Comments on: Social Media: Speak our Language, Please | Small Business Trends http://www.bizzyweb.com/2009/01/14/social-media-speak-our-language-please-small-business-trends/ Web Design and Communications Consulting for Small Businesses Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:57:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: admin http://www.bizzyweb.com/2009/01/14/social-media-speak-our-language-please-small-business-trends/comment-page-1/#comment-22 admin Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:48:34 +0000 http://www.bizzyweb.com/2009/01/14/social-media-speak-our-language-please-small-business-trends/#comment-22 Thanks Anita! Spelling out exactly what the metrics need to be and then breaking them into component parts is a fantastic suggestion. Hard numbers are exactly what our clients are looking for -- and although traffic/conversions still isn't perfect, it's probably as close as you can get without a much more in-depth conversation around the relative value of conversations in the social space. To pick easy examples, looking at the way Zappos or Guy Kawasaki use twitter it's clear that their strategies go far beyond page views or even conversions and bridge into brand management. And besides, you have to take baby steps before you can run a social media marathon :-) Thanks Anita! Spelling out exactly what the metrics need to be and then breaking them into component parts is a fantastic suggestion. Hard numbers are exactly what our clients are looking for — and although traffic/conversions still isn’t perfect, it’s probably as close as you can get without a much more in-depth conversation around the relative value of conversations in the social space. To pick easy examples, looking at the way Zappos or Guy Kawasaki use twitter it’s clear that their strategies go far beyond page views or even conversions and bridge into brand management. And besides, you have to take baby steps before you can run a social media marathon :-)

]]> By: Anita Campbell http://www.bizzyweb.com/2009/01/14/social-media-speak-our-language-please-small-business-trends/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Anita Campbell Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:32:13 +0000 http://www.bizzyweb.com/2009/01/14/social-media-speak-our-language-please-small-business-trends/#comment-21 Thanks for highlighting Zane's post. You make some great points, especially about conversing before "marketing" if you are a newbie to Twitter. I agree with you that you can't distill things down as simply as "X number of tweets translates into Y number of sales." Anyone who claims to do that is blowing smoke. On the other hand, I think it's possible to point out how Twitter can be used to drive traffic to a website or special offer. And that with more traffic, you can expect more conversions, etc. Perhaps a key is to look at it this way: with an integrated social media and online strategy, set a goal to increase traffic to a site by xx% during a specified time period such as one month or 3 months, etc. Then measure during that same time period, whether conversions increased. If that increase resulted in xx% more conversions, then you have something to talk about that CEOs will understand. At that point it's hard numbers. And that's just one example. There are other metrics that can similarly be applied, if related to the kinds of metrics we already know. Thanks for highlighting Zane’s post. You make some great points, especially about conversing before “marketing” if you are a newbie to Twitter.

I agree with you that you can’t distill things down as simply as “X number of tweets translates into Y number of sales.” Anyone who claims to do that is blowing smoke.

On the other hand, I think it’s possible to point out how Twitter can be used to drive traffic to a website or special offer. And that with more traffic, you can expect more conversions, etc.

Perhaps a key is to look at it this way: with an integrated social media and online strategy, set a goal to increase traffic to a site by xx% during a specified time period such as one month or 3 months, etc. Then measure during that same time period, whether conversions increased. If that increase resulted in xx% more conversions, then you have something to talk about that CEOs will understand. At that point it’s hard numbers.

And that’s just one example. There are other metrics that can similarly be applied, if related to the kinds of metrics we already know.

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