Geoff Sharp Social Media Blog

Measuring and Tracking Social Media

Posted on May 17, 2012 by geoff

Organizations are increasing their investment in social media marketing (SMM). However, they usually do not employ effective social media measurement, monitoring and reporting. Many tools for measurement have been developed including Google Analytics, tools from social media platforms, and various sentiment tool providers.

Sharp Search Technologies offers a basic reporting services to perform overall assessment of a social presence and for regular usage tracking.

Related information can be viewed in our white paper, ROI of Social Media .

Basic Measurements:

Web site and blog users : It is essential to track the number of users and volume of usage over time to see trends. Frequently there is an “S” quadratic curve to development of a market. If usage is flat or declining, then management needs to investigate and find out why. If there is a strong growth in usage it also important to know what caused it.
Content usage : Content is a primary driver of usage and it is essential to know which content is valuable. If content is not popular than either it is not valuable or it is not easily found. Management needs reports on content usage to make editorial changes or findability.
Recurring use : This is a key statistic that needs to be measured and tracked. How many customers return to a web site or a social platform and are regularly engaged. This is a key indicator of how fast the market is developing and how sustainable it will be.
Sentiment : Customers express themselves in social media forums and many different tools exist to track their sentiment, likes, dislikes, and positive or negative comments. Tracking this enables a company to know what is developing in the marketplace and react quickly to positive or negative news.

Advantages:

Measuring and reporting can improve planning and operations across the organization, including:

Corporate strategic planning
Legal issues and threats
H/R policy
Recruiting
Sales and Pipeline Management
Inbound Marketing
Customer Service costs saving
Product Co-development

Conclusion:

Measuring social media helps with planning and operations, and can not only improve bottom line but also gain the advantage of an early warning system for learning about market trends and customer issues.

Sharp Search Technologies has developed a simple straightforward and economic approach to measuring and tracking social media.

Examples of the Sharp Assessment and Track Reports:

Measuring Social Media

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The Costs of Social Media programs

Posted on February 18, 2012 by geoff

A recent press release by Marketwire and Social Ally suggests that the costs of social media can add up and that outsourcing some of this can be cost effective. Social media is labor intensive and the cost of building content and infrastructure are not free. This includes adding new functions and responsibilities across the organization, including marketing, sales, H/R and customer service.

For example, a social media strategist can cost between $100 and $300 an hour. Or, if one fully loaded FTE (full time equivalent) were hired, a company would pay between $50,000 and $100,000 a year. A community manager will cost between $50,000 and $75,000 a year according to the EConsultancy Social Media Salary Guide.

Development of a successful social media team across the organization involves training, which can cost $10,000 for an in-house program or $1500 per day and up for an outside trainer.

Content development, blogging, maintaining a social media calendar can involve dedicate staff tine across the organization, from one FTE to many. This can amount to $100,000 per year or more.

In addition to content creation, it is important o measure and monitor usage and sentiment. Tools such as Radian6 or Sysomos can require dedicated staff time in addition to basic subscription costs of from $10,000 to $30,000 a year. Add to this, hardware, software and technical support costs. Thus, the total costs of a truly effective social media program can be over $150,000 a year or more, depending on the size of the business and competitive marketplace. Further costs could entail integration social media programs into marketing automation systems, such as Marketo, or socialCRM services, such as Nimble.

While active social engagement with customers can be 25 % of activity and costs, the background support and foundation can be 75%. This makes outsourcing some of this development and suport an attractive alternative.