Measurement and evaluation travel hand in hand in many marketing strategic communications and public relations campaigns. Key areas to cover:
- Objectives- what do you want to accomplish
- Inputs: who is your target audience
- Activities- your PR plan
- Outputs- how did people respond
- Outtakes- what reaction is your audience giving you
- Outcomes- how well did the audience like your message
- Impact- any changed results from your content
Game plans will help you to:
- Be better informed about key audiences
- Be able to execute and create useful content
- Align content, stories, and other social media updates to be completed at the right time, place, and platform
- Make each post count
Evaluating social media activities is recommended for these reasons:
- A better understanding of how your social media channels benefit your brand client
- See the overall performances of the content with and without paid support
- Note the place of social media channels within the community
- Discover what worked and what didn’t work
- Determine any missed opportunities, gaps, or lessons to note for the future
Questions to ask yourself:
- How do these metrics align with my set objectives?
- How easy will it be to calculate, collect, and analyze the data?
- Are these metrics universally used across different departments or not?
- Will these metrics be able to help in the decision-making process for future recommendations?
- Which metrics align with the outcomes set forth for the initiative and campaign?
Specific outcomes should be measured and reported as part of your analysis of social media. The strategic communication literature identifies three areas of results to measure: cognitive, attitudinal, and conative. Cognitive outcomes are whether or not people were able to comprehend what you were trying to say in your message. Attitudinal outcomes focus on measuring the response to the content and audiences’ feelings, perceptions, and attitudes. Conative issues focus on behaviors exhibited by audience members who are seeing a post on social media. These three outcomes can be grouped together to formulate a comprehensive social media strategy, a key component to add at planning stages for a social media campaign.
Hubspot can show you:
- Which platform generated the most sign-ups
- What time and day was most effective in reaching audiences
- What action audience members took after they signed up
- The number of sign-ups and additional information on each person
- The average response time to inquiries across channels
Aera to invest in your budget
- Tools- content creation, content monitoring, social media measurements, staff time, etc
- People- you have to have a killer social media team to the best
- Consulting fees- experts that can help you on specific projects
- Research- know the data to become the best
- Education- books or certification
- Promotion and sponsored content- pay to play! If you want to get your name out there, you may have to pay for people to see your content
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- Invest wisely- do not choose poorly when it comes to your budget. Really evaluate the areas you need to invest in. it is better to have to the right tools for the job than not be able to implement your ideas in social media effectively
- Spend the money in areas that will take the most time or with which you need assistance. There are only so many hours in the day.
Further considerations for measurement, evaluation, and budget
- Use plain language this is not full of jargon
- Don’t be afraid of number with the budget
- Articulate your limitations and note differences in data
- Check your metrics and methods regularly and do a routine audit of the processes for social media
- Invest in measurement training and educations
- Set forth checklist for measurements strategy and evaluation
- Learn from your insights and adjust when needed
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