Dream Success!

If you’re going to begin socially networking online, you mind as well do it productively.  “Productively”, that scarey word that requires you to set goals and objectives, and then continue to monitor the progress and outcome to best analyze the results of your efforts. In addition to your SNAPs (Social Networking Account Procedures), you'll also want to monitor your SNAGs (Social Networking Account Goals). 

The initial goals of all social networking efforts should be the following:

        1.    Reach Customers & Colleagues Directly
        2.    Drive Awareness
        3.    Listen to Community
        4.    Respond Quickly to a Crisis
        5.    Connect Service Teams with Customers to Build a better Service/Marketing                         Campaign

Of course there’s always room for more...

...but these goals should be your primary goals, and encompass the rest of the goals within the social networking project at hand.

It is important at this time to ensure that the data is there, even if you are unclear how it will be properly analyzed.  The sophisticated measurement process is a method of gathering intelligence – Identifying incoming links and discovering who is talking about your company, products, and key employees.

There are TONS of tools out there on the web which help you track the statistics of your goals, but the accuracy of each often comes into question.  However, through the journey I have found the following analytic tools most helpful:

    1.    Web & Blog Analytics
            a.    Google Analytics > Statistics that help companies focus their marketing                     resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve their sites to             convert more visitors.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t use google analytics to                 monitor their website statistics, at least in some form.
            b.    http://www.google.com/analytics

    2.    RSS Analytics
            a.    Google Reader > Stay up to date  Google Reader constantly checks your                     favorite news sites and blogs for new content.  Also provides the ability to easily                 share your favorite google feeds with friends and track your RSS Analytics
            b.    http://www.google.com/reader

     3.    Link Trackers
            a.    Technoratti > Real-time search engine for blogs that tracks what is current                 and popular. Offers the ability to search blog postings using a tag library, list your             blog, and keywords.
            b.    http://www.technorati.com

    4.    Keyword Instances
            a.    Google Alerts > Sends automatic email updates of the latest relevant Google             results based on the user's choice of query or topic.
            b.    http://www.google.com/alerts

    5.    Comment Tracking
            a.    CoComment > CoComment is a popular browser tool for tracking                             conversations in the comments you post on websites and social networking sites.              Click the CoComment button and get updated when someone responds to your                 comments.
            b.    http://www.cocomment.com

    6.    Social Networking Browser
            a.    Flock > Web browser based on the open source Mozilla code integrates social             networking, photo uploading, bookmarks, and other features.
            b.    http://www.flock.com

    7.    Mavens & Connectors
            a.    There’s no easy way to monitor Mavens & Connectors, you just have to pay             attention to who they are and what they are saying.

Attention: Duration users spend on media.  Obviously the more time they spend on your media, the more chance you have to successfully brand your company and push your viewers to your related content.

Velocity:  Speed in which an idea (or “meme”) is spread.  The faster you can get the word out there, the more chance you have at successfully performing damage control on your product or service, if heaven forbid it ever becomes necessary.  For more information on the subject, I highly recommend an article written by Jeremiah Owyang titled: Social Media Measurement Attribute: Defining Velocity.

Subscriptions:  Opt in process by users to receive content (newsletter & RSS feeds).  The option for a viewer to subscribe to your newsletter or feeds should be available on every webpage and social networking site available, and you will want to monitor who, why, when & what your users are subscribing to.

Participation: How users interact with you and your sites.
    1.    Comments
    2.    Share with Friends
The more you know about what your audience wants and likes, the more you can build your product or service around your target audience and really excel against your competition. Study how they are interacting with you, and try to build upon that innovatively.

Qualitative Opinions:  The users individual tone, sentiments & opinions - and how relevant/helpful they are to our cause.  Don’t spend too much time overanalyzing the irrelevant or bad opinions.  Chris Brogan & Jeremiah Owyang said it best when they stated (and proved!) that the best approach to take with these users is the “Thank you, May I have another”.

Authority: Which users have more weight than others, and why?  These are your Mavens & Connectors – and these are some of the most important people since the Mavens care the most about your product, and Connectors can spread the word.

Hope this helps and let me know what you find.

Anthony

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/03/06/social-media-measurement-velocity/

http://www.google.com/analytics

http://www.google.com/reader

http://www.technorati.com

http://www.google.com/alerts

http://www.cocomment.com

http://www.flock.com

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:bhIx-JvpP7UJ:web.mit.edu/dikaiser/www/BAKC.PhysA.pdf how to measure the speed which an idea is spread&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a