Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend Monitoring Social Media Bootcamp 2010 held at the Cavendish Conference Centre in London.
It was a fantastic day, which I really enjoyed and found fascinating to be around such likeminded people, as passionate about the possibilities of social media as I am. The key focus and aim for the day was to highlight the importance of tracking campaign achievements and results for clients through effective monitoring, reporting and analysis.
Although unfortunately the news wasn’t all positive, there is clearly someway still to go in terms of ensuring the accuracy of data measured. With different tools in the market using different algorithms the results obtained are undoubtedly different and can often be a little subjective. However we are clearly moving in the right direction with regards to establishing a clear set of metrics and KPI’s, which will enable us to analyse and plan this kind of activity, even more effectively moving forward. Making all our jobs easier when it comes to allocating budget for this kind of activity.
What hasn’t changed is that people are the essential aspect to this type of work! Whilst the tools may use different factors, the query used to define what you’re looking for is often difficult to form, taking a considerable amount of time and patience to perfect. This is a key area, which needs the attention and collaboration with clients that it really deserves – in this instance it couldn’t ring any truer, that you genuinely do only get out what you put in!
And for those with generic brand names, expect to have to work even harder to get the query just right – think to the likes of Orange, 3 or Next. Don’t be surprised to see queries like those below in order to get some meaningful data back.
And one thing clients should look to bear in mind if they whish to start engaging with customers in the ‘socialsphere’ or are looking to establish effective supplier relationships to help them achieve their goals, is that whilst some may claim to be social media guru’s, the medium is still relatively new for this to be true by definition and you should ignore the smoke and mirrors which are often used or as Philip Sheldrake concisely put it ‘Bullshit’ and look to turn around and walk away very quickly!
However, do take heart as there are those who do understand the medium better than others and for the clients who are brave, look to engage, listen and discuss with their customers the rewards are awaiting!
For a summary of the day and to view the presentations please click here.
