PR people can measure social media - May 2010 Professional Development Recap

This is cross-posted from the Next Communications blog.
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I want to be perfectly clear about something, I don't have a complete grasp of social media measurement. But I want to learn. Thankfully, the May 2010 Fort Worth PRSA professional development program was there to help. Katie Paine was our featured speaker and billed to provide morning and lunch sessions focused on key elements of measurement: engagement, including quantitative, qualitative, and new relationship metrics.

If we are going to be any good at using measurement, we must conquer fears. PR people spend too much time being afraid metrics will reveal that their program isn't working; afraid of what they'll hear; afraid they can't justify their program (or existence); and/or are afraid to admit that they don't know how to measure.

"The main reason to measure objectives is not so much to reward or punish individual communications managers for success or failure as it is to learn from the research whether a program should be continued as is, revised, or dropped in favor of another approach."
- Dr. James Grunig of the University of Maryland

Bottom-line, PR people spend too much time trying to justify our existence instead of showing business impact.

Old School vs. New School metrics
Old School Metrics:

• AVEs (Katie Paine wants to destroy Ad Value Equivalencies.) 
• Eyeballs
• HITS (How Idiots Track Success)
• Couch potatoes (I didn't quite understand this one)
• # of Twitter followers (unless you're a celebrity)
• # of Facebook Friends/"Likes" (unless they donate money)

New School Metrics:

• Influence = The power or ability to effect someone's actions
• Engagement = Some action beyond zero
• Advocacy = Engagement driven by an agenda
• Sentiment = contextual expression of opinion - regardless of tone
• ROI = Return on Investment - no more, no less. End of discussion.

Starting to sink in
Goals drive metrics, metrics drive results:

Goal - Reputation/Relationship
Metrics - Relationship scores, recommendations, positioning, engagement

Goal - Get the word out on mission/safety/civic engagement
Metrics - % hearing, % believing, % acting

Goal - Marketing/leads/sales
Metrics - Engagement Index, cost per customer acquisition, web analytics, sales leads, marketing mix modeling

One of the great things about Katie Paine's program is that she provided attendees with other excellent resources such as Don Bartholomew (MetricsMan) and Eric Peterson (Web Analytics Demystified.) It says something positive to me when speakers point people to other resources.

The graphic below is from Bartholomew's blog on the topic of the digitization of research and measurement and it helps us visually see what we need to measure:

Here's some thoughts from our speaker on the importance for PR people to measure:

Much more to learn
Katie provided the link to her presentation slides "Are we engaged yet? How to develop your engagement metric." She has opened up a wealth of information for attendees and those who could not make the sessions or carve out some time on her blog. I hope you will take some time to mine such treasures as the 27 conversation types, the seven steps to the perfect 21st Century Measurement Program, engagement on places over which you have no control, why you need a Kick Butt Index and much more.

Finally, I'd like to personally thank Katie for her gracious attitude and thoughtful demeanor while imparting some fantastic information. My seven pages of notes requires some time for reflection and application. (Oh and thanks for explaining Maine coon cats, talking politics and of course, geeking out a bit on NCIS.)

Related articles by Zemanta

• No More Excuses - Yes We Can Measure Social Media (socialmediabreakfast.com)
• Measuring ROI on social media with Katie Paine (kevin.lexblog.com)
• What Are Your Social Media Metrics? (socialmediatoday.com)
• Putting the Public Back in PR Measurement (conversationagent.com)

Grow your social media measurement skills

President's Column: Tom Burke, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
(This post appeared in the May 2010 issue of the eChaser)

It’s continual learning for me at IBM. Every day. It’s that way when you’re on a team of 400,000 people helping to build a smarter planet and 399,999 of those people are smarter than you!

Thankfully, in today’s intensely competitive and dynamic global marketplace, IBM continues to invest in employee development. Through various avenues, the company provides resources necessary to grow your skills, gain new experiences and build a high-impact career. A career differentiated by expertise. In fact, IBM’s achievements in learning and development recently earned Fortune magazine recognition as the No. 1 company for leaders.

This focus on skills and career development is also true of the Public Relations Society of America. Professional development is one of the most cherished benefits of PRSA membership. At Greater Fort Worth PRSA we continually strive to exceed this expectation of our members through relevant monthly programs and engaging events.

One of our most exciting professional development meetings is set for Wednesday, May 19, at Colonial Country Club. Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO and founder of KDPaine & Partners and author of “Measuring Public Relationships: The Data-Driven Communicator’s Guide to Success,” will lead a three-hour morning workshop focusing on key elements of engagement, including quantitative, qualitative and new relationship metrics. Over lunch she will review measurement principles and how they apply to the new, wild world of social media. It promises to be four hours of exceptional expertise building that you won’t want to miss.

In this crazy world we live in, it is more true than ever that if you’re not learning and growing, you are slowly fading away. And that doesn’t sound like too much fun, does it?

(Photo credit: Sarah Scissors)