, use Hubspot. Get started with their free Website Grader.
• Measure your relationships with online surveys at SurveyMonkey.

Finally, learn more by reading lots of blogs, especially those by these social media experts:

• David Meerman Scott
• Shel Israel
• Joseph Jaffe
• Brian Solis

Comments

[Carie B.]

Hello,

I'm taking a Metrics course in my Master's in Comm in Digital Media program at the Univ. of WA and we are using your book as one of the texts.

I thought I'd share a short paper I submitted, that is a re-write of your seven steps of measurement for PR efforts, re-focusing on measurement steps for digital media projects.

http://mediaspace.com.washington.edu/space/pg/pages/view/603/

I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback!