Last week, while looking at the effectiveness of microformatting government media releases, the vexed issue of metrics reared it’s head. Vexed, because it is an ongoing issue for communicators, public sector and otherwise, to collate and report communcations metrics; even more so for the newer social media tools.
The sense of dissatisfaction I felt with my inability to quantify the benefits of a semantic media release and a series of discussions that I have had with colleagues over the last couple of weeks about reporting and metrics triggered some initial thoughts on this issue. There is also a heightened interest in measuring social media around the blogosphere, John Johansen’s post on social media metrics metaphors over the weekend is a good example.
The framework
In arriving at a workable solution for social media metrics the first point that occurred to me is that we shouldn’t overlook the fact that these metrics are only a small part of the picture. Ideally, what you measure and report against is your total strategy, not just the social media element(s).
The strategy would be assessed against achievement of the outputs in your Statement of Intent. The SOI provides the basic framework for the reporting, this can be further broken down into inputs, outputs and outcomes – and metrics established for each of these categories.
The mechanics of this process are self-evident. Social media inputs, for example, are relatively straightforward: time spent writing content, moderating and interacting with commenters and others, numbers of posts, pages created, or podcast episodes.
Outputs can be similarly reported as comments, subscribers, saves to del.icio.us or diggs, pingbacks, the degree to which your content goes viral (remember, we are talking about government here, so let’s not get too excited…).
Obviously, these metrics will also depend upon where you are in your social media maturity cycle. To borrow the MAIL acronym from David Jones, your inputs and outputs will vary according to whether you are monitoring, interacting or leading. You should always be analyzing…
Outcomes
Proving a causal link between a policy input and an outcome is not something that can be taken for granted. Extending that causal chain to the communications contribution to a business strategy is frequently an even more difficult and tenuous exercise.
How, then, do we approach the more demanding task of determining what outcomes can be reasonably attributed to a subset of that communications strategy, social media activities? One solution is to ensure that you build in solid evaluative criteria from the outset, and link these to the outputs in the SOI.
Measuring the impact of social media initiatives on your organization’s ability to successfully engage with its publics is unlikely to be restricted to a single input or output – it will be multi-dimensional. Ensure that you have a matrix of criteria; aggregation will present a more compelling case.
Photo: PPDIGITAL
7 Comments
In New Zealand social media is only a small part of the media mix, however, it is growing quickly and it will be interesting to see what influence new media has on this years general election. Will new A-list blogs develop? I personally wonder how http://www.linkedin.com/ will progress during 2008.
Jason, I recently read “Measuring Public Relationships – The Data Driven Communicators Guide to Success” by KD Paine”. It is a very digestible book and may interest public relations professionals and students who are interested in PR measurement and evaluation.
Thanks Leon. I’m not picking the election as a social media watershed here: I think we are at least one cycle off that point. I do agree that LinkedIn will really surge in the next 12 months.
Thanks for the pointer to the Paine book: I have ordered myself a copy…
The good news is that this all looks like something that i’m actually working on now!
And I agree, if you can’t tie your social media projects to the SOI then why are you playing with them… social media should meet a need, not resemble a stab at a nice to have.
As for linkedin? Still not convinced.
Jason, you make the point that the social media community seems to be coalescing around. That social media needs to be measured against the larger strategic objectives.
To steal from my own metaphor, it’s not so much a question of how far the piece of media got you, as making sure it continued to drive you in the right direction.
Thanks John. To really push the metaphor, social media will not only drive you in the right direction, but will (if done well) improve your performance/mileage over time. In plain english, I think it is important that we see social media as part of a longer term strategy (our SOI’s have a 3 year focus), and we need to plan and measure for those sorts of timeframes.
Che: I look forward to the results of your project. And I would give LinkedIn a shot, it can be exceptionally handy for connecting with people outside NZ.
I really like that point about the performance/mileage. That’s probably the point that gets lost most when considering how to measure social media. The returns on a social media campaign, targeted at a long-term goal, isn’t a straight line. The longer it continues, the better the return without an equal increase of input.
Of course, that also means a decrease in control.
I’m purposefully not calling that effect ‘viral’ because that connotes a short-term burst of recognition that usually quickly fades. But, real efforts that provide value to the audience they target can see a sustainable increase.
Absolutely spot on, John. Persistence of commitment (irrespective of any short term results, or lack of) is the hallmark of any successful relationship.