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Proving You Can Measure Social Media

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“You can’t really measure the ROI of social media.”

I heard this eye-popping phrase at a local social media panel about “Social Media and the Media.” The panel consisted of an impressively tenured reporter, a multimedia content producer for a local news station and newspaper, a professor of communications, and a recent graduate who was fortunate enough to have landed a marketing job for a digital news purveyor.

All four discussed how social media was transforming journalism and their jobs. (Several people in the audience were pretty unhappy about the “tainting” of journalism, but that’s for another post.) All four panelists were adamant that journalists needed to incorporate social media into their jobs – that it was very important.

Yet when asked about, “How are you measuring success?” not one of them could really answer the question. That was when someone spoke of the inability to measure ROI for social media. I was even so bold to raise my hand and ask, “Do you mean to tell me you don’t have metrics that you report on to your bosses?” and they all assured me quickly that they did, but they didn’t say what they were specifically.

I want to set the record straight. Yes, you can measure the impact of your social media. Yes, you can measure the ROI of social media. A lot has been written about this, so I won’t reinvent the wheel here.

First off, it’s worth mentioning – Olivier Blanchard has written an entire book about this, Social Media ROI . I think it’s safe to say the book came out of this PowerPoint which has been popular with social media people since I’ve been involved (two years ago now), and possibly before. It’s a good place to start if you’re thinking on how you can prove to, say, your CFO that this is something worth doing.

Overwhelmingly, the advice you’ll find when you ask a social media consultant about measurement is “first you have to decide your goals, then you decide what to measure.” Hey, Gini Dietrich says it right here and then tells you how. Here  Mack Collier gives you some specific measurements you can make against specific goals – even if you’ve already gotten started, it’s not too late.

Rebecca Denison blogged here about measuring your personal brand. In this post, Rebecca walks you through how she measured her brand – and you can take her logic and apply it to your business situation, as well.

One of my favorite posts about picking a metric to use is Stanford Smith’s post about Klout and how social media experts are really good at pointing out the problems with certain metrics – and makes the case for the Klout score, something every social media expert should at least be familiar with. There are other influence measurement tools, but I really like the data that underlies the Klout score best.

Brian Solis weighed in on the ROI of social media last year here. It’s a long read, but the payoff is worth it.

Are you a nonprofit? Don’t worry, you can do it, too. Beth Kanter, who is something of a celebrity in the nonprofit and social media space, wrote just recently about this here — within the post is a link to Beth’s recent presentation on social media ROI for nonprofits – a great read.

So, that’s where I’d start. Did I hit the mark with measurement? What information would you share with my fellow audience members about social media measurement?

Image: BlueWaterDirect.com

NY Times Permits Blog Rant Against PR

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The sky is falling — again — on public relations. After my decades in this profession, I’ve heard it all (just not with this rancor); what’s old is new again. We are the scapegoats for every client and reporter wronged by a PR firm; why? Because someone has to take the blame, and it’s my belief there are not enough mentors and leaders to educate our very own.

This post is from my dear friend and tweep who claims not to be in public relations at all — but when you write like this and sit in a corporate communications department, that’s, ahem, public relations. But, hey, Jenn? You can skin the cat any way you wish.

Here now is sharing her reactions about public relations:

Last week the illustrious of  fame tweeted that her blood was boiling over a New York Times blog post. by Bruce Buschel. Curious, I clicked over, and immediately saw what she meant.

First, let me admit, I am not a PR pro; Jayme thinks I am. I don’t fight her on it because Jayme is very persuasive. But when it comes to creating a campaign to engage the media and pitching reporters, I don’t know the first thing. (In her defense, I think Jayme only considers this a facet of PR; I consider it to be PR in its entirety). If you’re wondering, then, I’d define myself as a corporate communications pro.

