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SOCIAL MEASUREMENT
BEST PRACTICES FRAMEWORK FOR A SOCIAL MEASUREMENT STRATEGY
A practical, proven approach to integrating social media with other digital channels and determining its value to the bottom line.
Merlyn Gordon, Director, Solutions Marketing Merlyn has spent his career helping leading global brands succeed with
AUTHOR BIO
digital marketing, social CRM, and multi-channel measurement solutions. As Director of Solutions Marketing at Webtrends, Merlyn is currently responsible for product marketing activities related to Webtrends portfolio of measurement and optimization solutions.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TREND As spending increases in social media, marketing departments are under greater pressure to prove the value of social channels and tie efforts to business outcomes and revenue. PROBLEM However, most companies who include social media in their digital marketing efforts do not have a measurement strategy in place to prove success or return on investment. SOLUTION By developing a framework grounded in best practices objectives, technology and expertise companies can clearly measure the impact of social on engagement, conversion and revenue, and in context of other digital marketing efforts.
Mind the Social Gap Altimeter Group reports that 48% of corporations made social media ROI a primary focus in 2011, yet just 56% of companies who identified as advanced users of social media had standard measurement frameworks in place to help benchmark ROI.
+20%
rise in social media in the next 5 years
EXPERTS
Entire conversations about your brand occur without anyone visiting your website. And your social audience on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter can be far greater than the sum of visitors coming to your site. Thats why foundational measures for social marketing analytics can act as a performance benchmark to evaluate success across channels and competitors.
John Lovett | Author, Social Media Metrics Secrets
2. DIFFICULTY IN RECOGNIZING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SOCIAL PLATFORMS AND OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS. While social media may often create awareness, or serve as a first touch in the conversion funnel, it is less successful at closing the final sale. Thats why it can no longer be viewed as a stand-alone, isolated channel. Social has to be placed in context alongside, and integrated with, other digital channels, especially mobile, where adoption is faster than any other technology in history. As of 2012, 45% of American adults have a smartphone, and 31% of current users say they access online content using their cell phone. 3. INEFFICIENCIES ASSOCIATED WITH COLLECTING AND ASSIMILATING HIGHLY COMPLEX AND DISPARATE DATA SOURCES. Social data is unlike other digital data, and it presents significant challenges to measurement professionals. The volume, variety and velocity of social information can overwhelm even the most experienced marketing expert. Collecting, reporting and analyzing data such as unstructured text, images, geolocation, device information all coming at you in streams and in real time is beyond the management capacity of a typical spreadsheet. 4. CHALLENGES OF SCALE, WITH DATA COLLECTION CONSTRAINTS AND LIMITED ACCESS TO HISTORIC INSIGHTS. This is particularly difficult when using third party platforms that may inhibit access, be slow to upgrade technologies, or make it impossible to get the reporting or business story you need to make informed decisions.
5. BELIEF THAT YOU DONT OWN SOCIAL PROPERTIES, SOYOU CANT MEASURE THEM. This is a false perception; however, it remains commonly held. The good news is there is an explosion in the use and availability of APIs, which allow data from one site to move to an app or to a mashup with an online service. With data available through open APIs, its now possible to bring measurement practices to properties outside of the corporate domain.
BRAND HEALTH
A MEASURE OF ATTITUDES, CONVERSATION AND BEHAVIOR TOWARDS A BRAND
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
IMPROVING RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS, AND THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH THE BRAND
MARKETING OPTIMIZATION
IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MARKETING PROGRAMS
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
WHERE AND HOW A COMPANY REDUCES EXPENSES
REVENUE GENERATION
WHERE AND HOW A COMPANY GENERATES REVENUE
Its important to select a primary use case, as goals, objectives, and measurement requirements flow down-stream from this decision. For example, improving operational efficiency by increasing employee productivity or reducing costs would be measured and managed differently than a marketing optimization program focused on customer acquisition or loyalty priorities.
(See examples of use case applications on pg. 12.)
