An approach to Social Media Monitoring and measurement based on the spectrum of online relationships.

1. Social Media Monitoring
and the spectrum of
online relationships.
UNAWARE
ENCOUNTER
SPECTATE
APPRECIATE
COLLECT
ACTIVE FOLLOW
ACTIVE INTEREST
SHARE ASSETS
IC DIALOGUE
PUBL
TE DIALOGU
PRIVA E
ADVOCACY
VESTMEN
IN
T
EXPOSURE ENGAGEMENT COLLABORATION ENGAGEMENT EXPOSURE
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Inspired by Mike Arauz’s Spectrum of Online Friendship
and comments by Simone Lovati
http://davidjcarr.wordpress.com

2. Social Media Metrics
Relationship Category Relationship Stage Underlying Attitude
and Measurement Tools
No links currently exist, I don’t Total potential social media
INACTIVE UNAWARE know of your existence audience for your brand/segment
Number of Natural Search Result
I have found you for the first time, Listings | Google Blog Search results
seen your signature or a link to your | Technorati Rankings | Alexa
ENCOUNTER content or profile, encountered the Rankings | Link backs | Reach and
reach of your ideas Exposure of first generation
seeded/paid placements
EXPOSURE I experience content or CTR generated by first generation
comments created by you or notice seeded/paid placements | Unique
SPECTATE the significance of the trails profile and page impressions |
you leave online Blog visitors | Video views
Diggs | Votes | Recommends | Likes |
I value the content you create and User Ratings | Qualitative research
APPRECIATE the ideas you share, I respect your interviews | Dynamic Logic surveys |
contributions to debates/culture Brand tracking scores | Repeat
profile and page impressions
Number of times your content is
favourited | Type of tags created by
I bookmark your content locally and people | number of saves to Social
COLLECT online, subscribe to your RSS feeds, Bookmarking sites | RSS subscribers
download assets you share | Podcast, Vodcast, PDF or jpeg
views/downloads | Number of Google
Reader views
I post Twitter replies, comment on
Fans, Friend & Follower numbers |
ACTIVE FOLLOW the same external posts you have
Google Friend Connect Subscribers
through accidental discovery
Positive/Sentiment tracking |
Content Tone | Content Emotions,
I am interested in your ideas,
Share of voice | Daily Volume of
actively research the links you
mentions | Forum posts |
ACTIVE INTEREST share, comment on your website,
Discussions | Wall Posts, URL
ENGAGEMENT mention you in the course of my
shortening reports | @replies to
social or online activity
Tweets | Comments on status
updates | Comments on posts
STAF | Blog Reposts | ReTweets
(Number of Tweets and their Reach
in ‘000s) | Links shared in Social
I share your content by republishing feeds (Facebook, Friendfeed) |
on my own websites and profiles, Widget embeds | Badges used on
SHARE ASSETS
use your content and ideas to add profiles | Tumblr reposts | Alexa or
value to my network Technorati ratings of external sites
featuring your generated assets |
CTR generated by shared/passed
on placements
Number and sentiment of
We exchange public messages via spontaneous public Direct Messages
PUBLIC DIALOGUE (DMs) | Video Responses created |
profiles, websites, feeds
Blog Post responses created
Panel research | Focus Groups |
PRIVATE DIALOGUE We exchange private email,
Surveys | Interviews | Customer
IMs, DMs
Service Activity
I encourage following & getting Perception shifts | Conversion Uplift |
COLLABORATION ADVOCACY involved with you, I encourage Leads Generated | Network Growth |
people to buy your products Sales uplift | Increase in HVCs |
Net Promoter Score
INVESTMENT We share wins Partnerships created

3. An approach to Social Media Monitoring and measurement
based on the spectrum of online relationships
Increasingly the value of an idea is not in its initial direct exposure, blog mention or spot/insertion in a
publication, but in the value or social currency it provides to the audience. This social oxygen value enables
the idea to spread socially.
Social Media campaigns are uniquely measurable but not all measures are equal and indicate true
effectiveness. Different social media actions or online conversations have different values and influences
upon consumer behaviour.
Multiple metrics, from number of followers and fans, to positive or negative sentiment, to reposts and
influencer mentions, can be difficult to distinguish from one another. In effect we can become trapped in a
state of analysis paralysis where there is too much social media data and too little understanding.
An agreed industry standard is needed but, until a consensus arises, we have developed a structure to
categorise the value of different monitoring tools/metrics and start building an measurement and
tracking model.
Categorising social media activity this way means it is possible to take a holistic approach and use
aggregates of the different monitoring techniques – and metrics that will vary according to the nature of
every campaign and its platform type – to compare the performance between each category and hence
work out the relative success of the social media activity. The ultimate goal of this approach is to be able to
compare the effectiveness of different social media campaigns when comparing like with like is
often difficult.
Using this structure means that the results of the Exposure, Engagement and Collaboration categories can
be compared to identify performance and trends.
I’ve arrange an example of this way of thinking as an equation (which is sure to attract the wrath of Anna
O’Brien who rightly points out the falseness of the different social media “ROI metrics” and silly equations
out there) but it is not meant to be a magic bullet or mathematically sound – it is a visual way of structuring
thinking about the principles at play.
For example, one measure of a social media campaign’s momentum – Social Media Traction – would be to
compare the ratio of Engagement performance to Exposure performance where a +1 would indicate success
and social media momentum as people moved from being merely exposed to a campaign to becoming
more engaged.
Any measure/inputs of Exposure or Engagement (or even Collaboration) would differ for each campaign and
organisation – as I said earlier the idea is to simplify the different effectiveness measures and monitoring
techniques so comparisons can be made and trends identified.
SOCIAL MEDIA
ENGAGEMENT
= SOCIAL MEDIA
TRACTION
SOCIAL MEDIA
EXPOSURE
∑ ( ( ) ) )
NUMBER OF FANS,
X 4* + X
NUMBER OF SHARED SUBSCRIBERS, BALANCE OF
BOOKMARKS, LINKS FRIENDS AND SENTIMENT
& ASSETS FOLLOWERS
= SOCIAL MEDIA
TRACTION
( FIRST GENERATION
PLACEMENTS X ( REACH X OTS )
)
* Visits from shared links can convert up to 4x more than paid media – Razorfish Study
Equally using this approach to define Social Media Conversion and Advocacy would require a focus on
activity and metrics within the Collaboration category. Indeed, the ratio between Engagement performance
and Collaboration performance could be seen as being an indicator of people moving from discovering,
sharing and “playing” with content to acting upon it – whether making it their own passion or hopefully
even changing purchasing behaviour.
Ultimately this proposed approach to Social Media monitoring/measurement will need to be linked back to
ROI. Can we prove whether good results in either category – or a good Social Media Traction or Social Media
Conversion and Advocacy score – can relate to a lower Cost per Acquisition or an increase sales?
This will require someone much better at maths than me but I believe that some agreed structure and
model is vital to proving the long term value of social media and the real web to the board and CFO.