Either way, reading this article made me wonder if the PR industry needs to do a little PR for itself, (although one person missing the point doesn’t mean everyone else misses the point). Who in the professional services industry hasn’t experienced a client or potential client who misunderstands what you do and how much that should cost? So you educate, educate, educate, and then they ditch you and go overseas for a cheaper replacement.

Let’s sum up what moved Mr. Buschel to pen his anti-PR rant. He opened a in the Hamptons, and hired not one but two successive PR firms to create “a pre-opening vuvezela buzz” and neither firm met his expectations. Understanding Mr. Buschel’s expectations, however, takes a little detective work. He claims he went for the PR approach because “advertising was too complicated and daunting and expensive” and it made his “head spin.” Yet later in the article he says:

“I have been dealing with ‘P.R.’ people for a very long time. It would be crazy to categorize all public relations people as crazy, so let’s just say that P.R. people drive me crazy. All of them.” ~Mr. Buschel

A very long time would predate his Hamptons experience…and yet he still chose to go that route this time around, despite the fact that PR people drive him “crazy.” Curious, isn’t it?

What’s also curious are his complaints that his PR firm wanted to…wait for it…taste the food. No! The PR people wanted some knowledge of what they were promoting? That’s an outrage! Mr. Buschel was clearly outraged too:

“That last one was the showstopper. Come in for a close-up. A ‘P.R.’ firm — paid to promote us — would kick into high gear only after tasting our food? And approving of it? And what if the food wasn’t any good, wouldn’t we need more ‘P.R.’, not less? What happened to the pre-opening vuvuzela buzz? Why weren’t the social media all atwitter with Southfork Kitchen forecasts? And if our ‘P.R.’ experts accepted only clients whose culinary endeavors met with their approval, why hadn’t they dropped half their restaurant clients?” ~Mr. Buschel

And yet, in the very next paragraph, without a hint of shame, Mr Buschel complains “What I have finally come to understand is that ‘P.R.’ people are paid to twist reality into pretzels and convince you that they are fine croissants.”

Yes. The very same person who says (paraphrase) “if our food is bad, won’t we need more PR?” – meaning, if my food is terrible, you will need to spin it so people will come eat it – then complains that PR people spin things. I was flabbergasted. I shouldn’t be, but I was, no, I still am.

The rest of the article is rife with examples of Mr. Buschel not understanding the PR process, including his descriptions of how incredibly obtuse his first PR firm was. They were so obtuse in fact that they helped him define his target audience, which anyone reading this post should realize is a critical activity. Knowing your audience is half the battle, even if it is as broad as they came to realize. As to Mr. Buschel’s gross misunderstanding of all things PR, normally I might fault his PR firm for not educating him, but based on the evidence, it would seem he’s ineducable. (Is that a word? Well, now it is.)

Unlike Gini, my blood didn’t boil. I laughed at the author and the article. Gini wrote about this post (and other things) and examined the idea of expectations, generously including how it is our fault if someone doesn’t understand what they’re buying. At the beginning of this post I wondered if the PR industry needed some PR, itself. Reading Gini’s post, I’m reminded that we can’t do our jobs well without doing a little research and education first. The best way to fight the perception problem is to put on your consultant hat and discover those expectations. “What does success look like? What will be different if you buy our service? Can you give me a picture of what you see the end result being?”

This detective work goes both ways. The client can find out if the firm is capable of delivering on your expectations. And, the firm can find out if they’d be taking on a client who has insurmountable expectations and even prejudices against what you do. If your research turns up someone who believes you’ll make him crazy, I say take a pass.

Cystic Fibrosis in the Workplace

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Today’s guest post is from a Twitter pal of mine, . There couldn’t be a more supportive person to my blog; you frequently see her comments here, and she’s always RT’ing my material. For that I’m forever grateful, and to show that appreciation, I suggested she pen a post right here at home.

By way of further introduction, Jenn is a corporate communications pro who enjoys sushi and social media, often at the same time.  Currently she is project manager and marketing specialist for , a Glastonbury, Conn. interactive design firm.

