The three signs of social media hysteria - and how to avoid them
- Wed, February 22 2012
- Filed under: Social networking and web 2.0
According to a new report from Fenton on social media (download here after noon ET), there are several stages to what I would call social media hysteria.
Stage 1: Urgency. As in, “Everyone’s doing it. We need to do be doing it. Set up a Facebook page. And start tweeting!”
Stage 2: Existential Handwringing. As in, “Wait, what are we doing here? We’ve gotten some fans and followers but are we really attracting more donors and members this way?”
Stage 3: Disappointment. As in, “This social media thing is a bust. It takes a ton of time and I’m not sure we’re getting enough out of it.”
Fortunately, this kind of angst is preventable by setting goals and measuring them in simple but meaningful ways. Specifically, Fenton lays out an elegant framework:
“See” Metrics. These metrics track eyeballs or impressions. They measure your exposure - though not necessarily your impact.
“Say” Metrics. These metrics are when people take your messages and repeat them verbatim across their networks. 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 or they react to your Tweets.
“Do” Metrics. These are the best - people donating, volunteering, signing a petition etc. It’s where you want people to be!
For each metric, ask yourself:
Who is engaging? What are they responding to? What are they saying? What does is mean?
This kind of questioning will lead to smarter reflection and better results. Don’t wring your hands - just put on your thinking cap!
Comments
This made me laugh out loud. It’s so true! Thanks for sharing what we’re all thinking/experiencing.
Hi Katya, they’re some very valid points indeed.
We recently started a Google+ page as everyone else was but then we took it back to basics - maximize valuable conversations where you can and then only expand once you are really in a position to.
Thankfully, Facebook and Twitter have made it quite easy to see how much engagement you’re having with ‘Likes’, ‘Retweets’ and so on.
Ultimately, how we look at it is by working out how many more people know about us due to our social media efforts.
Thank you for sharing the tips, it helps me a lot…Great!
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