The document discusses 5 challenges of measuring social media: 1) Measuring what matters to the business, not just outputs, 2) Understanding the accuracy limitations of social media tools, 3) Tracking real trends, not just organic growth, 4) Going beyond buzz to understand motivations and intentions, and 5) Blending social media data with other data sources. It emphasizes that while tools are useful, human insight is still needed to derive meaningful conclusions from social media measurement.

1. FIVE MEDIA
MEASUREMENT
CHALLENGES
How smart communicators can leverage
media data to drive
competitive advantage

2. INTRODUCTION
+ 2
Five Social Media Insight Challenges
"The only man who behaved
sensibly was my tailor; he took
my measurement anew every
time he saw me, while all the
rest went on with their old
measurements and expected
them to fit me."
George Bernard Shaw

3. THE CHALLENGE
SOME QUESTIONS ON
OUR CLIENTS‟ MIND
• When it comes to brand and reputation,
how can I „measure what matters‟?
• With so much being said in the
media, how do I know what
KNOWING IS
stakeholders really feel about my brand
and products?
• How effective am I in communicating
BUILDING
my messages?
• Who are the most influential voices in A BETTER
my communities of interest and what
are their interests and motivations?
• Which of those should I seek to
BUSINESS
influence and how could I go about it?
• How does my performance compare
to competitors?
• How can I as an organisation or
individual participate meaningfully
in social media?
• What does a best in class approach
look like?

4. Our five challenges for discussion today:
1. Measure what matters
2. Understanding accuracy
3. Tracking trends
4. Insight beyond buzz
5. Blending other data
But what is missing?

5. Understand your social media goals and
objectives
pecific
easurable
ttainable
ealistic/relevant
imely
5

6. INSIGHT CHALLENGE #1
+ 6
Measure what matters
 YOU CAN TRACK A WEALTH OF METRICS WITH
MONITORING TOOLS… BUT WHICH ONES ARE
IMPORTANT TO YOUR BUSINESS?
 #1 Easy-to-capture metrics are all about outputs –
activity volume, followers, sentiment – but KPIs tend
to be sales, leads, conversions, recommendations,
engagement… reflecting business KPIs in social media
data is a complex but critical task
 #2 Monitoring tools don‟t track all social media…
you need tools to track forums, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
and podcasts that social media SaaS can‟t give you – start by
mapping what matters, and choose tools that can deliver it
 #3 “Influence” – don‟t believe the hype… the idea
that a small number of social media influencers are the key to
social media success is seductive, but unsubstantiated –
articulate and measure what „success‟ means to your
company
 THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET IN SOCIAL MEDIA
MEASUREMENT. TOOLS HELP COLLECT DATA, BUT
INSIGHT COMES FROM HUMANS.

7. INSIGHT CHALLENGE #2
+ 7
Understanding accuracy
“Text analytics is like a dancing bear. You don’t
care how good it is, you’re just amazed it works at
all” (att: @kurtis_williams)
SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS PROVIDE LOTS OF
TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS – BUT ARE THEY EFFECTIVE?
#1 Sentiment analysis – out of lab conditions it‟s little
better than a tossed coin… it is known to struggle with
sarcasm, but also fails in other ways – it has its uses, but don‟t rely
on it for serious opinion research
#2 Social media software is rarely if ever an effective
discovery tool… coverage is rarely comprehensive and
searched sources often bias toward interests of previous clients –
you will always need a separate process to discover sources
#3 Country filters work in unexpected ways, and
deliver unrealistic results… site metadata, IP addresses and
physical server locations drive country filters, don‟t rely on them
UNDERSTAND HOW „LABOUR SAVING‟ TECHNOLOGIES
WORK, AND VALIDATE THEIR RESULTS

8. INSIGHT CHALLENGE #3
+ 8
Tracking trends
THE SOCIAL MEDIA UNIVERSE IS IN CONSTANT FLUX –
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND “REAL” TRENDS: EARNED, NOT
ORGANIC GROWTH
#1 The universe is growing, but by how much?…
tracking mindshare in social media is a classic challenge – data
from search firms and aggregators provides the answers
#2 People are increasingly comfortable expressing
themselves in social media… so an increase in discussion
about your brand could be an organic trend that you need to
model in to your findings
#3 New ideas; new sources; new technologies; new
metrics… sources like Friendster reside in the „where are they
now?‟ file, as new ones like Quora rise to prominence. The market
is constantly changing, providing new insight opportunities – look
outward as well as inward, and be agile and responsive
TO MEASURE SOCIAL, YOU NEED TO KNOW SOCIAL.
ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO DOMAIN
EXPERTISE AND ENTHUSIASM TO HELP SCOPE AND
DEVELOP INSIGHT PROGRAMMES.

9. INSIGHT CHALLENGE #4
+ 9
Insight beyond buzz
COMPARED TO PRESS AND BROADCAST CHANNELS,
SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE WILD WEST – COMMENTATOR
MOTIVATIONS AND INTENTIONS ARE UNCERTAIN,
BUZZ ALONE TELLS YOU VERY LITTLE THAT IS
USEFUL
#1 Complement quantitative “buzz monitoring” with
qualitative research… qualitative research disciplines provide
critical context for buzz monitoring and measurement
#2 Track what people do, as well as what they say…
verbatim comment is an important source of insight, but not the only one
– pay attention to non-verbal endorsements (likes and links); search
trends and frequency of engagement
#3 Break down research silos… social media monitoring and
analytics complements other research lines, including web analytics,
opinion research and media content analysis – they are all parts of one
bigger picture
BUZZ MONITORING IS NOT THE FINISHED PRODUCT,
BUT WITH CARE AND ATTENTION IT IS A VALUABLE
SOURCE OF INSIGHT.

10. INSIGHT CHALLENGE #5
+ 10
Blending other data
IN SOCIAL MEDIA, BRAND ENGAGEMENT AND INSIGHT
ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.
#1 Exploit insight opportunities that comms activity
creates… engagement channels like Facebook include
comprehensive and valuable analytics dashboards – be sure you
can access and use them
#2 Maintain ethical standards… the etiquette of online
monitoring and engagement is not set in stone, but organisations
have suffered reputational damage from borderline activity.
Monitor, communicate and live your standards
#3 Consider your own engagement… the social media
insight opportunity isn‟t only about unprompted buzz. Curated
engagements like MROCs are an interesting insight prospect
LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE VALUE FROM
SOCIAL MEDIA RESEARCH FOR OTHER PARTS OF THE
ENTERPRISE, BUT ALWAYS KEEP REPUTATION RISK IN
MIND.

11. OUR PROCESS
WE OFFER “TECHNOLOGY
ASSISTED HUMAN
ANALYTICS”
We combine the best features of automated
text analysis with the benefits of human input
to enable complex analysis of a high volume
of media items time and cost effectively