Archive for the ‘PR metrics’ Category

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DR. WHAW? – April 9, 2010


2010
04.11

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Posted in DR. WHAW?, Marketing, Measurement, PR metrics, Social Media, public relations | View Comments

And I’m back! I apologize for the incredible tardiness of this post. Yesterday my mama was in town to help me with some serious and much-needed spring cleaning. I was pleasantly distracted all day long. Without further delay, I bring you what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!).

DR. WHAW? – April 9, 2010

1. Measuring Social Media with Web Analytics, Part 2 by Nathan Linnell — Remember this first part of this? It was amazing, right? I highly recommend checking this out. This analyze how to measure social media referred visits that you can tie directly to social media efforts. Is this absolutely the end-all for social media analytics? No, but it’s an awesome start.

2. Social Media Measurement in the Real World by Robin Neifield — There’s been a lot of talk of measuring social media and how it might work, but this is some great “real world” advice about how to actually test out and execute some measurements.

3. How marketers are investing in Facebook and measuring ROI by Boaz Ronkin — This is an awesome little study! During a recent webinar, participants were asked to share their views on Facebook ROI and there were 2,812 individual responses! Holy cow! Check this out.

4. A “reader affection” formula: Gawker creates a metric for branded traffic by Megan Garber — Gawker Media has created what they’re calling a “reader affection” metric. Don’t believe it? I wouldn’t either. It’s not 100% accurate or reliable at this point, but this is just darn cool!

5. Excellent Analytics Tip #17: Calculate Customer Lifetime Value by Avinash Kaushik — This series is just fantastic in and of itself. If you’re interesting in analytics, you should be following Avinash. I particularly liked this post because it takes a look at a customer beyond just one sale or one “hit.”

6. Social media measurement in PR Week by Stuart Bruce — I love this article! I’ve said this before myself, ROI should not be measured in social media if you’re not actually going to measure ROI. It’s such a nice term that people hold onto it, but often what is being measure isn’t actually ROI. Yes, it’s partly semantics, but it matters.

7. The Quest for Firm Answers by Amber Naslund — You must read this! Amber put it all out there and gave firm answers. Are they perfect? No. They are incredibly nuanced, but she wanted to put something on the table about measurement besides “it depends.” This is brilliant and deserves a read and some consideration.

I hope y’all had a fabulous weekend thus far! How is the weather? Any fun spring plans?

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DR. WHAW? – April 2, 2010


2010
04.02

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It was a bit of a weird and rough week for me personally, and I’m very excited to have a gorgeous, relaxing weekend ahead of me. Also, a very good old friend will be moving to Chicago this weekend, and I could not be more thrilled to have such an ally nearby. With that, I bring you what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!) today.

DR. WHAW? – April 2, 2010

1. Social Technologies, Measurement and Fun Time by Yoda Cat — I know what you’re thinking, did I really just include a post by a cat? Yes, I did. And it is awesome. I highly recommend reading this post because it takes a bit of a new perspective on social media and measurement.

2. Social Media Measurement: The Experts At Work by Cathy Wallace — Is there any better way to learn measurement than from watching the experts at work? Not all of us have the benefit of meeting and working with experts, but this is the nest best thing.

3. How Will We Measure It? Social Media vs. Advertising by Katie Safrey — I’ve been guilty of focusing too much on public relations and social media, and I tend to forget about the other disciplines, even within communications, that could benefit from improved measurement. This is a great look at measuring advertising, and Katie Paine even offers some wisdom in the comments.

4. Social Media ROI and Obliquity by Charlie Osmond — This is an interesting new take on social media and ROI. He argues that looking at social media only through the lens of sales is not a good idea, but instead insists that you aim for your goals through indirect means. Sound confusing? Read!

5. Tim’s week in social media by Tim — This is kinda like DR. WHAW? only it’s a weekly feature. I thought it was interesting, and I liked that measurement was highlighted, so I thought I’d share it with y’all.

6. Social Media Measurement: The Two ROIs of Social Media by Robert Patterson — Think ROI can be calculated for social media? This guy thinks there are two! I like this because he’s honest, his solutions are not perfect, but they’re a good start. What do you think?

7. Connecting the Dots Between Business Strategy, Social Media and ROI Measurement by Bill Palmer — So social media is officially no longer a fad. Now it’s time to get down to business and figure out how it will fit into larger communications and business practices. And along with this, comes the integration of measurement.

Do y’all have big Easter plans? Whatever you are doing, I sure hope relaxing and enjoying this beautiful spring weather is on the menu!

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DR. WHAW? – March 26, 2010


2010
03.27

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Happy weekend, y’all! I had a rough and sleepless week, and I decided to skip outta town to get a much-needed and relaxing weekend. How was your week? I’m reaching a crossroads in my life as my long-term and long-distance boyfriend has decided to get his PhD at Cornell, which is quite far from Chicago. Oh well, we’ll take it one day at a time and see where we end up. Before we dive in, I think everyone should check out this funny measurement comic, I think it’s a good test of just how nerdy you really are. And with that, I bring you what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!) yesterday.

DR. WHAW? – March 26, 2010

1. Five Social Media Research Warning Signs by John Stauffer — Everyone is talking about measurement these days and how to do it right. This offers five tell-tale signs that you are working with and relying on insufficient or incorrect data. If you are going to use social media, you need to measure. If you are going to measure, you need to understand how to spot bad data.

2. A little bit of good news from the PR News Survey on Social Media Measurement by Katie Paine — PR News did a survey of readers to coincide with its measurement conference in Washington, D.C. this week. Katie explores the results of the survey and believes that there is good news for the industry. What do you think?

3. Making Sense of the Volume and Structure in Social Media Measurement by Christopher Berry — I like this post because Chris compares social media measurement to the night sky. It’s a good (and appropriate!) metaphor, and this post gives some good insight to measurement for everyone, beginners and newbies.

4. How Much Do We Really Know About the Influencers? by Catharine P. Taylor — Influencers. These people mean everything to social media, right? But who are they really and how much do we really know about them? I love this look at those people that are so crucial to the online world.

5. The ROI Measurement for Social Media Should Be Goodwill from Gerson Lehman Group — I like this new idea. Goodwill has the ROI of social media instead of anything else. I definitely don’t absolutely agree, but it’s an interesting new theory. What do you think? How should we really measure ROI?

6. Three Reasons Measurement is Useless Without Goals by Teresa Basich — Teresa is absolutely right. There is no need trying to measure anything (let alone social media) without having goals in mind first. Before you even attempt to measure anything, you must know how you define success. Read on!

7. A Social Media Scoreboard That Works by Jay Baer — This is a great review of the new monitoring tool offered by Swix. This is the second review I saw, so I decided to finally give it a try. I’m not 100% sold on it, but then again, I have only been using it for my own personal accounts instead of tracking campaigns. I suggest trying this tool out. It could be fabulous.

So what do you think, folks?

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Why the @reply should be weighted more than the retweet in social media measurement


2010
03.15

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As we strive to better understand social media and how to measure it, it has become clear that measuring engagement and ROI is going to be the biggest hurdle. The Web Analytics Association recently announced that they had drafted social media measurement definitions on which the public could comment. First of all, this is such a cool way to use crowdsourcing to refine definitions that we so desperately need to have solidified, but that’s a whole blog post on its own.

Since the WAA started this trend, I want to throw my own definition or rule in the ring: the @reply should be weighted more than the retweet in social media measurements.

I assume here that Twitter is meant to be used for engagement and conversation rather than information dissemination, which seems to be the general opinion.

The @reply is at the heart of all Twitter conversations and is far more valuable to social media than the retweet. If you represent a brand online, and you tweet about news related to your brand, does it mean more to you that your news is shared or that your consumers interact with your news? Perhaps I’m off-base here as I don’t have brand marketing experience, but it seems to me that interaction with you and your brand is far more valuable then simply sharing your announcement on social media.

