Measuring your Social Media Channels: Using the Techniques in “Measure What Matters”

Measuring the activity that is occurring on your social media pages is the best way for a company to document how effective their advertising campaigns are on social media. The book “Measure what Matters” by Katie Delahaye Paine provides several tricks of the trade that businesses often use to watch their marketing campaigns. The book harps on several of the same concepts that other textbooks on the subject also state as important to running successful campaigns. Paine simplifies these concepts for the reader by putting them into lists that can be easily read and checked off by somebody creating a campaign for the first or even hundredth time. One of the lists that she created for her readers is “Seven Steps to Perfect Measurement”.

1. Define Your Goals and Objectives
2. Define Your Environment, Your Audiences, and Your Role in Influencing Them
3. Define Your Investment
4. Determine Your Benchmarks
5. Define Your Key Performance Indicators
6. Select the Right Measurement Tool and Vendors and Collection Data
7. Turn Data into Action  

The list serves the exact purpose that the title eludes to. It gives step by step instructions to deploy a program that will serve as a gauge for the success of their marketing efforts. The list is relatively loose in terms of “how” portion of the actions recommended by the lists.

The author goes into greater detail as to how one can construct the “perfect” measurement program. The main tip offered in the book is the type of tools that are applicable for the type of measurement that one wants to do for their campaign. The book provides several tools for the reader to use that do not cost any money from their campaign budgets. As the author states, only about five percent of the budget for large companies actually gets put into things such as marketing campaign management for social media. This may be a large amount of money, but money runs out quickly on marketing campaigns. So the free tools offered by the author can be a big help for saving money, but still getting the job done. The tools offered by the author serve distinct purposes as to the phenomena being observed on the profiles. The information gathered by the tools can serve as a way to better their marketing campaigns based on what is actually happening on their pages. The author also provides several types of other ways for a company to gather information to better their campaigns. The use of paper, online and email surveys are also valid ways for gathering information to better the operation of a business advertising campaign. The information can allow a business to hone in on the demographic target that the company wants to hit. Honing a campaign allows for the campaign to become more efficient and effective for the company. Paine provides information and tools for companies to make their campaigns and social media profiles work for them.