Marc was a street-smart marketer who could always find his way out of a tight spot.
One day, he realized that he knew he had to find out how to measure social media, because he just couldn’t go on living with himself otherwise. Oh, the mental anguish!
After consuming a car tank worth of cough syrup (for fun, not to dull the pain) Marc* realized he’d better get on with asking some social media pros how they’d handle such measurement. Since he didn’t want to use social media just to get ‘free ad impressions’ (aka brand mentions), he asked these pros to ignore any brand/buzz tracking tools currently on the market.
Here’s what they told him, in 140 characters or less (but sometimes more):
Lauren Litwinka aka @beebow
Postrank! =) Conveys accurate measure of reach across social channels
Shana Albert aka @NannyTweeting
Sure…. although that is a tough question to answer. Here is my answer…
Real time conversation. U would have to be involved in conv to hear like real life. Or maybe hear through grapevine. Gotta love SM Reporting
Dave Haber @DaveHaber
“web analytics”
lol..When u remove social media monitoring tools, real time search & social alerts, it doesn’t leave much..also G-Trends / FB -Insights…
Matt Siltala @Matt_Siltala
For me it’s easy. I use keyword vitals from @blvdstatus but old fashion way: check links, keywords, and make sure I have real time analytics
Links gained via ***successful social media campaigns makes for easier and more successful SEO. ****not every campaign is created equal.
Kristy Bolsinger @Kristy
Ooh sure! I don’t report too strongly on those anyway. I focus on traffic, conversion, and downloads.
Kyle Lacy @KylePLacy
Measuring social: Create events and success based off of attendance and products sold. Face to Face measurement
Brian Wallace – @nowsourcing
If I had to measure social w/o brand/buzz trackers or alerts, I’d probably stick with a combo of Google Analytics and Yahoo Site Explorer.
I’d look at engagement factors like comments, email/RSS subscriptions, bookmarks, etc. Or more traditional analytics…. like traffic, referrals, bounce rate, sales, etc. I’d also look into random surveys, focus groups, etc. Even with buzz… about 3 hours ago …tracking other metrics shouldn’t be ignored. They give an understanding of your brand, competitors & industry sentiment. about 3 hours ago
* Any resemblance to people real or imagined is purely coincidental. Neither the author nor Search Engine Journal endorse substance abuse.
Gab Goldenberg writes for Red Fly Marketing, an online marketing company offering search engine optimisation in Ireland .