I understand that getting the word out there is vital to every brand, but sharing news seems to be the primary function of other media, not social media.

Whether you have a handful or hundreds of @replies to any given tweet, the @reply shows that you are engaging and are therefore successful in using social media to drive brand awareness and loyalty. On the flip side, if you have hundreds of RTs of your announcement, all you have done is pushed your message farther. But have you gained any new loyalty or interest?

Maybe what I’m really arguing is that the @reply is far more important to measure engagement on social media than the RT. I just assume that we’re all using social media to be social, and therefore engagement is the best measurement for us to use.

With this in mind, I would argue that the @reply should always be weighted more heavily when measuring Twitter activity than the RT. I do not mean to suggest that the RT is a useless measurement and should be completely discounted, but if using a formula the @reply should be given a far heavier weight than the RT.

What do you think? What metrics do you value more than others? Do you only measure engagement or do you also track message reach?

NOTE: All observations are solely my own personal opinion and do not represent Edelman or its clients.

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DR. WHAW? – March 12, 2010


2010
03.14

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Better late than never, eh? My boyfriend is in town to visit graduate schools (he’s a physics nerd), and I will admit I’ve been a bit distracted. But without further ado, here’s what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!) on Friday.

DR. WHAW? – March 12, 2010

1. 6 Ways B2B Marketers Can “Listen” Effectively by Ardath Albee — I am not a B2B gal, and I honestly don’t know much about it. But this is an awesome look at six ways that marketers can learn from social media and online monitoring. These tips are definitely applicable to other marketers and industries. What do you think? Are there different tips you would add?

2. Social media is a challenge for brands to measure by Suzanne Bearne — This is a great look at how to track and measure your brands presence on social media. It is awfully tricky, and this spells out the limitations of measuring brands online, but it also gives some good insight as to how it can be done.

3. Social Media Measurement for Pros by Babar Bhatti — If you’re a professional and you are interested in looking into social media, this is an amazing introduction to how you can select measurement programs and how best to use your knowledge.

4. Six Elements of Effective Social Media Benchmarking by Chuck Hemann — When you decided to start measuring social media, the first step is benchmarking. If you need advice on how to proceed, look no further than Chuck. He’s the master of measurement, and a great resource for anyone just starting out. Seriously, I highly recommend reading this post.

5. Adding Qualitative to Your Social Media Measurement Mix by Chris Bailey — I absolutely love this look at social media measurement. There is so much focus on ROI and hard numbers, that we often forget there is a qualitative component to monitoring that should never be ignored. This is a great look at why and how qualitative measurements should be added to any plan.

6. CMO 2.0 Conversation with Erin Nelson, CMO at Dell by Francois Gossieaux — It’s always nice to see an interview with a CMO from a big company like Dell who takes an interest in social media measurement. Really this is just some great insight into the mind of a rockstar marketer.

7. The measurement quagmire – what matters most? by Jackie Wright — I have asked this question myself many, many times. We all know that measurement is the next big thing, we need to find a solution and find a way to prove that all this social media stuff is worthwhile. But where to start? What has the most importance?

And with that, I hope y’all are having a great weekend! Any big plans? Exciting news?

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A glance into the mind of a digital and measurement great


2010
03.11

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I must admit that I knew of Blagica Bottigliero from Twitter long before I realized we worked for the same company. Soon after I made the move to the Digital department, I was pulled in to help on a project with Blagica, and from then on, I was dying to learn more about her background and where her passion comes from. Lucky for me a Twitter conversation we had gave me the courage to finally ask Blagica for an interview, and just my luck, she accepted! Below is a great look into the mind of someone I greatly admire in the digital and measurement world.

Rebecca Denison: I know you have worked at Orbitz with e-marketing and now you’re a measurement and social media guru at Edelman, but what fueled your passion for measurement in the first place?

