The document discusses emerging standards for measuring social media. It proposes that a transparency table be used to outline methodology for reports. Key metrics like reach, impressions, engagement and influence are defined. Standards aim to increase consistency and comparability across the industry through a voluntary and collaborative process. The goals are to establish common definitions and provide transparency about analytical methods.

1. Emerging Standards in Social
Media
Social Media Monitoring & Measurement
London, UK
March 25, 2013
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2. About Us
 Katie Paine is Chief Marketing Officer
of News Group an international
monitoring, measurement & social
media company.
 The company she founded, KDPaine
& Partners now part of Salience
Insight, News Group’s Measurement
& Insight Practice.
 We provide customized research to
help you define and measure your
success.
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3. What is a standard?
 A published specification that:
– establishes a common language;
– contains a technical specification or other precise
criteria;
– is designed to be used consistently, as a rule, a
guideline, or a definition.
Source: British Standards Institute
Retrieved May 28, 2012 from
http://www.standardsbookshop.com/what.htm

4. Cross-Industry Collaboration
AMEC
Council of PR Firms “The
IABC
Institute for PR
Coalition” “The SNCR
PRSA
Conclave”
DAA
Global Alliance
WOMMA
ARF
FIBEP
Clients #SMMStandards
CIPR
Media PRCA
Dell
Ratings
AAAA
General Motors Council
ANA
McDonalds
IAB
Ford
WOMMA
Procter & Gamble
Advert. & Media Cos.
SAS
Southwest Airlines
Thomson Reuters

5. Process for Standards
 Market-driven
 Voluntary / non-exclusionary
 Use International Standards Organization process
 Broad industry input
 Promote fair competition
 Compliant with anti-trust laws
 Posted to www.smmstandards.org
Conclave/ 2-month
Interim Approved
Coalition Comment
Standards Standard
Development Period

6. Top Priorities
1. Content Sourcing & Methods
2. Reach & Impressions
3. Engagement
4. Influence & Relevance
5. Opinion & Advocacy
6. Impact & Value

7. Content Standard
 All social media measurement reports should include
a standard “content sourcing and methodology”
table that helps clients know “what’s inside” the
product for full transparency and easy comparison
(like a food nutrition label).

8. Transparency Table
#SMMStandards – Sources & Methods Transparency Table www.smmstandards.org
Timeframe Analyzed
Research Lead(s)
Channels Analyzed
Data/Content Sources
Analysis Depth ☐ Automated ☐ Manual ☐ Hybrid ☐ All Content Reviewed ☐ Rep. Sample
Source Languages
Search Languages
Sentiment Coding ☐ Automated ☐ Manual ☐ Hybrid ☐ Manual Sampling: _____________________
☐ 3-pt scale ☐ 5-pt scale ☐ Other scale ☐ At entity level ☐ Paragraph/doc level
Spam/Bot Filtering ☐ Automated ☐ Manual ☐ Hybrid ☐ Includes news releases ☐ Excludes releases
Metrics Calculation and Sources
-- Reach
-- Engagement
-- Influence
-- Opinion/Advocacy
Proprietary Methods
Search Parameters See full search string list on page ___ of this report

9. #2: Standards for Reach & Impressions
 All impression numbers are flawed for a variety of
reasons
 Multipliers should never be used.
 A divider is more appropriate because it is less
than 10% of what is posted is actually seen.
 OTS must be specific to a particular channel – i.e.
For Twitter OTS is the number of first line
followers. For Facebook it is the number of fans to
a page.

