Report commissioned by the Ark Group Published September, 2012

1. Measuring the Impact and ROI of
Social Media
LEE HOPKINS AND ANNE BARTLETT-BRAGG
PUBLISHED BY

2. Contents
Executive summary ............................................................................................................. V
About the authors .............................................................................................................VII
Chapter 1: Assessing the power and impact of social media .............................................. 1
By Lee Hopkins
Why has social media become so powerful? ........................................................................... 1
The Cluetrain Manifesto ........................................................................................................ 4
Why measure social media? .................................................................................................. 5
The RRISC model .................................................................................................................. 7
The negative social world ...................................................................................................... 8
Summary .............................................................................................................................. 8
Case studies: Social media in action .................................................................................... 10
Chapter 2: Linking social media to business objectives ..................................................... 13
By Lee Hopkins
Sales.................................................................................................................................. 14
Customer service ................................................................................................................ 15
Human resources ................................................................................................................ 17
Public relations ................................................................................................................... 18
Business intelligence............................................................................................................ 19
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 22
Chapter 3: Setting a social media strategy to achieve business objectives ......................... 23
By Lee Hopkins
Before you start formulating a strategy .................................................................................. 23
Five Ws and an H – A workbook.......................................................................................... 23
The Five Pillars approach..................................................................................................... 30
A social media strategy formula ........................................................................................... 33
Creating a social media strategy document .......................................................................... 39
Why even have a strategy? .................................................................................................. 39
The benefits of a customised social media strategy ................................................................ 40
Case studies: Social media use that supports business objectives ............................................ 41
Chapter 4: Identifying the appropriate metrics to use ....................................................... 47
By Lee Hopkins
III

3. Contents
Measurement programme checklist ..................................................................................... 47
What you can measure ....................................................................................................... 49
Google Analytics ................................................................................................................ 51
Sentiment analysis ............................................................................................................... 53
The marketing–sales relationship: FRY .................................................................................. 54
Summary ............................................................................................................................ 57
Chapter 5: Aligning dashboards with social media objectives ........................................... 59
By Anne Bartlett-Bragg
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 59
What is a dashboard? ......................................................................................................... 60
Anatomy of a social media dashboard ................................................................................. 60
Monitoring ......................................................................................................................... 61
Case study: Using social media dashboards at an international airline.................................... 62
Engagement ....................................................................................................................... 63
Examples of social media dashboards .................................................................................. 64
Analytics............................................................................................................................. 66
What to measure? .............................................................................................................. 67
Workflow integration ........................................................................................................... 68
Chapter 6: Reporting outputs from dashboards – From clicks to insight ............................. 71
By Anne Bartlett-Bragg
Sentiment ........................................................................................................................... 72
Influence ............................................................................................................................ 72
Future directions – What’s next?........................................................................................... 74
An interview with a social media practitioner ......................................................................... 75
Chapter 7: Managing change when introducing social media ........................................... 79
By Lee Hopkins
Planned and unplanned change .......................................................................................... 79
Forces of change ................................................................................................................ 79
Cultural change .................................................................................................................. 79
Technological change ......................................................................................................... 80
Change leadership ............................................................................................................. 80
Phases of planned change .................................................................................................. 82
Planned change strategies ................................................................................................... 84
Organisational innovation ................................................................................................... 86
Social media and change .................................................................................................... 86
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 87
A cautionary word on case studies ....................................................................................... 88
Afterword ......................................................................................................................... 91
Index ............................................................................................................................... 93
IV

