Measuring Online Activity: Today By Joanne Puckett, Vice President and Research Director, Ketchum Global Research Network View bio

Every marketer and professional communicator around the globe has an eye on social media marketing. And for good reason: People spend a lot of time communicating through social networks online.

According to Nielsen, a leading marketing and media information company, the amount of time spent on "member community" sites (or social networking sites) rose by 63 percent from December 2007 to December 2008 — to 45 billion minutes globally.

Yet, while marketers know they can reach many consumers through social media marketing, many aren't sure where to begin when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of their programs. Unlike traditional marketing programs, social media conversations can be as dynamic and as varied as the millions of people engaged in them. As a result, tools to measure social media marketing are becoming more sophisticated every day. But in some very basic ways, measuring social media results is not so different from measuring results in print, broadcast and even online news outlets.

For starters, it is most effective to carefully consider measurement before launching a program — or before trying to evaluate unsolicited online activity, as the case may be. Step back and identify your goals and objectives. Once those are established, you can determine what metrics will be most meaningful. For instance, do you want to measure volume of activity, tone of conversations, increased engagement, recommendations, or sales?

You can even use some of these metrics to compare coverage in social or other digital media with that in traditional media. For instance, after an unexpected announcement, one Ketchum client recently found that the tone of coverage in digital media was more neutral than in traditional media — which tended to be more negative. That kind of finding could make it easier to sell reluctant executives on social media programs.

Once you know what you want to measure, you can decide how to collect your metrics. There are many tools available, including some that are free online. But to get a full picture of various metrics, you will need to use multiple tools or rely on a vendor that will aggregate all of the content.

These basic steps can help you effectively link your public relations efforts with social media results. But it's important to realize that the measurement environment for social and other digital media is by no means perfect and that the landscape is constantly changing. Here are a few more key things to understand about measuring digital media:

1. Not all social media are equal — some have greater reach and influence.
2. You do not have to read or measure everything. You can take a sample of content. Start by deciding on an approach and staying consistent. For example, you can actively measure what key influencers are saying while only monitoring others who are commenting on a topic. Consider the resources you have available for measurement and alter the frequency, breadth and depth of your measurement plan accordingly.
3. Traditional media and social media may affect one another. If you can, track in a manner that allows for side-by-side comparison (and statistical analysis).
4. It may take a while to see the impact of digital communications for a number of reasons. "Impressions" for digital media typically are lower, and their impact tends to be greater when integrated with other forms of marketing.
5. New forms of social media enter the marketplace every day. Continually review your measurement approach and tweak as needed.

1. Global Faces and Network Places, March 2009, The Nielsen Company. Countries in global study include Brazil, Spain, Italy, Japan, the U.K., the U.S., France, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.