Many clients are trying to figure out how to tackle social media. Should we? Shouldn’t we? How do we organize a team to get it done? And the most burning question: how will we know if this is successful? There are many new tools to measure your “social media” profile. You can use How Sociable and basic Google listings to determine how your organization or issue ranks on the social web. Plus count the Tweets and RTs. The list goes on…
But the truth is none of this matters if social media is not helping you achieve your organizational goals. So instead of jumping to measurement, think about how social media can help you address some of your organization’s challenges. How can social media help you impact your change- the- world mission?
- Can you raise revenues or attract new members to fund your work?
- Can you better reach policy makers via your Twitter feed than calls to their office with updates?
- Will you reduce operational costs because you no longer have to engage in direct marketing since members are in your online community already ?
- Can your online community answer questions about your product or service? I turn to the Quickbooks community for questions with my accounting software and I get helpful answers without calling the 800 number.
- Can you tap into feedback that stakeholders might not be willing to tell you face t0 face or in your evaluation survey?
Also look at opportunity costs–what would be lost if you did not engage in social media? Would someone else grab up your prospective community members? Would you have been able to charge a premium for your brand if you had not built a loyal community of followers? Those are key measures to consider, too.
If you are going to engage in social media, figure out the strategy first, and measurement will come naturally.