Transforming different social media metrics into meaningful insights.

1. Importance of New Metrics in Social
Media Listening and Monitoring
Introduction:
“When you are not listening you are not learning”
Companies now have spent approximately more than 6 years in the social media landscape; it is indeed
interesting to see how this space has evolved over the period of time. Now we have luxury to express
our likes, dislikes, what we want, when we want and from whom we want. Many individuals all over the
world are having conversations about the brands, products, services, online users discuss about your
product quality or service quality in a blog, mention your name on Twitter, share your press release on
Facebook, leave a comments on a review site, but with all the talking happening around in this virtual
world shouldn’t there be someone listening to it?.
Listening
“When you don't listen you will not be heard”
Millions of online users share opinions and how they perceive about the brand or products. Companies
trying to develop better relationship with customers should start engaging in a conversation and the
basic of good conversation is to listen. Listening to conversations on what is being said on the social
world can provide critical insights to the companies to leverage their marketing activity.
Metrics in Social Media
Is social media all about share of voice, sentiment, media Type? If this was asked five years ago, my
answer would be YES. But we are in the era of Social Media and we have already observed its growth,
direction and challenges in terms of Marketing, Implementation and Execution. As an analyst I have also
understood that Analytics play an important role across all aspects of Social Media Listening. The most
difficult task is to convince and influence our clients (marketers). We see different service providers
coming up with different methodologies and framework to derive meaningful insights with different
parameters. When a client looks at the frameworks independently it may be hard to digest, however it
makes sense if we provide cumulative insights.
Conversation Impact Matrix
In today’s scenario we have realized the importance of brand presence and visibility which will drive
reach and awareness. So, now at a broader level, we can easily emphasize on two areas which would

2. play significant role in increasing brand visibility and presence, a marketer would also like to analyze
competition based on these factors or metrics:
 Unique Sites
 Unique Authors
As a social media professional I have been working with these metrics for quite a long time and have
understood how unique websites and unique authors would impact in increasing awareness and reach
for a brand. However, I was trying to figure out a simple framework which can be easily understandable
and makes sense for marketers/companies to get a quick glance of their overall social media presence
and device a strategy to respond accordingly. I have come-up with the below framework which is a three
dimensional chart that describes competitor’s exposure level comparing unique authors and sites.
I tried to incorporate all the learning from four broad areas, Educate, Engage, Entertain, and Empower.
The size of the bubble represents the Brand Visibility (total no. of articles/news/posts during the period
of consideration). Reach (number of unique sites) and Awareness (number of unique authors) can be
shown either in X or Y axis. When the brand has more number of unique authors participating in the
discussion, Brand Awareness increases. Similarly, when number of unique site increases, the potential
Brand Reach increases.
What should a marketer/company do when they are placed in?
Educate: When conversations emerge from less unique authors and less unique sites, the brand should
educate its audience in the respective sites. This activity would help the brand to increase its presence.

3. Entertain: If the brand has more unique authors and less unique sites, the brand should entertain the
audience by providing rich content. This activity will help the brand to retain its audience.
Engage: If the brand has less unique authors and more unique sites, the brand should engage with the
influential sites. By doing this there is an opportunity to gain new audience.
Empower: When conversations originate from more unique authors and more unique sites, the brand
should try to empower influential authors and sites. This activity would help the brand to increase its
positive awareness and reach through brand advocates.
This framework can be used an indicator and can be enhanced further. Analyst can develop more
valuable frameworks, keeping this as a benchmark while providing Social Media Analysis reports.
By,
S Sathish Kumar
@satisonline