4. Executive summary
THE DAYS of Will social media work for us? Chapter 1 explores the essential
How do we use it? and Who will do this for background to social media and explains
us? have gone. Today, any organisation that why measuring and analysing social media
is client-centric, innovative and competitive metrics is so important to the success of any
considers social media as a part of core social media programme.
business strategy. Social media has become Chapter 2 helps the wise reader choose
a business necessity. It is being used to which business objectives of the organisation
communicate, to generate business, to social media can help meet. Without
recruit, and to network; it’s now ingrained in understanding the importance of tying
organisations as a fundamental part of all social media progress to real-world business
strategic initiatives. objectives (financial and non-financial) any
But how can you tell if it is really social media programme is destined to
working? You might have some people failure. The chapter examines in particular
liking you on Facebook, or have a million how social media can support objectives in
people following you on Twitter, but are sales, customer service, human resources,
you tracking how effective each update public relations and business intelligence.
is, or how far your tweets are reaching? Chapter 3 looks at how to set
What about mobile apps – they are easy social media strategy now that business
to create but how does an organisation objectives have been identified. Two helpful
match the consumer use of apps to business approaches are outlined, in a workbook
objectives? And just who is responsible for format, that will enable any organisation to
managing the return on investment (ROI) of identify the best path to follow, to ensure
social media? objectives are met and outcomes achieved.
With a strategic focus, this report The chapter also includes a wide-ranging
provides organisations at all stages of series of case studies that illustrate how
social media use with the tools needed organisations have deployed social media to
to measure success in business terms, support business goals.
from the effective use of manpower/time, Chapter 4 looks at which metrics
and benchmarking individual campaigns, should be tracked in order to determine the
through to performance metrics for each progress of the social media programme.
unique social media platform. The report An extensive list of possible measurements
will show that social media ROI is more is supplied, by platform, but the emphasis
than just saying, “We grew 1,000 fans this is placed on each individual organisation
month”; it’s saying why it is important that assessing which metrics will be most
we grew 1,000 fans, and what the business appropriate to measure success against the
outcome is of such growth. stated business aims. Google Analytics and
V

5. sentiment analysis are discussed, and the Packed with practical tips and real-world
FRY (frequency, reach, yield) approach to insights, this report is essential reading for
business metrics analysis is explored. any organisation which wants to ensure
Chapter 5 addresses how to understand that time and money spent on social media
the capabilities of social media dashboards activities are reaping real business benefit.
and align these to the identified social
media objectives, which will be critical in the
selection of appropriate software platforms.
A case study is included to illustrate how
dashboards have been implemented
within an organisation and how valuable
information is being gained that can be
communicated to the business.
In Chapter 6, a review of using
dashboards to report social media
analysis is approached from a business or
social intelligence perspective, progressing
the use of analytics dashboards for
measurement into reports that inform
insight. That is, using the results to
provide brand insight which can inform
future product or service directions and
how best to leverage social media activities
to enable those directions. In addition, the
role of a social media analyst is discussed
and an interview with a current practitioner
offers a view of the importance and
future direction for this type of role in the
organisational structure.
Chapter 7 considers the all-important
issue of change management. Introducing
a social media programme into an
organisation will create change, and as
we all know, change scares people, from
the CEO down. Therefore, managing
how the organisation and the executive
approach social media, and managing
their expectations of what a social media
programme can deliver, is essential to the
programme’s success.
An afterword wraps up the report
and offers suggestions as to where
readers can go for further advice,
guidance and knowledge.
VI

6. About the authors
Lead author – Lee Hopkins
Lee is the CEO of Better Communication Results, a consultancy that has assisted companies
worldwide to communicate better for better results. He has consulted to a range of organisations,
from the medium sized up to the multi-national. He is the author of two previous Ark Group reports
on social media, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Communication from the University of
South Australia.
Contributing author – Anne Bartlett-Bragg
Anne is managing director at Headshift Asia Pacific. She specialises in the creation of innovative
communication networks with social media. She uses her research and studies into the
communication aspects of social media, including deep analysis and social intelligence, to provide
an informed backdrop to understanding how people are using new tools and changing traditional
models of communication. She constantly challenges organisations to reframe their models of
communication, service design, and workforce engagement.
Anne is currently in the final stages of completing her PhD which has explored adult learners’
experiences of developing learning networks through self-publishing technologies such as weblogs.
VII

7. ””
Measuring the Impact and ROI of Social Media  I would like to purchase the report for AUD
Authors: Lee Hopkins and Anne Bartlett-Bragg $302.50 inclusive of gst, plus $15 postage and handling
Pre-Publication offer: Just $302.50 inc gst (RRP
$434.50) until 5pm Friday 14th Sept
This special ends Friday 14 Sept 2012
(no extensions sorry)
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