Social media is commonplace in our world today; it is used to communicate with and connect with people globally.  As a businessperson, you should use the different social media channels to define your brand and communicate actively with your customers.  But, with such a new development and so many different channels, there are many questions to be asked, such as:

• How do you measure social media?
• How do you derive useful information and take action from the data?

This OMMA Metrics panel answers these important questions regarding social media with the help of measurement and analytic experts.  Use their expertise to guide you through data measurement methods and how to best use different social media channels for your business.

Moderator
Steve Latham, CEO, Encore Media Metrics

Panelists
Adam Cahill, EVP Media Director, Hill Holliday
Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, VP of Marketing, Involver
John Lovett, Senior Partner & Principal Consultant, Web Analytics Demystified, Inc.
Jonathan Mendez, Founder & CEO, Yieldbot
Ben Straley, CEO & CO-Founder, Meteor Solutions

Video streaming by Ustream

65% of marketers don’t know how to measure social media and want to learn how by the end of 2011

Consumer habits

• Lifetime value is starting to change:  Advocacy surpassing traditional purchase history ~ @Ben Straley
• 40% of consumers will research on a website, but buy someplace else ~ @JohnLovett

Consumer advocacy

• Need to follow that customer and understand how they can become an advocate ~ @JohnLovett
• Advocacy is too heavy-handed, brands need to focus on experience ~@adamcahill
• It’s possible to do the math of what impressions are worth, look at the level of sharing and actions and interpret them as  conversions ~@adamcahill
• The funnel is just a metaphor, use at proven B2B practices as a model: once a target is within funnel, advocacy can take place ~ @kaykas

Metrics and measurement

• Metrics are digital trivia unless you can add meaning~ @John Lovett
• Metrics are improving across social media channels
• You can’t figure anything out unless you’re using tracking methods, such as unique 1-800 numbers, landing pages, distinct links ~ @JohnLovett
• Recommend using agile principles, experimentation, monitoring tools ~ @kaykas
• Apply a learning agenda to each engagement, not just measuring but learning ~@adamcahill

Social media best practices

• Best currency:  Keywords
• Don’t make advertisers happy; remain loyal to users ~ @kaykas
• Smart value exchange comprises delivering value to consumers in return for them to care about the brand – this is what renders results ~@bstraley
• Stop thinking about social media campaigns. Think about the socialization of properties ~ @jonathanmendez
• Behavioral analytics also key to socialmedia: What’s being shared, what brings people back ~@bstraley

Companies successfully using social media

• Intuit doing social well, see TurboTax case study ~ @jonathanmendez
• Dell is socializing the company:  5,000 employees were trained in social media ~ @JohnLovett

It is important to measure the results and acquire meaningful data from your social media campaigns.  With this information, you learn more about your consumers.  By learning consumers’ habits, you can improve your business and your social media efforts to improve customer experience.

Effective use of social media will leverage your business as consumers respond positively to your services.