10. #2: Reach & Impressions
 ITEM= a post, micro-post, article, or other instance
appearing for the first time in a digital media.
 MENTION= refers to a brand, organization,
campaign, or entity that is being measured.
 REACH represents the total number of unique people
who had an opportunity to see an ITEM or a valid
reproduction of that ITEM across any digital media.
 IMPRESSIONS represent the gross number of items
that could have been seen by all people, including
repeats. The term “displayed” applies across
channels, browsers, devices, and other methods by
which an individual might see an item.
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11. #3: Standards for Engagement
 Engagement = some action beyond exposure, and implies an
interaction between two or more parties. Social media engagement
is an action that typically occurs in response to content on an owned
channel – i.e. when someone engages with you.
 Conversation = some form of online or offline discussion by
customers, citizens, stakeholders, influencers or other third parties
about your organization, brand or relevant issues.
 Any measure of Engagement and Conversation must be tied
to the goals and objectives for your organization, brand or
program.
 Engagement and Conversation both occur offline and online, and
both must be considered if you intend to integrate your metrics with
other marketing or communications efforts.

12. Standards for Engagement cont.
 Engagement counts such actions as: likes, comments, shares,
votes, +1s, links, retweets, video views, content embeds, etc.
Engagement types and levels are unique to specific channels
but can be aggregated for cross-channel comparison.
 Engagement should be measured by the percentage of
your audience engaged by day/week/month; and the percentage
of engagement for each item of content your organization
publishes.
 Conversation counts such items as blog posts, comments,
tweets, Facebook posts/comments, video posts, replies, etc.
Conversation types and levels are unique to specific channels
but can be aggregated for cross-channel comparison.
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13. Standards for Engagement cont.
 Conversation should be measured by the total number of “items”
that mention the brand, organization or issue (within and/or
across channels); the number of “mentions” within each item;
and the “opportunities to see” for each item, calculated by the
readership at the time of posting (unique daily/monthly
visitors, first-order fans/followers, view counts, etc.).
 Engagement manifests differently by channel but is typically
measurable at various points based on effort required, inclusion
of opinion and how shared with others.
 Engagement and Conversation could be, but are not
necessarily, outcomes. Organizations may weight Engagement
and Conversation types differently based on their goals, but
Engagement and Conversation metrics should be consistent
across an organization.
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14. #4: Influence & Relevance
• Influence is something that takes place beyond
engagement
• Influence happens when you are persuaded to change
behavior or opinion that would otherwise not have changed.
Influence happens online and off line and both should be
considered
• Any influence score requires transparency
• You can measure what influenced change to happen, but that
is not in the scope of this effort. Survey research measures
what people say they are influence by. Data analysis can
measure the impact of a campaign on a business outcome
• Influence cannot be expressed in a single score or algorithm
• Can be an outlet or an individual
• Influence must be tied to a specific topic, brand or issue

15. #4: Influence & Relevance
• Should include some combination of the following five elements:
• Reach
• Engagement around individual
• Relevance to topic
• Frequency of posts around the topic
• Audience impact as measured by the ability to get the target
audience to change behavior or opinion.
• If an individual scores a 0 on one element, they don’t count

16. #5 Opinion & Advocacy
• Sentiment is over-rated and over-used
• Sentiment reliability varies by vendor and approach – be
transparent
• Recommendations (“try it” or “avoid it”)
• Feeling/Emotions (“That product makes me feel happy”)
• Intended action (“I’m going to buy that product
tomorrow”)
• Coding definitions, consistency and transparency are
critical

17. #6: Impact & Value
• Impact and value will always be dependent on client
objectives
• Outcomes must be defined in advance
• “ROI” should be strictly limited to measurable financial impact
• Use cost/benefit, cost effectiveness/efficiency metrics instead
• Value can be calculated in positive returns (sales, reputation,
etc.) or avoided negative returns (risk mitigated, costs
avoided)
• Key performance indicators and balanced scorecards are
helpful to connect social media impact to business
results/language

18. Questions?
 For more information on measurement, read my blog:
http://kdpaine.blogs.com or subscribe to The
Measurement Standard:
www.themeasurementstandard.com
 For a copy of this presentation go to:
http://www.kdpaine.com
 Follow me on Twitter: KDPaine
 Friend me on Facebook: Katie Paine
 Or call me at 1-603-682-0735
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