The see - say - feel - do way of measuring social media
- Fri, September 23 2011
- Filed under: Social networking and web 2.0
I’m at the Communications Network conference, and one of the sessions I attended was on the measurement of social media. Here’s a nifty framework that Lisa Witter of Fenton shared.
Think of the impact of your outreach this way:
“See” Metrics. These metrics track eyeballs or impressions. They measure your exposure - though not necessarily your impact.
“Say” Metrics. These metrics track people spreading the word or sharing your message—retweeting, forwarding emails. This gives signs people may be more engaged with your cause.
“Feel” Metrics. These metrics track the degree to which people get involved with your message - they comment on your Facebook content, they react to your Tweets, they participate in conversations. These are hardest to measure - but desired.
“Do” Metrics. These are the best - people donating, volunteering, signing a petition etc. It’s where you want people to be!
I think we spend a lot of time looking at “see” metrics, but at the end of the day, “do” metrics are what matters. We’re resource-constrained nonprofits, so don’t settle for “see” as the goal of your efforts. We want more engagement than that - so set goals accordingly. And get serious about measuring - because if your efforts aren’t making a difference, then they need to be adjusted - or ended.
Comments
Really good point. I tend to be one-sided on my metric analysis. Thanks for the post.
I think this is a great way to get folks to think systemically about connecting with people. Thanks for the post. Connections take time, and action takes time too. One-sided metrics can dampen work that is connecting elsewhere. I like to think about “consumer/supporter readiness.”
When someone volunteers, what can be put in place to find out if it was one of social media efforts that inspired them to come in?
Thanks for sharing this breakdown, Katya. So true that you can have lots of eyes on something but still be ineffective. Who cares how many people are following or even retweeting if it’s not impacting your business or non-profit goals, right?
I think the tough part is correlating why people did what they did: If they donated, bought, etc. was it *because* they saw your FB post, your RT or because they read your blog or something else? That is the data we still are not sure how to capture.
BTW: I saw your tweet retweeted by @traycreative and that led me here, where I commented on your blog. But you wouldn’t know that unless I mentioned it! I am sure someone is working on ways to track these things but it will never totally accurate because of how human beings operate.
Thanks for getting me thinking about this, Katya!