by Raj Kadam

   This article was published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Marketers have gotten wiser during the turbulent economy. They know that they need to demonstrate their value the same way that the sales department does, or else their budgets, and possibly their jobs, will be far less secure. The CMO position has been known to have the shortest expected tenure of any in the C-suite. 

The challenge is no longer merely acquiring the data but being able to fully understand it and take the appropriate action because of it.  

Out of the rabbit-hole

We can talk all day about the importance of analytics and measurement, but the real question is whether or not you’re measuring the right things for the right reasons.

The best measurement efforts start with clear goals. You need to have a framework that identifies exactly what you’re trying to measure.  Here are a couple questions you should ask yourself to help focus in on what you should really be measuring:

Why do you have a social media function at your company?

• Customer Service?
• Marketing/PR?
• SEO?
• Product development/support?
• Grassroots marketing?
• Sales?

What social sites/platforms are most relevant to your community/customers?

Who are you trying to reach with your program?  Customers? Influencers? 

Once you are clear on why you’re doing this in the first place, then you can start thinking about what metrics and analytics matter most to you.  You do not want to spend your time looking at metrics that are good indicators of how well an influencer relations program is going when your program is all about customer service. 

Here are some examples of readily available analytics that tie back to specific intents of a social media program.  Some of them apply to many different types of programs, but the point is to start thinking about which ones are most relevant to your specific program. 

• Engagement - If you are using social media to drive sales, and your product requires true engagement, multiple conversations and a strong relationship to get someone to a purchasing decision, then you should be paying attention to data that indicates high engagement. 
• Traffic - If you’re a big brand and creating a lot of chatter across the web, do you know the traffic levels of the sites where you are going out and engaging?  Your efforts should be focused on finding the stuff that is driving the most results for your business. If you’re a major brand, chances are there is more ROI for you when you focus your efforts on higher-traffic sites.
• Sentiment - How do people feel about your product or service?  For some brands, social media is a lot like a real-time focus group.  Sentiment should be incredibly important to you if you have chosen to strategically use social media as a way to inform your product development priorities.  If people are generally positive or negative about a product or new feature, there should be a feedback loop to the development team.
• Viral Analysis - What is going viral for your product or brand and why? Sorry, tag clouds don’t count. You want to see what kinds of trends are emerging for your product or service in real time, and you should have a good sense of WHY they managed to go spread so far, so fast. This should be a measurement priority for businesses that know word-of-mouth and grassroots marketing is a big driver of sales for their products.
• Influencer Tracking – Are you a relatively new company, or an entirely new type of product?  If you’re targeting early adopters and influencers for credibility, then you should know at any given moment who your biggest influencers are, what they’re saying and where they are talking about you.

Many of these metrics will apply to several types of social media programs, but the trick is to have the discipline to determine which analytics are critical to YOUR social media program, and use them accordingly to take action.

The success of any marketing campaign is dependent upon many factors.  In determining its success and how to proceed, the data that is collected and its relevance must be carefully assessed.  Being able to accurately compile and completely understand the data that is collected may be the difference between a successful company and one that ultimately, may fail.

Raj Kadam is the CEO and Co-founder of Viralheat Inc., a social media analytics firm focused on delivering detailed social media analytics to major brands and agencies world-wide. You can find more information about the service at http://www.viralheat.com and via email at info@viralheat.com.