What is Social Media Success?
Measuring the success of any social media venture is definitely something businesses should be doing. That’s no surprise; well at least I hope it isn’t!
Keeping sight of what constitutes success along the may be another story. What I’m getting at is there are so many ways to succeed in your social media campaigns, it is important to select what matters most at the outset. Here are a few of the ways you could measure success:
- # of comments on posts, updates or uploads.
- # of likes, diggs, retweets and shares (of the above).
- # of fans.
- # of page views (of your blog or social network site).
- Click through to your website.
- Offline media coverage (publicity).
- RSS subscriptions.
AND the list goes on. I see a problem emerging when the temptation to dominate every imaginable metric arises. I’ll try to explain why this could get you into trouble…
Let’s say the original objective of a foray into blogging was to encourage commenting and the subsequent interaction that it creates on your posts. It may soon become temping to look at the amount of page views you’re getting and begin longing for more. Sure you want traffic but if you start focusing on chasing numbers, where does the commenting and interaction fit on the priority list? Do visitors still have the same experience when reading you blog? Maybe, but maybe not; then you could get in the poop.
Now I’m all for adapting to change, pushing the limits, and kicking social media bum. I’m just saying be careful to stick to the plan for the sake of keeping your message clear and consistent. Do this and you will have a greater chance of ticking off your initial goals without alienating your loyal followers along the way. You can always build upon your success later (sorry, that is another post altogether).
What do you think, total domination always or a more strategic approach?
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This post was written by Andy Moore (aka @MooreOfAndy). You can connect with him on both Twitter and Linkedin. |
Great reminder to reflect on the purpose of measurement Andy! Any metric implemented should be explicitly related to your success factors. The old adage that you can't manage what you don't measure has encouraged us to measure everything that moves,often leading to metric overload… unless you take action based on your measurement why bother collecting the information in the first place!
Yea iThnk the measurement mentality you refer to can stunt achieving real success in a particular area – jack off all trades, mater of none type scenario.
I know there is a fair amount of the “let's just give it a crack” approach in SM, but what's wrong with a little planning/strategy first?
Hey Andy & Phil
Andy iThnk this is one of your best posts to date (kudos bruv) and I fully agree with your stance on the jack of all trades thing.
Social Media ROI is often called “Return On Influence” so how does being a jack of all trades gain a person or organisation any great influence? Without any influence where do you expect your return to come from….
To echo Phil's point, what's the point of diving into the social media jungle if you don't have a compass to guide you to where you wanna be or any idea about what you wanna find along the way?
Quite topical stuff in light of this recent interview with Guy Kawasaki: http://om.ly/nKEe
I don't disagree with Guy's vibe on the importance of the right tactics and trying different things (you don't know until you try right?); but once you've tried, how do you know if you've succeeded? That's where I see having some preconceived strategy fitting in. Like you said Sam – having a compass.
If you read the interview (with Guy) I have one problem with the sleeping bag analogy – what if your sleeping bag gets soaking wet, catches fire from hot ashes on the ground or is stolen by a disgruntled DOC ranger? Then your stuffed, right?
Good brain food anyway.
Nice post, Andy.
The biggest issue I see is businesses or brands that don't plan ahead. They plan a great campaign; they launch; they get great traction.
Then what?
How are you building on that? How are you prepared for the increase? How are you deciding what needs to be responded to, what doesn't, and what can be used as great feedback for the next stage?
Like you say mate, success is awesome, but it can soon turn to crud if that's all you're aiming for.
Well put Danny. I think it comes down to expecting to succeed. Without direction you're almost preparing for failure…
So you jump straight in and try something out, when it fails – no biggy. BUT if you succeed, like you say, then what?
If you intend to succeed from the the beginning you'll know when you've got there and if you've really thought about at, you'll know what the next step will be.
Thanks Danny.
“Intend to succeed” – that's going in the Book of Favourite Quotes.
Have a great July 4 weekend, fella.
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