Why social networking numbers are a crock. User numbers reported by Facebook, Twitter, Google, and many other sites are closely watched. They reveal trends in adoption and they are one of the few public metrics available to analysts trying to assign value to companies preparing an initial public offering. But how accurate are these numbers? In some anecdotal cases, the number of users, active and actual, could be as small as one-third. And nearly one-half of user accounts could be fake or contain no user profiles. No user profiles means very little usable data for marketing or advertising campaigns. This is a huge hole in social media platforms. It means corporate marketers and advertisers will not be able to reach and engage with the numbers they expect, resulting in increased costs and a discouraging ROI.
If corporations aren’t able to use social media to reach large numbers of consumers, the value of platforms such as Facebook will be severely diminished. How large is this problem of fake and empty user profiles? Considerations for Social Intelligence Auditing. Understanding the social landscape of a brand and its competitors is an important first step in social business planning. Auditing a brand’s social and digital presence is a relevant step in strategic planning for both new business and longstanding accounts. In addition, digital audits become a physical asset and learning tool for clients, agency partners and agency teams. Audits should be conducted by someone who understands the digital landscape, transmedia storytelling, and data-driven insights. The social intelligence analyst role is a new junior to mid-level role in agencies and digital consultancies that engages closely with senior-level strategy teams.
And, as is the case with any piece of research, social media audits are not done overnight, they are most definitely not “cheap,” and they should always be done by trained analysts. This week’s Friday Five explores some of the components of an audit, as well as insights on how to present and use an audit once it’s completed. Aleks Krotoski: Your Klout score is meaningless. This article was taken from the March 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
The web is a risky space to transact. Anyone who's ever written a business pitch for a reputation-driven service has had to face the fact that our global, online consensual hallucination relies on the archive of our virtual activity. The theory is that someone's digital trail will indicate whether or not they will do what they say they will. And so, as we've migrated online, we've metamorphosed into avatars with reputations based on what we've done -- or are purported to have done -- in social networks, on forums, on blogs, in videos and anywhere we are online.
Actions speak louder than words. Yet, according to the research, our past actions can't predict future intentions. Things have become murky in the narcissistic "Look at me! " If You Don’t Know What You Want, It Doesn’t Matter How Many People 'Like' You. Deciding how to measure your social media efforts can be a frustrating undertaking. Number of likes? Number of followers? Level of engagement? Which measures are right for you? Believe it or not, these measures are virtually meaningless.
In fact, all measures are meaningless—unless they are tied to your goals. Think about it—an organization working to raise awareness about an issue and an organization working to pass legislation are likely to have very different goals, even though they are likely to use many of the same tools (ex: Facebook and Twitter). Figure out what you want Your first step is to figure out what you really want to do, how and why. Step 1: Goal & Objective Your first step is to carefully define a high level goal (ex: Pass legislation) and a measurable objective (ex: Get 6 key legislators to vote for the legislation).Step 2: Strategy Next, you need to decide at a high level how you want to go about doing this.
Decide how to measure it It’s true—this process takes time. Been told you can’t evaluate social media? Here are 20 (free) ways you can. Like almost every other agency out there in this space, at Rabbit, we use a professional monitoring and sentiment analysis system. Rather than the market leader Radian6, we tested a few and went for ScoutLabs…though I am thinking of giving Sysomos a go… Having said that, the thing about the paid for tools is…they get the job done, but from what we’ve found they are never 100% perfect. Plus sometimes you just want a quick overview rather than an in-depth look via a dashboard. So we tend to use them in combination with other services, which to a large part happen to be free. There are dozens of these free web-based tools around – here’s the 20 we’ve found work for us Rabbit.
They all measure slightly different things (though they over-lap), they are generally good for taking snap-shots (as opposed to detailed analysis), and with the ton of Twitter applications and plug-ins out there, there is a bias towards measuring Twitter. 6 – Mention Map: A personal favourite. How to make the most of LinkedIn’s new group analytics. LinkedIn has recently launched a new statistics product for Groups that is available for free to all LinkedIn members, whether you have a premium account or not. However, with LinkedIn group statistics, the information is available to everyone, not just group admins. In this way, you can more accurately judge whether a particular group is right for you to join, or which groups you should focus your attention on more. As with any analytics offering though, the information is only as useful as what you decide to do with it. For many, a LinkedIn Group may be used for networking, to promote events, as an extension of a business or simply a place to extend your particular interest area and generate discussion.
However, if you're using LinkedIn groups, I think you'll find the overview interesting, to show how you can make the most of the information LinkedIn is providing you with. Access statistics Look for Industry breakdown This can enable you to tailor your activities.