100 Ways to Measure Social Media Is Really ZERO Ways to Measure Social Media - More Ideas From People Who Should Know Better
David Berkowitz is billed as “Senior Director of Emerging Media & Innovation for agency 360i. A frequent speaker and media pundit, he has been published hundreds of times in MediaPost, Ad Age, eMarketer, and elsewhere.” He authored some material entitled 100 Ways to Measure Social Media, and indeed he describes some “metrics” that he suggests can be used to measure social media success.
Or has he?
Take a look at the list. Can you find a SINGLE metric that has to do with the ultimate purpose of using the social media platform? For business, that would be profit, or some other related return on investment. Mr. Berkowitz has made an exceedingly common and disasterous mistake which is to measure ACTIVITY (either his or his visitors) rather than RESULTS.
It`s common. Savvy internet veterans know that having a lot of visitors to one`s web page can either be a) liability, or b) an asset, depending on whether they contribute to the ongoing profit and/or sustainability of the business. High traffic means cost. You MUST measure return on investment, or risk your survival.
David’s contributions are typical of even the smartest people involved in social media and marketing (note that according to a number of statistical analysis, marketers make up a huge percentage of social media users relative to their percentage in the population). They have a vested interest in creating buzz, and interest in social media. And, they see social media in a different light than most of the population.
There may be good reasons for small business to be active in social media (or not), but these metrics only deceive the small business owner, and result in wasted time and energy, while obscuring the general failure of social media for small business.
?