Determing Social Media Metrics

I recently read a very intriguing blog about measuring social media. The blog was by blogger Chris Brogan. Chris is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing agency. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR.

In his blog Social Media Metrics, Chris explains knowing which social media metrics to track is based on what you’re hoping to accomplish as to which metrics you might want to track; views, comments, leads, etc. Below I have quoted Chris' blog because I feel like he simplified his thoughts perfectly while thoroughly explaining how he favors tracking certain metrics over others due to their level of engagement and ROI.  

"·      Comments – it’s great that people comment. It shows some level of engagement. Did anyone buy?

·      Bookmarks, tweets, retweets, likes – it’s useful because it shows whether information spreads well and on which kind of media, but again, there’s not as much of a call to action inherent in that metric. Use it, but use it as a way to test your marketing, not as a way to test the results of the product/service.

·      Pageviews – again, it shows someone showed up, but if they didn’t do anything, I don’t care as much.

Metrics I DO Like

I like sales. Can you track dollars from your links?

I like leads. Can you track number of raw leads?

I like members. Can you count members, who then might be further massaged into leads?

Those are the metrics I think have some value, at least from a business perspective."

After reading this on Chris Brogan's Blog, I truly agree with what Chris Brogan has to say about social media metrics. With social media becoming increasingly important to businesses daily, there needs to be an understanding of what is effective. Figuring out what you want to get back from social media is the first step.

Check out the full blog at:  www.chrisbrogan.com