1.
Measuring
Social Media
Success
Eric Melin
@Spiral16 @SceneStealrEric
Robert Madison
@Robert_Spiral16

2.
Active Brand Marketing
“This is the approach that marketers must
take to avoid extinction and thrive in the
digital age.”
Active brand marketing - A flexible approach in
which marketers respond quickly to their
environment to align consumer and brand
goals and maximize return on equity.
- Forrester research, CMO Mandate: Adapt or Perish

3.
Adapting is a Challenge …
64% of marketers experienced problems trying to
implement digital marketing initiatives.
Only 4% of marketing leaders feel that they are
prepared to exploit digital marketing
opportunities.
- Accenture Interactive 2010 study
…but it’s also a huge
opportunity.
Photo credit: stasisconsulting.com

4.
Now is the Time
There is a lot of excitement surrounding social
media.
People are doing very creative things.
It’s not an exact science, but it is important to tie
your efforts into supporting your company’s
objectives.

5.
Start With What You Know
You’ve identified your company’s
business goals already.
Company goals Social media program Success
Now think about how you can
achieve those goals through a social
media program

6.
Social Media Program is a
Component
Use it to support your existing
business strategy.
• Create a structure for your program based on the
unique needs of your company.
• Build it from the ground up.
• The more customized, the better.

7.
Social Media Program is a
Component
“Ford doesn’t have a
social media
strategy —
Ford has a business
strategy supported
by social media.”
- Scott Monty

8.
Social Media Isn’t Free.
It takes valuable time.
You need human resources for:
Planning
Content creation
Monitoring
Measurement
Analysis
Creative insight
…and more.

9.
Free vs. Paid vs. Mixed
Companies using only free
web analytics solutions
experience a year-over-
year decline in marketing
campaign performance.

10.
Why Social Media ROI is Tough
ROI = (Gain from Investment) - (Cost of Investment)
Cost of Investment
Return on investment is a
financial metric.
That financial aspect is not
clearly defined in social media—
it’s not built-in.

11.
But This Challenge Isn’t New
Calculating ROI for print ads and radio ads has
always been difficult.
Metrics rely on the people influenced by print and
radio self-identifying themselves or coupon codes
being recorded and collected.
Calculating ROI for social media is also difficult
because it is integrated into your overall
strategy—it is hard to separate.

12.
The social media ROI equation is
the ROI equation.
This (below) won’t help.
Image from glynndevins.com -- and modified

13.
Establish a Customized Process
The Only Way to Measure Performance and Results
It is critical for creating a data-driven view of marketing results.
“This should be complemented with frequent reports to
stakeholders within the organization, to build a clear picture of
how marketing contributes to the health and success of the
organization.”
- Aberdeen Group 2012 Study
Web Analytics: Marketing Beyond Online Customer Data

14.
6 Steps To An Effective Social
Media Program
1. Identify business goals.
2. Align goals with social media program.
3. Establish benchmarks.
4. Set realistic targets.
5. Measure KPIs to determine success.
6. Look at results, find ways to improve.

15.
1. Identify Business Goals
Think about this:
Where is the company now?
Where does it want to be?
What will it take to get there?
Make sure your social media initiatives (nonfinancial)
are supporting your business goals (financial)

16.
What Do You Hope to Gain?
 Increase Total Sales
 Reduce Customer Service Expenses
 Acquire New Customers
 Reduced Cost Per Transaction
 Increase in Qualified Leads
 Higher Value Per Sale
 Increase in Customer Satisfaction
 Increase in Reach
 Introduce New Products/Service Enhancements
 Attract New Employees
 Encourage Repeat Purchases/Build Customer Loyalty

17.
2. Align Social Media Program
with Goals
Avon tinkered with its well-known door-to-door and catalog-
based direct sales model by empowering its salespeople with
social selling tools like its Facebook eBoutique and iPhone app.
Social media platform
Avon Connects virtually
attaches consumers to their
local Avon rep, at which point
traditional face-to-face
service begins.

18.
Tools Are Not Strategies
• Twitter
• Facebook/Google+ Being active on
• Blogs these platforms is
• Forums only important
if
• YouTube
using them helps
• Foursquare/Gowalla
you reach your goal.
• Flickr
• Webinars
• Podcasts

19.
Listening Goals
Who is saying what, when, and where?
• Protect your reputation
• Facilitate customer support
• Invite innovation
• Build trust
• Market through conversation (promote and sell)
• Gather business intelligence
- Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer

20.
Measurement Goals
What are you getting out of it?
• Improve branding and awareness
• Improve reputation
• Build community or advocacy
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Harvest research & development
• Drive sales or leads
- - Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer

21.
3. Establish Benchmarks
What does your online presence look like
before the program?
There are numerous free and paid tools to determine this.

