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Industry Challenge: can’t measure social media ROI

April 23rd, 2010 by Lloyd Gofton

Yes I know, social media ROI, a very difficult subject, and I’m actually in the camp that believes social media cannot have an accurate, catch-all, ROI equation, not in the truest sense of either term anyway. So, was the title just an attempt to grab your attention? Maybe, but more importantly it was the industry challenge that Jeremiah Owyang highlighted when launching his new Altimeter Report: Social Marketing Analytics, which he announced yesterday.

Jeremiah has joined forces with John Lovett (ex-Forrester analyst) and Eric Peterson (ex-Jupiter analyst) both from Web Analytics Demystified. The report builds on Charlene Li’s (Altimeter founder and ex-Forrester Analyst) framework, and aims to measure the rapidly changing social media marketing space. A snap shot is included below.

Jeremiah sets the scene with: “Marketers around the globe are ranging from toe dipping to jumping all the way into the social marketing space -yet most lack a measurement yardstick. While experiments can fly under the radar for a short term, without having a measurement strategy, you run the risk of not improving what you’re doing, justifying investments, and the appearance of being aloof to upper management. To be successful, all programs (even new media) must have a measurement strategy, and we’ve done just that.”
The framework shown above includes KPI formulas which are designed to form the basis of internal measurement systems.”

If you are interested in learning more you can review the slide share presentation which is basically the full report, and attend the webinar, which will take place on June 3rd, titled;’ Social Marketing Analytics: A New Framework for Measuring Results in Social Media.

In terms of social media measurement, this is one of the fullest and most in-depth reports I’ve seen. That may put you off, but don’t think it’s all talk and no action; there are practical insights and relevant rules that any social media marketer will find useful and be able to apply to their specific role or campaign. This isn’t a catch all metric, but a guideline for KPIs.

So, if you truly want to understand the opportunities surrounding social media measurement, don’t try to wrap a traditional ROI model around a social campaign, start by reading this report and open up your understanding.

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One Response to “Industry Challenge: can’t measure social media ROI”

  1. Altimeter Report: Social Marketing Analytics (Altimeter Group & Web Analytics Demystified) « Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang | Social Media, Web Marketing Says:

    [...] Liberate Media posts the report, thanks Lloyd [...]

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