Blagica Bottigliero: When I realized that the actions I took one day, whether it was adding a new image to a page or spending $10,000 on a media buy, I was able to see the fruits of my labor the very  next day. From total clicks to time spent on a page to a transaction, I had concrete data to play with. This instant access to results was something print and television couldn’t necessarily do well back in the early dot com days. I was hooked ever since.

RD: You’re the manager of emerging media and measurement at Edelman Digital, what does that mean? What do you do on a daily basis? What is your favorite part about your job?

BB: My job is 50% discovery and education, 50% analysis.

The discovery/education phase comes in the form of  reading up on new digital and social tools that can amplify current and future client programs. I also synthesize ‘what’s new’ for our internal teams, ensuring everyone is up to speed with new trends, but more importantly, helping them understand how these tools can assist our clients.

The analysis comes in the form of  analyzing the success rate of our programs, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Did we spark engagement? If so, how much?  What was the level of this engagement compared to other programs? Analysis also comes into play when I evaluate one tool over another for our measurement needs.

RD: How did you make the transition from e-marketing to PR? How does your previous experience help you with your work at Edelman?

BB: I ‘fell’ into the world of PR. Before joining Edelman, I was running my own consulting practice where I assisted companies and small businesses with understanding all aspects of marketing on the web – including social media. A fantastic opportunity opened up with Edelman, where I could work within the social media space 24/7 and Voila!, I joined the team!

My past experience of managing web site builds and running eMarketing programs set the stage for folding in social media elements to any web presence. For example, knowing the basics of site navigation and the process of a consumer shopping online enables me to find natural fits for including social media elements in a user flow.

RD: As social media continues to evolve and becomes more mainstream, how do you think measurement needs to grow and evolve? What metrics do you see as most valuable with social media?

BB: We need to get away from the raw numbers and understand what happens post ‘follow’.

Sure, someone can have 10,000 followers, but what is happening with the content? Are folks retweeting URLs/ideas/news? If so, how often? A blog post can include 1,000 words, but did it receive any comments? What was the level of that activity?

In the world of Web 1.0, it was very black and white: 5MM impressions led to 100,000 clicks which led to 100 sales which led to an ROI of X. Today, raw numbers of Fans, Followers and Comments aren’t as black and white – we need to take the analysis up a nice and look deeper

RD: Do you think social media ROI will really be such a big deal? Do you think that other measurements could still be more important or is ROI really “the big one”?

BB: To me, social media ROI rounds out the total picture when it comes to measurement and analytics. On one end, you have web site traffic and user activity on a site. On the other end, you have the resulting engagement that stemmed from the tactics you took  to get the visitor to your site in the first place. The two should go hand in hand.

RD: How do you track emerging media? What measurement or indicators tell you that a medium is going to become popular or be significant?

BB: I am close to needing glasses, me thinks, but I can’t stop reading:). The popular tech and social media blogs tend to have keep close tabs on new measurement tools that are appearing. I keep close tabs on these resources, but I also keep up with measurement developments via support blogs of sites like Google, Hitwise, Facebook and Webtrends. I’m also a fan of Avinash Kaushik. His blog, Occam’s Razor, is a daily read. His new book, “Web Analytics 2.0″ is also in my work bag, complete with highlighter.

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DR. WHAW? – March 5, 2010


2010
03.05

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This week was rough on me, and I’m honestly thankful for this weekend to relax and recharge. Not much else to say, so I’ll just get right to what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!) today.

DR. WHAW? – March 5, 2010

1. Web Analytics Association Offers Social Media Definitions For Comment from Direct Magazine — This is something I always love to see! The Web Analytics Association (WAA) has defined social media advertising, marketing and communications measurement for the masses to refine. For all those who are out there still wondering where to start, use this as the awesome jumping off point it is.

2. Sexy Numbers: Measuring ROI in Social Media Campaigns by Angel Djambazov — This is the first real look at social media campaign ROI, and I think it’s definitely not perfect. But this is a great place to start, and it’s always a good way to give yourself a ballpark figure for your campaign ROI. What do you think of this? How would you change this?

