Industry collaboration #IPASocialWorks for social media measure

The Short Guide to Measuring Not Counting – How to Evaluate Social Media for Marketing Communications is aimed at marketers and agencies to help them assess the impact of social media using traditional marketing measurement, rather than just clicks.

The guide looks at the challenges of validating social media campaigns and highlights the need for social media planning and evaluation to operate in tandem with other traditional channels to accurately gauge its reach.

It calls for the same rigour to be applied in social as for established marketing measurement, using comparable metrics, linking activity to overall objectives and a focus on the long term results.While also using the real-time evaluation process that social media offers to inform accurate targets and predictions.

It consists of seven guidelines:

1. Social is more than marcomms and is challenging organisations.
2. Social is changing the way we measure – its evaluation is more than a dashboard.
3. Avoid a siloed approach to social measurement.
4. It is easy to overestimate the value of earned media and influencers.
5. The commercial value of social will increasingly lie in the richness of its data.
6. Social can learn from traditional planning.
7. Even the short-term results need a long-term context.

The guide was compiled by Ray Poynter, author of The Handbook of Mobile Market Research and founder of The Future Place, Simeon Duckworth global head of business planning, MindShare, and Fran Cassidy, The Cassidy Partnership.

Stephen Maher, chairman #IPASocialWorks, chairman of The Marketing Society and CEO MBA said: “This guide sets out the optimum approach to tap into the rich level of data provided by this growing channel. And as spend for social media continues to grow, this guide can act as a vital tool for businesses concerned with measuring the impact of their activity in this area, and ultimately its effect on revenue.”

Jane Frost, chief executive of MRS said: “By clarifying some of the commonly held misconceptions and highlighting good and bad practice, we demonstrate the value of the research industry sectors skills. This guide emphasises that it’s the smartness of your data and the way you use it not the size of your database that really matters.”

The short guide is available to purchase for £25 for MRS members, and £50 for non-members. A longer specialist ‘expert’ version of the guide aimed at agency planners can also be purchased.  

On March 18, Ray Poynter will be running a workshop based on the guide which is followed by a lunchtime panel with heads of social media from RSA and BT. Find out more here.