Once the use case is determined, the next step is: 2. DEFINE SUCCESS MEASURES AND KPIS. The key to this step is to select outcome metrics-based objectives and align them to corporate goals, and then define KPIs and success measures. For a Marketing Optimization use case that is intended to improve the effectiveness of marketing programs, success measures and KPIs might look like this, with KPIs that roll up to Objectives and align to corporate goals:
MARKETING OPTIMIZATION
IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MARKETING PROGRAMS
BUSINESS GOAL
ACQUISITION LOYALTY
CORPORATE GOALS
3. ENSURE METRICS HAVE MEANING AND ALIGN TO BUSINESS PRIORITIES. This is critical, because without context, metrics are just numbers. John Lovett, author of Social Media Metrics Secrets, frames metrics in four layers:
Foundational measures are the building blocks of social analytics and include elements such as interaction, engagement, influence, advocacy, and impact. They persist across channels and apply almost universally to measuring all sorts of social activities. Many business and outcome metrics are calculated based upon foundational measures. Business value measures are specific to roles, such as executives, legal, HR, sales or marketing, and are the basis for communicating success and failure to stakeholders across the organization. These measures can include Customer or Employee satisfaction, revenue, market share, etc. Outcome metrics help quantify the effectiveness of social media programs, and align operational programs to corporate goals. These are the key performance indicators (KPIs) of social media, and include metrics such as reach, conversion rate, velocity, etc. Counting metrics are the most basic and readily available (number of Likes, reTweets, Views, etc.) and are generally used to show tactical performance. Unfortunately, these metrics are often used to communicate business performance, when in reality, they show program performance.
The key takeaway of metrics with meaning is that when communicating results, its important that the metrics used are consistent and repeatable, and that they are placed in the appropriate context of the measurement layer cake.
4. DECIDE WHICH DATA MATTERS. Before setting up a data collection process, its worth considering four key dimensions of social data to be collected.
Recency: How current is the data from the time of the event, and how important is it to know what is happening immediately? Richness: How much information about the visitor profile is available, how much should you collect, and how does it help drive your business? This an important consideration for measures such as influence and advocacy. Retention: How long is the data available? What is its useful life? Not only is it important to understand the life of a tweet, but also your long-term trend analysis requirements. Can you go back through 12 months of Facebook data to find the info you need? Realization: How will the data be used or consumed? Will it be used to develop reports, populate dashboards or drive marketing programs or other action systems?
Answers to these questions will likely feed back into your success measures and KPIs as you iterate and fine-tune your measurement mix. They will also help inform technology choices.
5. CHOOSE THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY. There is a spectrum of available technology solutions that enable social media programs. Which technology, or set of technologies, you choose depends on your use case, measurement framework, and people and processes to support the tools. For instance, a use case that is customer focusing, such as Marketing Optimization, might include initiatives that are external (listening, content, engagement, advertising) and internal (workflow and automation, measurement). Several vendors have solutions that span more than one category. For instance, HootSuite has strengths within listening and engagement, while Webtrends has measurement expertise plus solutions that support the entire spectrum of external and internal initiatives. Along with looking into how a solution will support your measurement framework, its important to also consider ease of setup, training, and availability of strategic consulting and customer service. The best solutions combine great technology with individuals laserfocused on your success with the solution. These are the experts who want to ensure you get the most out of your investment. 6. COLLECT THE DATA. There are many approaches for collecting data; however, links and tagging, and integrated measurement are extremely effective. With links and tagging, Java script tags are the industry standard for conversion attribution and tracking. Webtrends developed an asynchronous tag optimized for all devices, including mobile, and is built to allow extensibility. Through a series of plug-ins to the tag, measurement programs can mature without requiring significant rework of the tag. And by combining tag, API and link data, its possible to arrive at a granular level of insight. Integrated measurement refers to applying metrics into social applications and social platforms, such as social apps, Facebook apps and collaboration widgets. As social and mobile experiences become harder and harder to tease apart, apps in mobile marketplaces must be considered for social measurement as well.
7. VISUALIZE THE DATA. Once a measurement framework is established, and the right tools, people and processes are in place to collect social data, then its time to become a storyteller and deliver analysis and recommendations not reports. With social initiatives gaining greater visibility within organizations, more and more individuals not directly involved in social operations are asking questions about its effectiveness and results. Data visualization can clearly communicate results to a wide range of stakeholders, translating the scientific reality of numbers into a more accessible format and social business story that can be processed and understood by people in an instant. Theres a reason for the explosion of infographs and other data images, even in traditional publications like the New York Times, The Economist and Harvard Business Review. Its easier to process information presented as an image rather than as words or numbers.