Take it away, Jenn…

My Twitter Pal, Jenn

I have cystic fibrosis.

I have so many stories I could tell you about what it’s like to grow up with a fatal illness, but the story I’m going to tell you today is about navigating the workplace when you’re a sickie like me.

First, the facts.  Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease. Specifically it is an autosomal recessive disease. This means my parents do not have cystic fibrosis, but they “carry” the gene, and when they made me, they hit the genetic jackpot, so to speak.  The disease is known for three things:

  • Thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs, scars them, and makes breathing difficult.
  • That same mucus clogs the pancreas preventing enzymes from aiding the digestive process. This makes absorption difficult, and a person with CF is typically underweight.
  • Salty sweat that for years was used to diagnose the disease.  A person with CF has sweat that is two-to-three times saltier than average.

The median life expectancy of the disease is, right now, somewhere around 35. When I was born, I think the life expectancy was 23. I never let CF get in my way, and my doctor informed me I’d outlive him!

Since the CF gene was found in 1989, great strides have been made in research in terms of new therapies, including genotype-specific therapies.  Although I am extremely healthy for a person with CF, I take pills and nebulizer treatments every day.  As a child I still underwent week-long hospital stays when I had pulmonary exacerbations and had a feeding tube in my early adolescence.  Compared to my CF peers, I have had it easy!

As an adult with CF, living in the United States, my biggest concern is having health insurance coverage. My best bet for health insurance coverage is either through employment or a spouse’s employment. Since I’m not married, it’s critical that I have a job and have benefits.  One of my drugs (taken every other month) is $6,000 without insurance.

Early on, I was cautioned by another adult with CF not to reveal my disease to my employer.  She said she had been passed on promotions because of the concern she would get sick and not be able to handle the workload.  I took this to heart.  So, I started off every job (since I finished my degree) not telling employers about the CF. Inevitably, I had to tell them, because of the coughing.

I didn’t cough so much as a kid, but CF is progressive. I cough quite a bit now, and I get a lot of questions about it. Some people are concerned for me; some are concerned for themselves and the germs I might give them. The short version of the story is that I’ve tried to lie and say, “I have asthma.”  Believe me, this doesn’t work – people with asthma just don’t cough this much.  I still get questions.  As long as I’ve already got the job and I’m not in the interview, I’ve found it’s easier to cut through the BS and say “I cough because I have cystic fibrosis, I’m not contagious, you can ask me any questions you might have.” (So much for privacy.)

Enough about me; let’s see if I can offer any tips for sickies.

  • Tell your immediate boss. If you’re reading this, you’re probably not the kind of person who uses his/her illness to get special favors. The point of telling your boss is to get understanding and cooperation if you have a problem. For example, I need my boss to know I cough, I have frequent doctor appointments, and sometimes I run late in the morning because my therapies are time-consuming and/or I’m having symptoms.
  • Tell your immediate co-workers. Same reasoning.
  • Don’t be a hero. Sometimes you’re just having “the usual” problems.  And other times, you need to work from home (arrange it so you can do this if need be), or even take the day off.  Don’t make it worse on yourself to prove something.
  • Take care of yourself. You’ll be pretty shoddy at work if you’re not taking good care of yourself.  Pulling the odd all-nighter? Not great, but okay. Doing that regularly?  Find another job, period, or else your body will come after you.

I’m a little embarrassed that my list doesn’t contain earth-shattering revelations, but if you want those, here’s the list of jobs I considered but then realized I couldn’t pull off due to coughing:

  • Spy. I wanted to be Nancy Drew as a kid. My ability to eavesdrop is pretty much nil.
  • Physician’s Assistant: I’ve always been drawn to healthcare. But would you see a doctor you thought was always sick?
  • Actor: there just can’t be that many TB-patient roles.
  • Food service / Waitress: you want some cough with your fries?

Got more questions about CF? I recommend the .  You can also ask me.  I clearly don’t mind, since I just told the entire Internet all about it.