If you remember when I (late) started this course, you might
remember I shared with you this is my capstone course, I have even passed the Comprehensive Exam!
I would say these are the latest (and greatest!) days of a countdown that I
enjoy as much as the contents and outcomes I am getting, toward the end of all
these weeks of studying, posting, moving (remember I moved from Baltimore?), as well as
overcoming my fears about posting. Writing in a personal way was definitely a
sensitive step I took in the course. After going through that barrier, I
realized people were commenting and replying to me, via email, giving their
opinion and hesitant to respond on the blog. I guess they all experience the
same feeling of vulnerability. Interesting experience I take with me, as we
(almost) finish the course.
This week, as we try to focus on how social media can be
monitored and, in fact, should be able to provide us with an “online picture”
of our success in engagement, I was tempted to think success could be only
measured by hits, ROI (return on investment) and what Turner (2013) defines as
Customer Life Value (CLV), “the amount of revenue a typical customer will
generate for your company during the customer’s engagement with your brand” (http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2013/11/17/in-depth-guide-calculating-social-media-roi/)
For this, I tried to relate my personal experience and work
with the readings and topics for this week and found that the personal
connection with the customer is still one of the best measurement tools for
success in social media. Scott (2015) explained that “[i]n a world where so
many organizations treat their homepage like the cover of a brochure, having a
blog there that updates daily is excellent real-time marketing.” (p. 216)
For the past to weeks more intensely, I felt like a blogger,
challenging myself to open my opinion to the cyberspace, in hopes to let others
to explore what I read and follow it. The type of connection and personal
relationship I seek to nurture –because of my work- is in establishing social
media interactions that could create impact for ministry, to educate or engage.
This is what Mergel (2014) explained as ROI – “Return On Ignorance”, for public
servers in their measurement of responses from social media platforms. Successful
social media for public offices have more an informational or educational
orientation, developed by the three stages: Representation,
Engagement and attention creation, and Networking (Mergel,
2014, p. 15)
Graphic from: http://www.businessofgovernment.org
I truly enjoy learning about the importance to control and
monitor the energy and effort invested by social media teams, specifically
while trying to convey messages and campaigns that could be represented in
figures that could measure their success, in a monetary sense, and I also enjoy
these elements of tracking success measurement in social media we have the
opportunity to learn and nurture all these weeks, as described by Mergel
(2014): Breadth (audience we try to tap into), Depth (responses, quality of
interaction), Loyalty (or the willingness of customers to come back for more),
Sentiments through Qualitative Insight (the impact reflected in the engagement
of the customers and their interactions).
The authors also suggests very useful online tools to have
control over the amount of interaction a customer could establish with relevant
information for them, like SocialMention.com, TweetReach.com, Topsy.com or
TweetDeck.com, as easy to use, affordable tools that can help in measuring
responses in social media for the public sector. Do you agree with these
factors as relevant for measuring success in social media or should only
interaction with the product should ultimately ‘rule’ or provide the success of
a campaign?
Would you try and break your own vulnerability to post a reply this
time? Thanks for reading this post!
Carlos
Hi Carlos!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and like your take on this week’s materials. Your infographic provided some very insightful information. The infographic definitely ties in with some our recent readings – Scott (2015) touched a lot on “listening” to your customers which is prominent in your graphic. I particularly liked the last point – “don’t ignore the knowledge citizens are willing to provide through social media channels.” I like the idea of encouraging citizens to help be the authors in creating new knowledge.
I think a combination of using social media measuring tools (SocialMention.com, TweetReach.com, Topsy.com or TweetDeck.com) and simply measuring interaction with the product is where we need to be. I think these tools help you see how far you’re getting your message, but is true success measured by how many people see your message or how many people interact with it? What are your thoughts here?
Danielle
Hi Danielle,
DeleteThanks for your comment. I am glad to know you found the infographic as helpful as I did. I totally agree with you in searching for that 'mid-point in trying to measure how much people react or follow some posts, trying to "read" their reactions, in the context of a good title, content and the appropriate use of visuals.
I personally think that audience in social media is built over time and success can be completely and more accurately measured by the quality of interaction, which ultimately may translate into a sort of loyal group that follows you. It ends up being like an art, in which success or impact is not necessarily shown in replies, but in readership (hits).
Complicated and fascinating. Thanks again for your comment!
Carlos
Carlos,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on being so close to completing this journey! I think many of us shared those same fears and concerns you mentioned. I am so used to writing in a professional tone for my job that I had a difficult time being more conversational when posting to my blog. Posting these writings on my personal Facebook page was the biggest hurdle for me to overcome. I did not want my friends, family, etc. reading what I wrote. What if I sounded dumb? What if there was a type-o or mistake or I didn’t make sense? I was out one evening and one of my childhood friends said they read all my blog posts when I share them on Facebook… boy was I mortified!! However they went on to say that it was very interesting and asked if I would continue after this class. They even suggested that I should! It was just the boost I needed to stick with it. This has absolutely been an evolution for me outside my comfort zone.
I really enjoyed the “Suggestions for Social Media Measurement” image you included. A contributor to the YouMoz blog keenly points out that “the fundamental problem with social media marketing is there is no common yardstick by which one can measure brand outcomes across all social platform simultaneously” (Zeng, 2015). He suggests it’s important to define what metrics are important to you, measure them, then compare them against the goal you had set. Your infographic points to some good recommendations when attempting to measure social media effectiveness. Do you think metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions should also be considered when measuring the success of social media marketing?
~Nicole
References
Zeng, B. (2015, March 9). A 3-Step Process to Measuring Social Media ROI. Retrieved from https://moz.com/ugc/a-3-step-process-to-measure-social-media-roi
Hi Carlos,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your final stretch, you are almost there! I really like how you looked back at your experiences when putting together the final blog post for this course, you are leaving off on a strong foot.
As far as blogging, do you think this is something you will continue to do once this course is over? I am not sure what your goals are but you mentioned above that blogs are great way to engage in real-time marketing and help build your personal brand.