Question. When it comes to your business blog, twitter account or other social media foray, how do you measure success?
With the question of ROI on social media paramount on (or at least looming in) the minds of the financial analysts, it is tempting to fall back on the numbers. And while hits, followers, friends and connections are measures to be sure, are they the measure of social networking or web 2.0 successes?
In a recent roundtable with colleagues, a communications manager described a recent campaign designed to do nothing more than exponentially increase hits on a consultant’s blog. The campaign sounded like a radio station-style promotional gimmick with one major exception: the overwhelming majority of those lured to the consultant’s blog were not in any way, shape or form targets for the blog’s content. The goal was simply to achieve thousands of “hits.” The campaign was a blatant example of false advertising. Over 99% of those hitting the site, left as quickly as they arrived…never to visit the blog again.
In the spirit of giving the benefit of the doubt, perhaps the objective of the “hits” campaign was to demonstrate the potential of web 2.0 to the powers that be. But, assuming the best, the mere accumulation of numbers is a waste of time, creativity and resources.
If the “numbers” don’t represent relevant targets, the numbers are meaningless. They do not reflect connection, communication or relationship.
Those of us at the table openly scoffed at the folly. Why would anyone invest in such an effort? But a lone voice called us to task, comparing this campaign to the schemes and tools openly designed to increase your number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends…without respect to whether the increase in numbers equates to an increase in relevant connections.
A million followers is an impressive measure. But if they are not relevant targets, its little more than a noisy crowd.
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Hey Eric, I found this post after following you for the past month or so on twitter and I couldn't agree more with what you are saying here. If I received a $5 bill every time someone asked me “How do I get more followers” I would never have to work another day in my life. Often times I get blank stares when I tell them that it’s not in fact about how many followers you have that matters, it’s about how many connections you make. So many people can’t get over the idea that eyeballs = revenue. It is no longer the case and the evidence is all around us. Simply because someone is subscribed to receive your message doesn’t mean they are going pay attention. Consumers are tuning out – Why do people thing DVR is such a hit in todays market? It’s cause people don’t want to watch commercials.
ReplyDeleteMany people follow others on twitter just because they know they will follow back...this in my opinion is a slap in the face of social media. The key word here is “social” - Now don’t get me wrong - I’m not perfect and I clearly haven’t made a connection with everyone that I follow BUT I do only follow those who I think down the road I can connect with them or provide them with some type of value.
To answer your question in the first paragraph “When it comes to your business blog, twitter account or other social media foray, how do you measure success?” – I measure success by how many connections I make online. By connections I mean those who I have a truly engage and communicate with (excuse my use of the engage buzzword). I don’t care how many followers I have – At the end of the day; I’d rather have 50 followers and 25 connections than 100,000 followers and 1 connection.
For some, there is good value in getting hits even if they come from visitors who have no interest in the service or product being offered, or the topics discussed.
ReplyDeleteConsider TV ratings. There's great competition among broadcasters to get the best ratings, because the best ratings translate into dollars. The more viewers you attract, the more you can charge for commercials.
The same applies to certain Web sites.
Now, it would do a law firm more harm than good to have a campaign to promote hits, but maybe this consultant was selling advertising space at his site.
In that case, the campaign to generate hits might result in more revenue for the consultant.