Since starting a social media strategy[231] series, I've been working diligently on understanding what goes into the process. I'm building a framework that, when completed, should prove fairly useful. Along the way, I'll share some of what I'm learning, so that you can learn along with me and, hopefully, influence the end results with your thoughts and ideas. Now let's talk about goals, strategies, and measurements. We start with a specific goal from my company, go into another basic example, and then open the conversation to you.
Strategy is essentially the diet, but the goal might be weight loss, muscle growth, cholesterol reduction, or allergy aversion. It's not one-size-fits all. Before you know which diet to start, you need to know the goal.
If you're not measuring the effort to reach your goals (Katie Paine[232] will be so proud of me), how can you be sure you're getting there? Measuring the effectiveness of your efforts is vital to knowing you're making progress. Remember that diets (i.e., strategies) often need adjusting along the way. It's measurements that tell us this.
Let's put some real information out here and talk about it. I use a few items that I worked up for my own company, New Marketing Labs.[233]
Goal: Increase attendance at our live events.
Strategy: Add
Upcoming.organd Facebook events components; blog; invite local geek groups. Possibly purchase Facebook ads to test that, too, targeting regional. Craigslist?Measurements: Add a "Where did you hear about us?" field to the registration form.
Measurements: Check link referral logs.
That's fairly straightforward. The only thing I'm missing is some kind of estimate on how much I think these efforts might increase attendance. Truth is, I'm not sure. Should I have a number in mind? I will put one down, but I have no idea how close my estimate will be.
Still, the process is there. I've identified a goal: "I want more people to attend our shows." I've laid out a few strategies: "Put info about our show in more places." And I have a few ideas how to measure: "Use online survey and Web links."
In reserve, I have "blogging" and two other strategies. But I want to lead with these and see whether they make a significant impact on their own.
There are many other things a company might want to do, and other approaches. Let's list a few here, and then, if you have others you want to talk about, we can tackle them in the comments section at http://chrisbrogan.com/comments-from-101. Goal: Increase leads for my product/service.
Strategy: Build blog traffic with appropriate links to product/service.
Measurement: Link tracking.
Simple and straightforward, right? I think the strategy should go further. Remember, "If you blog it, they will come" is not exactly true. That's where people fall down fast. Instead, I'd add the following to the strategy area:
Augment blog traffic by adding outposts (i.e., referral back to the blog via RSS) on Facebook, in appropriate forums, in LinkedIn, and in other pertinent online venues.
Augment blog traffic by adding useful tools for your audience that might drive more visits to download (e.g., an e-book).
Augment blog traffic by using social news sites such as Digg, Mixx, and StumbleUpon, where appropriate.
If you look at it, splitting out goal, strategy, and measurement means that you can look a little more closely at why, how, and how effective your social media efforts are. It's quite simple, yet powerful, to put this lens on what you're doing.
I get lots of e-mails asking me how to improve one's blog traffic. My first response, almost always, is "What's the goal with the added traffic?" People blogging casually or for entertainment purposes just want a higher number. But businesses are hoping that more traffic to the blog equals more sales, more engagement, more something-that-translates-into-more-business. In those cases, it's not always more blog traffic that wins the game. Sometimes, it's building more effective blog traffic, building more pertinent connectivity, building a stronger process flow to bring readers into your marketplace.