Comments on: Asking the ‘So What?’ of Social Media Monitoring Reports http://www.lift9.com/socialmedia_blog/2009/10/16/asking-the-so-what-of-social-media-monitoring-reports/ Social Media Solutions Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:33:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Warren http://www.lift9.com/socialmedia_blog/2009/10/16/asking-the-so-what-of-social-media-monitoring-reports/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Warren Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:32:29 +0000 http://www.lift9.com/blog/?p=11#comment-10 @Wilson: Excellent points. Too often, social media monitoring reports reflect the statistics of the noise without diving deep into finding the signal and providing real insight. As you suggest, alignment of the listening and analysis with corporate goals gets beyond the so what and starts to help define strategy. @Barry: There is definitely a disconnect between goals and monitoring which results in reporting on the low hanging fruit of meaningless stats. We hope that will change. @Wilson: Excellent points. Too often, social media monitoring reports reflect the statistics of the noise without diving deep into finding the signal and providing real insight. As you suggest, alignment of the listening and analysis with corporate goals gets beyond the so what and starts to help define strategy.

@Barry: There is definitely a disconnect between goals and monitoring which results in reporting on the low hanging fruit of meaningless stats. We hope that will change.

]]> By: Barry Hurd http://www.lift9.com/socialmedia_blog/2009/10/16/asking-the-so-what-of-social-media-monitoring-reports/comment-page-1/#comment-8 Barry Hurd Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:33:18 +0000 http://www.lift9.com/blog/?p=11#comment-8 I find that most of the social media reports I see have a loss of functionality, akin to what you would see on a quarterly marcomm report when a CMO is trying to protect a job. It doesn't really have anything to do with what is on the pretty chart: it has everything to do about the information that exists in other silos or has been thoughtfully (and sometimes negligently and with bad intention) excluded from the report. Even if we just compare the standard online metrics: pageviews, time on site, repeat visitors, and conversion.... I typically see a counter-balance effect take place (high traffic = low time on site, high time on site = repeat visitors, etc.) Most social media monitoring companies seem to say "Hoorah!" when it comes to followers or visits, but they never address that the quality impact may shift something several silos over or a few phases into the process cycle. I find that most of the social media reports I see have a loss of functionality, akin to what you would see on a quarterly marcomm report when a CMO is trying to protect a job.

It doesn’t really have anything to do with what is on the pretty chart: it has everything to do about the information that exists in other silos or has been thoughtfully (and sometimes negligently and with bad intention) excluded from the report.

Even if we just compare the standard online metrics: pageviews, time on site, repeat visitors, and conversion…. I typically see a counter-balance effect take place (high traffic = low time on site, high time on site = repeat visitors, etc.)

Most social media monitoring companies seem to say “Hoorah!” when it comes to followers or visits, but they never address that the quality impact may shift something several silos over or a few phases into the process cycle.

]]> By: Wilson Raj http://www.lift9.com/socialmedia_blog/2009/10/16/asking-the-so-what-of-social-media-monitoring-reports/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Wilson Raj Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:32:08 +0000 http://www.lift9.com/blog/?p=11#comment-3 Nice post, Warren! The key is not to monitor all conversations which, as you say, lead to cursory insights, but rather relevant ones. Having an "intentional lens" that guides the set-up of the monitoring helps us move closer toward that meaningful layer of conversations. For example, structuring the monitoring in a way that aligns to specific goals for sales, customer service, PR, brand awareness/affinity, product development, and so on would help companies navigate through the party and into that small,tight circle where meaningful (and actionable) conversations are being held. That's where the "so what" hopefully raises eyebrows. Nice post, Warren! The key is not to monitor all conversations which, as you say, lead to cursory insights, but rather relevant ones. Having an “intentional lens” that guides the set-up of the monitoring helps us move closer toward that meaningful layer of conversations. For example, structuring the monitoring in a way that aligns to specific goals for sales, customer service, PR, brand awareness/affinity, product development, and so on would help companies navigate through the party and into that small,tight circle where meaningful (and actionable) conversations are being held. That’s where the “so what” hopefully raises eyebrows.

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