Social media measurement

Andrew Gilhespy, Founder, Mapping Talent Ltd, says that social media is worthwhile for marketers if – and only if – they are prepared to open up their business and offer the consumer a unique insight.

There is a big issue going on right now within social media: clients and agencies alike are not prepared to invest media and marketing money in Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Zing…well, the list goes on. Why? Well, they are, it seems, waiting for a generic measurement.

And because they are waiting for this generic measurement they fail to see that social media is personal and requires a business to know, communicate, service, engage, and build loyalty to groups or individuals in a way that is unique to their business.

This process and the ROI that comes from it is, on the whole, different from all other businesses; even your closest competitor. As Bill Staples, UK Director of Search at GroupM says: “the best ideas [should] even be best when looked at store (micro) level.”

This raises a question: do the economies of scale apply to social media marketing?

I have met with many social media professionals in the last twelve months – agency, client and tech side – and all of them have agreed that measurement across clients in social media is difficult.

What social offers is a great opportunity for brands to understand – via research, surveys and listening tools – what consumers actually think about them, and, furthermore, offers a unique way to service those consumers via customer service, unique content, product engagement, offers, loyalty programs and events – not to mention to learn and report insights at both a macro and micro level.

To understand all these points means that most businesses will almost certainly have to change. The first step of any social campaign for you or your client’s business is to be audited at every level.

You need to understand how social your business is – practically and philosophically. You then need to think more practically and find out if you actually need to involve social media – and, of course, not all businesses need to.

Secondly, you will need to look at both the tools and resources that you need to develop a (social?) presence. If your strategy is to hire a couple of graduates and task them with placing tweets, get those tweets approved, restrict Facebook, forget Pinterest and don’t even bother with the future – Etsy, Fancy, flowsee, busk.com et al.

This may mean that you still need to discuss in more depth the benefits of social media to your stakeholders – and how your brand and sales will be affected over a long period. This assumes you have your content, engagement, and loyalty programs aligned in the first place – and to align all this requires belief, investment and courage.

Social media is a great space to incorporate into your marketing mix if – and only if – you are prepared to open up your business and offer the consumer a unique insight. But, of course, this isn’t for everyone.