Familiar Territory

Hello friends,


We are getting towards the end of the semester and I have still managed to continue reading for my classes. My social media class is still reading Measure What Matters by Katie Delahaye Paine. This week we discussed seven steps to perfect measurement.

Step seven was, "Turn data into action: analyze data, draw actionable conclusions and make recommendations." One of the most important questions to answer when trying to measure the effectiveness of social media is, what is the return on investment (ROI)? As a business major I was like, "Yes!" "Some familiar territory."  Katie Paine breaks ROI down so most people can understand. "R" stands for the return you expect and "I" stands for the investment you have made. There is more to determining a companies ROI than crunching numbers and costs.

In the book, Katie Paine explains five ways to determine the return.

1. Sales or Revenue: The most obvious definition of the term ROI. If you increased sales or made money, you have a positive return on investment.

2. Cost savings: Many companies are moving towards a social media strategy for recruitment, marketing or customer services. This process can drastically cut down on costs.

3. Paid versus Earned Search Rankings: Companies can either spend significant funds on services to ensure that a companies name or brand shows up high in the search results, or they can earn high rankings through hard work. A company that has an active social media campaign can cut out paid search ads and still receive high rankings in search.

4. Cost Avoidance: All companies have the potential for crisis. Good relationships can help mitigate the extent or duration of a crisis.
      example from Katie Paine: Compare the money spent on legal fees for a crisis that was mitigated with the help of an active social media presence to one handled without the benefit of social media.

5. Social Capital: If a social media campaign is generating favorable comments, engaging employees or customers in the business of the organization, and presenting information quickly and accurately, then it is contributing to the social capital of an organization.

I really enjoyed this section of the chapter because I understand ROI and the the importance it serves for a business. You have to understand what worked and what didn't work in order to improve and function more efficiently.

Until next time,

Katie

Myth Busters

Hello friends,

My social media class has now moved on to the most important book of the semester. Everything we have read up until this point has stressed the importance of social media and how to successfully utilize the tools. "Measure What Matters" by Katie Delahaye Paine teaches us how to measure the effectiveness of social media. What we learn from this book will help us to determine if any of the social media tools and tricks we use actually worked for a particular project.

Katie Paine hits home her point of the importance of measuring your social media efforts in the first  two chapters. Chapter one highlights reasons why companies shy away from measurement. She claims that most of the so-called reasons people give stem from common myths about measurement. So Paine precedes to debunkify some of these myths. I'm only going to talk about a few of them for my readers sake.

Myth #1: Measurement = Punishment
Professionals associate measurement as a way to check on what they are doing and potentially pick out their flaws. I think that this is ridiculous. God forbid you are accountable for your work. Isn't that what having a job is all about? People are also afraid that measurement will conclude with bad news, resulting in cancelling projects that aren't working.

Truth: If something isn't working, you shouldn't continue to pump time and money into it. Measurement can help prevent the waste of money and resources for a business.

Myth # 3: Measurement is too expensive
This may be one of the biggest reasons why people ignore measurement.

Truth: Paine says you cannot afford not to implement (duh!) If you don't measure what you have done, how do you know what is working, what is not and what needs to be changed.Your company could be spending the budget ineffectively, but measurement allows for increased efficiency.

Myth #5: Measurement is something you do when a program is over.
Many people make the mistake of thinking you can only gauge the effectiveness of a program after it is complete. Therefore, measurement is deemed unnecessary.

Truth: Silly people, measurement should be implemented at the very beginning of a program. Checkpoints should be in place throughout the life of a program to measure what has worked up until that point. If you only measure the effectiveness at the end of a program, you eliminate any opportunity to make changes to improve the outcome.

I really like this book so far. We have only read two chapters, but I think that the information provided is probably the most useful to my career after college. Hopefully I will retain what I learn from this book and use it in the future.

   

Until next time,

Katie