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Behaviors, not impressions, show value of social media

H.I.T.S. How Idiots Track Success. I first heard that one from Shel Holtz three years ago. Impressions are dying and we shouldn’t even use the term when talking about tracking social media. That feedback came this past week from the Metrics Man Don Bartholomew (disclosure: We both work at FH) and measurement queen Katie Payne. [...]

Are all impressions created equal?

Impressions are like the veterans of the social media measurement team. The security blanket, if you will. If you’re a Yankees fan, they’re the Mariano Rivera. Like the Colts? They’re the Peyton Manning. PR and Marketing pros feel comfortable tracking impressions. And corporate America feels comfortable tracking success based on them. There are exceptions, but [...]

The “golden ticket” of social media measurement

Today marks my one-year anniversary at Fleishman-Hillard. When I started with the agency last July, one of the first things I was hoping to find was the “golden ticket” of social media measurement that had eluded me in my past job. What I found instead was a bunch of colleagues with differing opinions (kind of [...]

What are your impressions of the best way to sell social media impressions?

Lots of companies and clients I talk to still track their PR results through impressions, even if that’s not the only way they measure. How are you seeing PR and Marketing pros explain the value of a social media impressions (what I like to call engaged impressions) versus mass media impressions? Selling the value of [...]

#pr20chat Recap: Shonali Burke answers your measurement questions

(Photo courtesy of Shonali’s blog, Waxing Unlyrical) Last week, Shonali Burke (@Shonali) joined Heather Whaling (@prTini), myself and the #pr20chat community to talk measurement. The conversation was fast and furious and Shonali shared a lot of valuable insights. But since so many tweets were flying by (about 1,400 tweets from 120 participants) it was easy [...]

Social media measurement misnomers, part 1

I don’t claim to be an expert when it comes to social media measurement. Not even close. I’m definitely still learning like everyone else. But there are a few theories I’ve been hearing for a while now about measurement that don’t tell the whole side of the story. It’s not that they’re wrong, but moreso [...]

Are fans and followers really worthless numbers?

     If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times  — (paraphrasing, of course) “When it comes to social media measurement, the number of fans or followers a brand has won’t tell us anything.” I’ve thought about this philosophy a lot, so much in fact that I’ve become slightly OCD about it. [...]