4 Social Media Metrics that Matter

Submitted by admin on Friday, October 28, 2011 / 0 Comments

In social media, the best metrics are the ones that align with your business goals. The Social Media: Metrics that Matter session of the 2011 MIMA Summit featured 4 Twin Cities social media professionals who, despite their very different roles, companies and objectives, were very similar in their quest to tie meaningful metrics to their work. When asked what metric they found to be most important, they each had a different response.1. Sharing and Loyalty
Matt Wilson of General Mills expressed his joy at the discovery that yes, Stroganoff is sharable. And when users share recipes, he’s found that these social activities lead to larger, more objective business goals such as greater customer loyalty.
2. Product Reviews and Ratings
Michael DeHaven of Bizaarvoice talked about how companies can be much nimbler if they incorporate product reviews on their website and rapid product iterations to quickly take in customer feedback and make the necessary improvements to make their products truly wow the customer.
3. Sentiment
Stacy Van Meter of Deluxe Corp finds social media sentiment to be of great importance. While the panel agreed that sentiment analysis still has a ways to go, it was understandable how Van Meter is able to get value out of the tools currently available, given her role in HR and the need for insights related to candidate perceptions and employee morale.
4. Customer Insights
Suzanne McGann of Medtronic shared how social media has helped them better understand their customers and their information needs throughout the continuum of their healthcare needs. This knowledge translates into more sophisticated strategies for social media and search marketing efforts.What Social Media Metrics Aren’t Useful?
When asked which metrics were the least useful, this panel session of the Measurement, ROI and Search track of the 2011 MIMA Summit responded with fans, followers and impressions by themselves, and anything in Facebook Insights.
The panelists also covered using social media results to get more company resources, the impact of social media on SEO, and social media coupled with customer service during their thought-provoking MIMA Summit panel on social media metrics.
Do you agree with the panelists on what is useful and what isn’t in the world of social media metrics? Which social media metrics do you find to be most useful?----

A special thanks to Josh Braaten, a MIMA volunteer, for this blog post.  Josh is an Online Marketing Manager at Rasmussen College. He has worked in marketing and on websites for over five years. Josh also has a B.A. in Economics from St. John’s University. Josh loves Internet marketing and blogs about SEO, web analytics and related topics on his Internet marketing blog. Connect with Josh on Twitter,LinkedIn, and +Josh Braaten.