First, note that 2010 is the year of geo-location in all social settings. All types of networks, including vertical social sites, will include this variable.
Secondly, we must remain acutely aware of the attempts to limit freedom of use with social networks and exploitative political and administrative environments, interactive blogs and collective creations.
Lastly, metrics are still one of the challenges we face with Social Media strategies. The old techniques of measurement are not sufficient, therefore, it’s necessary to learn and try new ways to measure the impact of strategies and tactics in the social sphere.
What we call the digital economy, online networking time, defines the boundaries of what is valid or not, what is effective and what is not in what we call Social Media, social networking and interactive territories. This is the year, the first major methodologies for measuring the degree and depth of actions in social environments will start to galvanize the industry.
For those who can consolidate complex business models, and generate new social platforms if they are “practical” and successful in the social sphere will dominate. The disadvantage to agencies that have been wrong in different actions in social driven campaigns will be final and potentially fatal. Businesses and governments require that any campaign or action in digital media and especially social ones is accompanied by positive, demonstrable results.
The further development of apps for devices using “augmented reality” will play significantly within the social sphere. In this sense, campaigns no longer are a story, to go with a visually appealing format. Social media and augmented realty is becoming a more action-value brand and sales based tool. Use of Mobil Augmented Realities will especially play well in the tourism and sports sectors.
Community Managers will be in high demand, but may enter into crisis when it becomes apparent that their actions are not strategic and engagement platforms designed without a measurable result or KPI. I will be writing further on the Net eStrategy of Community Managers.
Here are eight points to keep in mind when applying any measurement to Social Media:
1. Thanks to Social Media, Public Relations have become far more valuable by allowing more specific measurements, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Increasingly, traditional media becomes less important.
2. One question that Social Media must answer in their measurement is: what is being done to help boost a brand? That is, you focus not only on the number of impressions or the number of messages delivered.
3. The impressions based metrics loses relevance in Social Media because they converge on many other factors.
4. A general taxonomy of metrics, should be formed by exposure: how far we have created exposure to content and message? Commitment: who, how and where the people that interact, influence: the degree of exposure and commitment have influenced the perceptions and attitudes, and Actions: results.
5. Qualitative measurement, to analyze the type of conversation that is being generated between individuals and brands.
6. Measurements should also include the perception that is generated offline and the results given by the actions elsewhere. Attribution management and conversion management will be part of primary audience research.
7. Do not forget to measure the value that is created when you build a community around a brand, it means that people gain commitment and become ambassadors.
8. In Social Media, not the quantity but the quality that was generated around the brand counts most.