3. Social media ROI: The best of British opinion by Jake Hird — This is a great post written to summarize trends seen in comments. Jake wrote one post about social media statistics, and based upon feedback, he wrote another post about what the people want. Could you get anymore awesome?

4. Monday Morning Quarterback: PR Measurement by Mike Geraci — A blog post about PR and social media measurement?? Score! But seriously, this is a great highlight of how PR is continuing to evolve and how social media may have made it easier to measure the ROI of public relations.

5. Social media analysis moves mainstream by Steven Woods — If you’re interested in the larger trends in B2B social media, I would definitely give this post a read. As social media becomes more mainstream, so does analysis, which is exactly what I like to hear.

6. The Future of Social Media Monitoring: Public Facing Dashboards from Social Commerce Today — This is just too cool! HSBC’s online bank, First Direct, has made their social media dashboard public. When you visit their site, you can see how chatter is changing in real-time. You can see where folks are talking about First Direct and if it’s positive or not. This is just so amazing!

7. Facebook and Omniture: A welcome step in social media measurement by Boris Grinkot — As we all know, Facebook and Omniture recently teamed up to provide better marketing solutions. This is probably the best analysis of the deal that I saw and it explains what it could mean for social media measurement in general. You should definitely check this out, this could mean big things.

And with that, I bid thee good night! How was your week? Have any big weekend plans?

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DR. WHAW? – February 26, 2010


2010
02.27

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Hey y’all! I write to you direct from the Edelman Digital Chicago office! I stayed late to help on my friend Eliza as she works on her first new business project. I am thrilled to pitch in and offer support, and I’m also just so happy to be working with her again! So with that in mind, here comes what I Didn’t Read While Hard At Work (but wanted to!) today.

DR. WHAW? – February 26, 2010

1. WAA puts social media measurement definitions out to consultation by Brian Tarran — This is incredible! More and more organizations are recognizing the importance of social media measurement, and they are realizing that it’s necessary to have standards. It’s incredibly encouraging to see, and I cannot wait to watch this and see results and concrete rules emerge.

2. Relief from your Social Media ROI Angst by MetricsMan — While I am all for finding a concrete, universal standard for social media ROI, this report definitely made me laugh. There is too much angst about ROI. And often there will not even be a concrete ROI to measure, which is hard for someone like me to accept sometimes, but definitely true. I recommend this post to anyone who is worried about measuring.

3. The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor by Nick O’Neill — I like this because I think it provides a good jumping off point for companies who are just jumping into social media. You should always be monitoring, but it’s hard to know where to start if you’re still new to social media. This should by no means limit your monitoring, but it should provide a great start.

4. Webtrends Adds Facebook Measurement Capabilities by Nathania Johnson — The analytics tool Webtrends now has greater Facebook capabilities, and these metrics are better than any other measurement tool I’ve seen before. This could mean greater social media measurement is now possible if this actually works well. Anyone have experience with this yet?

5. Measuring Social Media ROI: How Did You Hear About Us? by Anne Giles — This offers a unique look at social media ROI, and how you can easily tie social media efforts to your sales. I’m not sure this is the end-all for ROI, but this is a different angle than most I’ve seen before. What do you think?

6. MRM Worldwide Working to Define an “Engagement Score” from Ballista Blog — This is so incredible! OMMA is looking for a universal definition of the ever-elusive engagement score. I would love to help out with this, and I’m incredibly excited to see if this become a reality in the near future.

7. How To Track Twitter Friendships for Business and Pleasure by Marshall Kirkpatrick — I really enjoyed this article because it takes a look at how to use Twitter for both business and pleasure. Often it seems as though all focus is on how to use Twitter and other social media for business purposes only, and it’s nice to see an article highlight personal uses, as well.

And with that, I hope y’all have a great weekend! I plan to visit PAWS Chicago again in hopes of finding a new (and furry!) love of my life.