22.
From October 6 to Jan 24, Spiral16 searched “Boulevard
Brewery,” “Boulevard Brewing Company,” “Smokestack Series,”
and “@Boulevard_Beer” = 4,148 results
On Jan 24, we started another set of queries for “Chocolate Ale.”
As of Feb 9 (in 16 days), that data set grew to over 1,800 results.
Benchmark
Total
Topic Domains Date Range Pages/Day
Pages
Boulevard Brewing Co. 4148 1077 10/6/11 – 1/24/12 46
Chocolate Ale 1873 280 1/24/12 – 2/9/2012 144
213% Increase in daily Volume

23.
Common Metrics
Frequency and volume of: Are these things
• Twitter followers important?
• Retweets
• Facebook likes Ask yourself which
• Brand mentions ones matter to your
• Blog comments
business.
• YouTube views
• Number of check-ins

24.
Advanced Metrics
Share of voice

25.
Volume of Increase in online traffic
mentions
Chocolate Ale Volume
Boulevard Volume

26.
Advanced Metrics
Positive/negative sentiment ratios

27.
Advanced Metrics
Positive/negative volume over time, correlation
Opportunity!

28.
Advanced Metrics
Penetration of marketing keywords

29.
Advanced Metrics
Channel-based language correlation

30.
Advanced Metrics
• Identify influencers in your topic or around your brand
• Discover how brand messages spread across the Web

31.
Advanced Metrics
• Learn what types of sites are the most relevant

32.
Twitter accounts for the majority of Boulevard’s online presence, with
nearly 60% of the total volume.

33.
4. Set Realistic Targets
Set specific targets based on your company goals:
Increase total sales by 5%
Increase cost savings by 15%
10% increase in qualified leads
Convert 5% followers and “likes” to transacting customers
Grow online community to 10,000 members
20% increase in customer satisfaction
Increase total transactions by 7%

34.
5. Measure KPIs to Determine
Success
Look only at the metrics that concern your goal.
• Website metrics/traffic • Volume of conversation
• Social audience metrics • Search metrics
• Fans/Followers/Friends • Sentiment & tone
• Conversions • Backlinks
• User-generated content • Competition comparison
• Comments • Share metrics
• Ratings/Reviews • Referrals
• Downloads • Click throughs
- Jason Falls, Social Media Explorer

35.
Correlate Traditional with
Online Metrics
This process requires
• Actual sales
detective work.
• Retail traffic
• # of transactions
It isn’t always obvious.
• New customers
• Amount per transaction
Patterns reveal
• Leads
themselves as you sort
• Surveys
and filter results.
- Social Media ROI, Olivier Blanchard

36.
Put Results on a Timeline
Did you see spikes in sales in correlation with your social media
efforts?
Verizon – Xoom volume, 1st month after launch

37.
Put Results on a Timeline
What other patterns can you identify?
Verizon – Xoom sentiment, 1st month after launch

38.
Correlate with Events
1st Xoom
93 more update rolls
positive reviews out
appear, totaling enabling
593 for first 9 Flash, iPad AT&T
days 2 released announces
in U.S. takeover of
T-Mobile
Xoom volume sentiment, 1st month after launch

39.
Try Relative Date Ranges
Using a relative date range, you can correlate volume.
Xoom volume/sentiment, iPad 2 volume 1st month
after launch

40.
Launch Comparison
Add sentiment and you can see both products together.
Xoom volume/sentiment, iPad 2 volume/sentiment
1st month after launch

41.
Put Results on a Timeline
Adding in traditional metrics is key.
Xoom volume/sentiment, units sold
1st month after launch

42.
Put Results on a Timeline
1st Xoom
93 more update rolls
positive reviews out
appear, totaling enabling
593 for first 9 Flash, iPad AT&T
days 2 released announces
in U.S. takeover of
T-Mobile
Xoom volume/sentiment, units sold,
and new subscribers 1st month after launch

43.
Measuring Social Media
Programs Can Find Real Savings
In 2009, Ford built early awareness for the Fiesta with influential
bloggers who tested and wrote about it
In 2010, Ford launched the Fiesta Project, an effort to capture user-
generated video.
As a result, Ford learned it could reduce cost of subsequent
launches by as much as 90%.
- Forrester research, CMO Mandate: Adapt or Perish

44.
6. Look at Results, Find Ways to
Improve
The great thing about web measurement is …
You don’t have to wait for all your results.
They update as the program continues.
And you have every opportunity to view those
results and make changes to your program along
the way.

45.
Connect the Dots
Do some detective work.
What caused spikes? Tie them to real events, your initiatives.
Why are there flat lines?
What part of the social media program had no effect?
What part did?
Connect these numbers to your business objectives.
Analysis creates the narrative.

46.
Ask questions
Tie back to your goals.
Did you meet/exceed your goals?
How close were you to your targets?
What gains did you make?
What did you learn about customer perception?
Did you increase the reach of your marketing?
Did you reduce costs?
Did you increase loyalty?

47.
Use the ROI Formula
ROI = (Gain from Investment) - (Cost of Investment)
Cost of Investment
How much did the program
cost? (Cost of
tools/platforms/employee time.)
Make estimates.
What financial gains did you
make?

48.
It’s Not Always Difficult
Sometimes just being able to
illustrate that you have the ability
to create business gains through
social media is enough …
…to reach your goal.

49.
Thank you from
Eric Melin
@Spiral16 SceneStealrEric
eric.melin@spiral16.com
Robert Madison
@Robert_Spiral16
robert.madison@spiral16.com