The Three O'sof Social Media Measurement

"How do you measure social media programs?"

You know, I try not to, it's a buzz kill. I'm kidding...

This question surfaces all the time. It's hands down one of the biggest challenges we marketers face, but come on, it's not impossible. Yeah, we need better weights and measuring sticks for new media — they will come — but don't let that stop you from adapting and customizing an approach that works for your business.

There are three things you should think about when it comes to measurement, each I'd argue are equally important:

Outputs

Pretty self explanatory, right. Is content being created? It could be a blog post or a forum topic or a video, you get the gist. Try not to get too hung up on the "how much" part of the output. Focus instead on the quality and relevancy of what's being produced and the utility of the medium for you and your customers.

Outgrowths

Again, pretty simple. What stems or grows from the content that was created? It could be comments, links, tags, diggs, votes, etc. How people choose to participate with the content will vary so try to think about the value and weight you place on certain actions — and how you might better enable them.

Outcomes

Basically, the net result or response to the first two things. It could be attention (influencers, media), amplification (memes), engagement (quality/quantity of comments), sentiment (positive/negative), this is where you have to simply interpret and weigh the shake out. And then compare your analysis to whatever the hell your goals were to begin with. Oh, and then pray they line up.

Keep in mind, all of this is just one approach to measurement — an admittedly simple one for an increasingly complex web. I tend to think social media measurement will always be half science/half art, and maybe for that reason, always be a headache too, but hopefully this gives folks a framework to pivot and build on.

Related Post:

Social Media Measurement Deconstructed

Also Read:

PR Measurement Blog (Katie Paine)

Like Nailing Down a Shadow (Brian Oberkirch)

Social Media Measurement (Jeremiah Owyang)

[Cross published on Voce Nation]

Comments

[Kami Huyse]

Mike; It may be simple but it works.
Katie Paine has long measured PR campaigns by Ouputs, Outakes and Outcomes. The ways to measure each of these are more complex than meets the eye, as you well know.

[Mike Manuel]

Yeah, by no means is any of this *new*, we just have to be a little smarter about how it applies to new patterns, new behaviors, new mediums, etc.

[KDPaine]

Thanks for this, it's a great, and much needed simpler explanation of the three "O's" . The point isn't to measure for the sake of measurement sake, but to get the data you need to make a choice between doing more of one thing or less of another depending on what works or doesn't work. The benefit of measurement is that you finally have ammo with which to say no to the things that don't work but that some mucketmuck says is a great idea that you have to implement.

[Nelson Bruton]

Mike,

Three O's... That's great. Keep it simple.

Let me know how you feel about my thoughts.

You can measure a social media campaign only after you determine the objective for the social media campaign. Influence and interaction and results are the ways in which a social media campaign can be measured. Each has quantitative and qualitative elements. Below are my initial thoughts on this subject. Please bear in mind that there are probably more to add to each category. (Help, advice, and collaboration is appreciated)

INFLUENCE
Quantitative - 1. the number of people in the network 2. the number of networks/social communities/platforms 3. the growth rate of your network

Qualitative - 1. who is in the network? 2. what is the motivation for people joining the network? 3. what ideas are discussed in the networks

INTERACTION
Quantitative - 1. the number of communication methods within a platform 2. the number of scheduled tasks(eg. messages, replies, comments, bulletins, blogs, etc)

Qualitative - 1. the types of communication being sent out 2. who are you targeting with a particular message?

RESULTS
Quantitative - 1. number of leads generated 2. number of sales generated 3. number of new contacts made 4. revenue generated

Qualitative - 1. types of leads generated 2. types of contacts made

I welcome your expertise and participation on inSocialMedia.com

Respectfully,

Nelson Bruton