#connectedmarketing

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My biography tells a bit of this story: formerly owner of a market insights business (Market Sentinel), now owner of a business that drives measurable outcomes from social engagement (Leadfindr).

Mark Rogers, Founder, Leadfindr (@tlonuqbar)

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The industry is trying to land on industry standards for social media measurement through initiatives such as The Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles, the Valid Metrics Framework for Public Relations Measurement , the Coalition for Public Relations Research Standards and The #SMM Standards Conclave, among others. However, these efforts, while bringing more rigor to social media measurement, will most likely be driven instead (in the near term) by the tools developed to do the measurement. Tracking and monitoring tools have become plentiful, with one analyst tracking 449 measurement tools.

Kami Watson Huyse, CEO, Zoetica (@kamichat)

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WOM measurement is not widespread — niche firms offer WOM tracking and sophisticated players invest in it. ROI measurement approaches vary and are often confused with reports on reach.

Idil Cakim, VP, Media Analytics Consulting, Nielsen (@idilcakim)

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Social Marketing” is becoming more holistic, as marketers are learning that “social influence” underpins all decision making. Social strategy is therefore moving beyond the ‘social media” team, and being integrated in to all corporate functions, including advertising, PR, CRM, and more. This is increasing the importance of measurement and analytical tools that include offline as well as online word of mouth.

Brad Fay, COO, Keller Fay Group, and co-author The Face to Face Book (@kellerfay)

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WOM is happening online as well as off-line, what social provides is, the opportunity to identify where these conversations are taking place and who is involved in those conversations. This means that WOM tracking through social conversations can extend beyond simple tracking measures to include, how and where customers review, discuss, mention, recommend, ask for and provide information about products, services and companies and the impact these conversations are having on business measures. Tracking WOM across social channels can also provide early indicators of the type of reception a product launch, campaign message, business announcement or company issue is having on engaged social customers. Having the internal processes in place to react swiftly to both positive and negative word of mouth in equal measure, either through amplifying the benefit or responding and resolving an issue will provide building blocks to build stronger relationships with social customers.

 Julie Walker, innovation and social business consultant (@juliewUK)

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Word of mouth listening and measurement are critical functions for any brand that wants to listen to its market. Increasingly it’s not only communication and PR departments that are tracking conversations but customer service, sales, and product development, to gain customer insights. This is the shift to social business.

Stephen Waddington, European digitaland social media director, Ketchum, CIPR President-Elect, and author of Brand Anarchy and Brand Vandals (@wadds)

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WOM measurement will only gradually get credibility as the adoption of tracking allows brands to distinguish between paid and earned in social as they already do in search. The challenge the marketplace faces is that for too long we have been selling a false prospectus. As the web used to be measured in impressions (CPM) and is now more measured in actions (CPA) so social is no longer measured in likes, or buzz volume, but in outcomes, actions: sign-ups, leads generated, customers acquired. It sound prosaic, but this is how budgets get allocated.

Mark Rogers, Founder, Leadfindr (@tlonuqbar)

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Word of mouth is a key metric within public relations already. Social media is actually very helpful to PR practitioners. Through a simple search of a hashtag on Twitter or keyword on Facebook’s Graphic Search a lot of nuggets can be found. It is trackable and give brands key insights. There are platforms out there currently which can help brands track and convert into valuable information.

Ann Marie van den Hurk, Principal, Mind The Gap Public Relations, and author ofSocial Media Crisis Communications: Preparing for, Preventing, and Surviving a Public Relations #FAIL (@amvandenhurk)