Your question is one of the most common I have been asked in 2009. It is easy to answer in that there are many tools to help with measurement, but difficult in that many of them are new and are evolving rapidly.
Selecting the best measurement approach, and in particular identifying return on investment is also challenging. Since you are focusing on measuring marketing campaigns I would suggest a measurement approach that links to traditional metrics you and your colleagues are familiar with will be most effective.
A measurement framework with different categories always makes measurement easier. I advise these key metrics.
1. Business outcomes through marketing contributions:
Can you specifically link the campaign to interactions such as newsletter subscriptions, leads or sales achieved online. A web analytics system, such as Google Analytics, setup with conversion goals will be able to track referrals from different social networks or partner sites.
2. Influencer reach:
How many unique sites has your campaign been picked up on? How many direct links have been generated (helpful for direct visitors and SEO).
3. Audience reach:
How many have been exposed to your message on different types of sites with a different audience composition. For example, an international bank I was working with managed to get mentions both on a popular blog targeting expat women and business and investment portals in different countries. Again, with web analytics you can measure direct visits from these sites.
4. Brand engagement:
Engagement means prospects and customers getting closer to your brand by saying they want to hear from you via email, Facebook, Twitter or Linked-in. They may also take actions on your site or partner site such as downloading a white paper.
5. Sentiment:
Reputation management systems can monitor positive and negative sentiment, so you should also keep an eye on this.
I have developed a "list of social media monitoring software" that you may find useful. Of these tools, the ones that are most widely used and regarded in my experience are Radian 6 (large organisations) and Trackur (in smaller organisations). I have marked other popular tools in each category with an asterisk. There are also some useful free tools such as Social Mentions and WhosTalkin.com.
Dr Dave Chaffey is director and lead consultant at Market Insights Limited, an independent digital marketing consultancy, and author of internet marketing books including eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and Optimising Your Digital Marketing, co-written with PR Smith.
You can read more of Dave's Insights on digital marketing on his Right Touching Digital Marketing blog
E-mail your digital marketing questions and problems to Dave at digital@themarketer.co.uk
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