L to R: "Queen of Measurement" Katie Paine, Rich Reader, Ravit Lichtenberg, Cherie Del Carlo
The title of this post was a concluding thought from the November 11th talk hosted by Society for New Communications Research (#sncr) and given by the “Queen of Measurement,” Katie Paine of KD Paine & Partners. It’s wild to think about the future of social media this way and how it will be so infused into our lives that we won’t think twice about how effective it is.
While we are still enthralled with knowing how well our brands are doing on the social web, Katie outlined seven steps (listed below) for measuring results. Of the seven steps, one in particular excites me in that it is the kind of metric that measures what you want to become. Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are, in my view, the heart of the exercise and to be defined with great care because they get you to focus on what you want: how you want to be perceived, the kind of relationships you want to have, the outcomes you seek, etc. In other words, what business goals do you want to achieve using social media? How will you know what they look like once you’re there? This is where the fun begins: defining your desired relationships and tweaking your efforts and measurements along the way!
Here are the 7 steps Katie outlined:
- Define the “R” – Define the expected results?
- Define the “I” — What’s the investment?
- Understand your audiences and what motivates them
- Define the metrics (what you want to become)
- Determine what you are benchmarking against
- Pick a tool and undertake research
- Analyze results and glean insight, take action, measure again
Among the rest of the riches of information in Katie’s slides, she offered that only one, maybe two tools are required to listen and perform research. Recently I referenced Chris Brogan’s article, Grow Bigger Ears in 10 Minutes in which he talks about the importance of listening and mentions a few of those tools and how to use them. Katie adds a couple more the list and identifies those that are free: Google News/Google Blogs, RSS feeds, Technorati, Social Mention, Twazzup, and a few of those that require a fee: Radian6, Techrigy, Sysomos, Visible Technologies. I have used the free version of Techrigy and found the results to be outstanding for both depth and breadth analysis.
Please refer to the entirety of Katie’s slides on Slide Share: Society for New Communications Research, Social Media Metrics and Measurement Master Class 11/09. As well you can view the talk captured by Rich Reader of WOM-buzz, archived here on Justin.tv.
Happy Measuring!
