Category Archives: digital media

July 2, 2014 · 8:34 am

Missing The Measuring

I guess there is generally good news with respect to marketers and how they’re measuring social media.

English: A business ideally is continually see...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The”generally” qualification, however, means that there’s still some work to be done. As you’ll see from the data below, while many organizations are getting better about measuring the effectiveness of what they’re doing, what they’re using as key performance indicators could use a lot of fine tuning.

According to the results of a survey put out by the folks at Ipsos OTX for the Association of National Advertisers, 80% of US client-side marketers measured the effectiveness of their social content, with social media metrics such as “likes” the most common.  That’s the good news.  The bad? Metrics that could identify business ramifications were not used nearly as much, with financially based measurements such as return on investment and sales landing near the bottom.

What did the study find that these companies are measuring?  “Likes” leads the list.  Putting aside that it’s an easy number to fake (you can buy thousands of likes for not much money) if you had a reason to do so (your bonus is tied to the number perhaps?), it’s a quantitative factoid that has very little to do with results.  It’s very likely that a brand would make more revenue from a couple of thousand highly interactive fans who post one comment each, than from one million fans who rarely interact with the brand.  Something as basic as follower counts or likes might have importance but it’s a relational importance – how many do we have vs. our competition – rather than being important in and of itself.

Some of what the study found is encouraging.  “Advocacy” is being measured by 27% of brands and “conversation volume” by 52%.  Those are engagement numbers.  It’s good to measure how many people see a post.  It’s better to measure how many are talking about it.  It’s way better to understand what they’re saying and the best is when you can measure all of that along with seeing and reporting what actions they took.  Hopefully that action rang a cash register or brought you a new customer.

Does that make sense?

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June 25, 2014 · 8:56 am

Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

Some interesting results came out of a poll by the Gallup folks the other day. They polled American consumers about the influence social media has on their purchasing decisions.   I guess if you hold stock in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other public social media company, you’re not a huge fan of the results:

Gallup says 62% of the more than 18,000 U.S. consumers it polled said social media had no influence on their buying decisions. Another 30% said it had some influence. U.S. companies spent $5.1 billion on social-media advertising in 2013, but Gallup says “consumers are highly adept at tuning out brand-related Facebook and Twitter content.”

That’s from the Wall St, Journal report on the study.  Oops?  Is all the time, money, and effort companies are throwing at social media just a massive barking up the wrong tree?  Not really.  In fact, I find that pretty encouraging since it might just get marketers focused on the real role of social as opposed to gross follower counts.  In fact:

“Gallup research shows that consumers are much more likely to turn to friends, family members, and experts when seeking advice about companies, brands, products, or services. Company-sponsored Facebook pages and Twitter feeds have almost no persuasive power.”

I’m sure that’s what the data said.  It’s throwing the baby out with the bath water, however.  Monitoring what and how consumers are talking about with respect to your brand is invaluable.  Giving them the opportunity to reach you directly can’t be a bad thing, can it?  Sure – if social is just a place to broadcast more brand news, sale information, or videos of your TV ads, you’re probably missing the boat.  Analyzing social-media conversations to see what consumers like and don’t like is smart.  Actually, it’s kind of mandatory.

Once again, a focus on the tools (social media) instead of the business is what barking up the wrong tree really means.  Using the social channel to gather information and take action where appropriate is smart business.  You with me?

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June 16, 2014 · 11:42 am

Canada Gets It Right

I’m not a lawyer and I don’t even try to play one on TV.

English: Supreme Court of Canada building, Ott...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That said, the screed today is one citizen’s view of something that happened with our neighbors to the North and why I think it should serve as an example for us.  As has been happening here, the Canadian government is trying to expand the scope of warrantless, voluntary disclosure of personal information via digital.  There are bills before the legislature which would permit many of the same activities that have been occurring here for years to go on in Canada.   These include the warrantless disclosure of data to law enforcement as well as immunity from any criminal or civil liability  for companies that do so.  The Canadians are also considering allowing organizations to disclose personal information without consent (and without a court order) to any organization that is investigating a contractual breech or possible violation of any law.  Read that carefully – ANY organization – including non-governmental.

The other day things changed:

The Supreme Court of Canada issued its long-awaited R. v. Spencer decision, which examined the legality of voluntary warrantless disclosure of basic subscriber information to law enforcement. In a unanimous decision, the court issued a strong endorsement of Internet privacy, emphasizing the privacy importance of subscriber information, the right to anonymity, and the need for police to obtain a warrant for subscriber information except in exigent circumstances or under a reasonable law.

Revolutionary?  One might think, except we’ve had a similar law on our books for a hundreds of years.  It’s called the Fourth Amendment and it protects each of us from unreasonable searches and seizures.  It also states the government must have warrants which are specific as to what the search is about.  No fishing trips permitted.  I’ll wait while the lawyers tell me I’m missing nuance and maybe I am.  That said, I’m outraged and sickened by what has been occurring with much regularity over the last 13 years and the fact that companies are complicit in allowing fishing trips by government.  It’s just as bad in my book that businesses grab data from users without explicit permission nor do they disclose what data is taken, how it is to be used, and when it is sold to third parties.

Today isn’t meant to do anything except call your attention to the issue.  If you’ve not been paying attention to it you should.  No one can enter your home without permission or a warrant.  Why would you allow them into your digital home without either?

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