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DR. WHAW? – February 23, 2010


2010
02.23

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This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Melissa Cafiero.

I discovered a Dr. Seuss quote today and, while Dr. Seuss is for kids, it really struck a chord. I’m going to keep it in mind and because I think it’s a wonderful piece of advice, I thought you might enjoy it as well: “You have brains in your head; you have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.”

So, with those inspiring words, let’s get to today’s suggested reading shall we?

DR. WHAW? – February 23, 2010

  1. 5 Guaranteed Ways to Hate Your Own Writing by Steve Errey – I love to write, but I hate my writing. It’s good to see I’m not alone. Keep in mind as you’re reading this that Steve is being sarcastic (yet another argument for that sarcasm font). Check out the comments, too. Due to the tone of the article, it generated a lot of controversy.
  2. It’s Not About Listening, It’s About the Green by Kasey Skala – While I don’t completely agree with Kasey’s viewpoint, I did enjoy the comments because the commenters brought up the points that kept popping in my head as I was reading the post. I love when the info in a post gets expanded by a lot of commenting action!
  3. What You Don’t Do by Jeffrey Tang – This was a refreshing article. Sometimes I get so tired of hearing, “You should do this,” and “You should be doing that,” but you have to be able to say, “You know what? I am who I am. These are the things that I do, and this over here? Well, I don’t do that.” You’re not going to be able to please everyone, and what happens if you do? Will it change the world? Probably not.
  4. Resource Alert! My Best Of: Social Media Learning by Amber Naslund – I saw this scroll by my Twitter feed today and accidentally refreshed the page… panic set in and I thought, “Oh noooo!” because I was afraid I’d lost the link. I quickly found it, though, and perused the articles. THIS. IS. AWESOME.
  5. 7 things social media can’t do by Denise Zimmerman – The title says it all. This is a lengthy article, but is full of good info. I’ve even bookmarked it for future reference.
  6. How HAPPO Helped Public Relations Professionals by Valerie Simon – In case any of you were wondering how #HAPPO went, this is a great recap of an awesome event!
  7. The 10 Worst Winter Olympics PR Disasters Of All Time by Bianca Male – In the spirit of current events, we’ll end with an Olympics-related article… with pictures.
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So now that Foursquare is popular on the social media playground, let’s measure it!


2010
02.22

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If you haven’t seen it in your own Twitter stream yet, get ready for it. Foursquare is the new hit on the social media playground.

This location-based application allows users to tell their friends and followers where they are exactly and rewards users the more they check in. As more and more people sign up for this game of sorts, there are huge implications for social media marketers and consumers on the horizon.

Alright, so it’s big. Let’s measure it!

Sooner or later companies are going to begin to wonder how often consumer check in at their retail stores or restaurants. How often does someone check in at the local Dairy Queen? How many unique users are there and do they tell their friends?

I can’t help but feel frustrated as we will run into the same issues with Foursquare that we have with Twitter. Even if someone Tweets about your brand or company every minute of every day, does it actually matter? Does anyone else see it? This is the part where it gets tricky.

With Twitter, I’m still struggling to find a complete set of metrics that will accurately depict how influential a message or Tweet really is for any given brand. Why? It depends on how many followers a user has, but also how many of those followers are likely to see the Tweet or even pass it on to their own followers. If a Tweet has a link, is that better than one without a link? Is it better than a Tweet with a picture?

Foursquare presents similar issues. So a user checked in at your restaurant, but did they tell their followers on Twitter of their friends on Facebook? How many friends do they have on Foursquare and how many were likely to see it? How influential is a check in by me as compared to a check in by David Armano?

It all comes back to influence. And unfortunately, influence is still quite difficult to quantify in a reliable way.

I don’t mean to suggest that stores and restaurants shouldn’t try to engage with Foursquare users, but I do think it’s still pretty early to understand how effective any integrated program may be.

If you were to try to engage Foursquare users, what metrics would matter most to you? How would you measure success of an integrated program?

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