Although Social Media is booming, there is still a great challenge in measuring its performance. It is well known that in order to succeed, one must have a presence within social networks. It is also known that “everything” can be measured in the digital domain. But not everything seems so simple and organic for the moment.
“A key question is: What do ‘likes’ really matter and value? The frenzied chase of the last few years by the likes is not considering a vital point: it should not be a goal to achieve, if not rather an organic result – and, potentially, an indicator – of a strong and significant relationship between the Consumers and the brand. We should be exploring the different ways of measuring in Social Media to give meaning to their meaning and to take more advantage of the opportunities offered by this new context,” says Matías Alpert, CEO EMEA & LATAM Neo @ Ogilvy.
A fundamental issue with regard to the measurement of performance in the life of social networks, it is the custom of the marketing world to work with indicators that are generally universal, durable and comparable. “Of course it is possible to look for such comparable and significant concepts of performance in Social as well, but they are far from being as simple and direct as the level of commitment that can be generated with relevant consumers. What most of the tools and the best experts defend is that it requires a greater level of commitment than what we are accustomed to in the strategic planning of what and why we want to measure,” Alpert adds.
As it is a young and emerging industry, you may not be able to find one or several tools that dominate all the others and that is the best for most of the objectives. But surely there will be room to find very good and interesting tools. Alpert concludes: “You have to take a more active role in measuring Social Media, at least until the process of market consolidation succeeds. Until then, we may have to use a series of tools that work as a team, or work with raw data and design a set of rules to find the meanings sought.”