Alasdair,Thank you very much for your comment. Re...

2008-11-23T11:37:00.000Z

Alasdair,
Thank you very much for your comment. Reading through, I agree with your suggestion that measurement should be used as a means of informing. To clarify my comment regarding delighting the customer, I think measurement thereof is precisely one of the main difficulties of the social media.

I understand the need to measure the impacts of the social media to ensure that your organisational presence is targeted towards the appropriate platforms. As you correctly mention, this data will essentially comprise historical information. As such, ROI does indeed represent a trailing indicator. However, where employees actively participate of their own accord, I see this historical data proving difficult to accurately obtain.

Empowered employees will invariably cover a wealth of social media applications, and it is highly probable that through these conversational efforts, customers will be delighted through natural processes. Proving the level of delight will invariably remain difficult to prove. Clearly an organisational effort to monitor the social media is simultaneously required; otherwise gaps in social media coverage may occur. Perhaps it is here that measurement should be focused.

Thank you for providing your thoughts, Alasdair. I appreciate your insight into the subject.

TLR

Thanks for the link to our post. There are a few i...

2008-11-23T08:40:00.000Z

Thanks for the link to our post. There are a few issues here that need to be discussed and explained further. Yes social media is qualitative. This is something that we do stress in our blog post. Many of the processes discussed talk about the qualitative nature of social media and the need to ensure that there is organisational wide integration and buy in.

I think that the confusion arises from the reasons behind the measurement. Measurement should not mean measurement for justification as you suggest. Social media campaigns should be measured in order to inform.

Your comment "In my opinion, the social media is not about ROI; it is about using the social media to delight the customer, not simply to achieve organisational objectives." How do you know you are delighting the customer? Any social media strategy that does not keep track of social media activities cannot be an informed social media strategy.

Analysis and measurement are not the objective of a social media strategy, but they are part of an overall strategy. Any strategy has to have processes and can only work if it is informed. Yes I agree that that analysis and measurement should not inhibit social media. As we said in our post:

"ROI is a trailing indicator, not a leading indicator. ROI focuses on historical data. This helps us make sense of where we have been and allows us to make informed decisions as to its historical effectiveness. Any future direction cannot be made solely on historical data, especially when you consider the pace of change within social media and its qualitative nature."

And:

"Do not overanalyze. With social media, over analyzing each individual part will make you lose sight of the whole. There are too many variables to consider. We do need to remember that we are dealing with people "

I hope that clears this up. Yes to what you are saying about encouraging participation without obligation, and yes to measurement, not as justification or "proving the department's raison d’être." but as a tool to help inform your strategy.

Comments on The Lovable Rogue: Is the Social Media even about ROI?

Alasdair,Thank you very much for your comment. Re...

Thanks for the link to our post. There are a few i...