Keep in mind the ROI on social media is rarely straight math. Social activities wont always translate directly to dollars. You need to factor in intangibles like exposure, interaction and advocacy.
EXPERTS
Webtrends offers data visualization, including story views, which automatically transform data from a tabular presentation to a visual narrative. Webtrends Streams lets you see live data instantly and act on it when it matters most while customers are engaged with your social, mobile or online property.
10
Visual data tells a data analysis story better than a report filled with numbers.
11
SOCIAL SUPPORT. Connects customer contact records within a CRM program into a Twitter or Facebook account. This gives marketers the ability to take action not only on what is uncovered, but also to respond based on deep history.
Use cases: Customer Experience, Operational Efficiency
SOCIAL INNOVATION. Product managers use social networks to understand what customers want in the next product release. There are framework tools available with which to co-develop products with key accounts.
Use cases: Innovation, Customer Experience
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT. If someone gives you a great mention on Facebook, you can use tools that allow response and posting, or set up an automated workflow that sends an alert to the team or person best equipped to respond.
Use cases: Brand Health, Customer Experience, Operational Efficiency, Marketing Optimization
SOCIAL SELF-SERVICE. There are thousands of forums, communities or organizations where peers answer questions, such as groups on Yahoo. Although brands dont take an active part in the conversation, it is a valuable tool for finding out what is being said about a brand.
Use case: Brand Health
SOCIAL COMMERCE. This offers a shared experience for consumer activity, with recommendations, shopping, shopping near you.
Use cases: Revenue Generation, Customer Experience
SOCIAL MARKETING. Brands can increase awareness, inspire engagement and lift conversions by running social campaigns across multiple properties, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Use cases: Marketing Optimization, Revenue Generation, Customer Experience
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SUCCESS
CRT
ten-fold increase
+0.50%
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We began testing various strategies, says Graham Hetland, social media community manager for Motorcycle Superstore, focusing on specifically targeting different segments of the motorcycling community such as cruisers, street bikes, and scooters. Because users generally give permission for Motorcycle Superstore to access their demographic information, analysis by age, gender, and other factors is possible, enabling the company to create personas of targeted groups. By monitoring response to the more targeted ad, Hetland discovered that the CTR had increased to 0.50%, a ten-fold increase. Most of the Facebook visitors are younger as compared to website visitors, comments Hetland. Analyzing this information lets us choose certain promotions for Facebook for example, casual apparel, which appeals to this persona. Using Webtrends, Motorcycle Superstore can also track how much traffic is driven to the website from Facebook and other social channels, and track CTR, costs per click (CPC), conversions and referred sales, helping the company understand the success and ROI of their social marketing efforts. The results? Through segmented social ads, Motorcycle Superstore was able to increase click-through rates by an average of 10X, while increasing revenue from Facebook by 75% yearover-year without increasing ad spend. These results were all possible because Motorcycle Superstore has developed a culture of measurement. Everything they do on Facebook and other digital channels is measured, analyzed, tested and made actionable.
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CURRENT STATE 3 key challenges Measurement strategy to inform metrics and standards
DESIRED STATE Includes people, process andtechnology The appropriate operating model and analytics team structure to manage the requirements Well-designed structure to manage the standards and processes put in place Robust technical solution that allows visit and visitor level data to be collected and easily integrated into other marketing systems.
Governance process to manage the reliability of data across the business Necessary insight to enable business to implement a marketing strategy
Any social measurement strategy, or social use case, should be iterative and ongoing, and align to business objectives. As marketing invests more heavily in technology and digital channels, Webtrends can help bridge the gap between business and technology, providing the roadmap, data intelligence and ROI needed to ensure success.
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ABOUT WEBTRENDS INC. Inspiration drives us. Digital intelligence guides us. Innovation remains our goal as we help brandsreimagine digital marketing. Webtrends dramatically improves digital marketing results for many of the worlds most admired and innovative companies. Our solutions have set a gold standard for innovation, performance and value since we helped establish the web analytics industry in 1993. Our diverse portfolio includes customer intelligence and behavioral segmentation, targeting + scoring, optimization + testing, mobile and social apps creation and Facebook Page management, professional consulting services, real-time web analytics, unied digital analytics across mobile, social and web and general digital marketing wizardry.
2013