Building a Social Media Dashboard
With social media, it’s no longer a question of can you measure, but do you. And measurements that merely communicate the number of followers and fans, and how much they post, does little to demonstrate the impact social media is having on your marketing efforts. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and start collecting the data and connecting the dots to find this impact; what I like to call "following the social media breadcrumbs." We advocate a three-phased approach to developing an effective social media dashboard as well as outlining the metrics, key performance indicators (KPIs) and financial measures appropriate to each phase.
Phase One: Required. The first phase of a social media dashboard is typically defined by the web data collection tools and habits that an organization already has place, which in most cases will offer mostly quantitative information along the lines of numbers of follower and the amount of content they (and you) are producing. The value of a dashboard in this phase is to communicate trends in the amount of followers and subscribers, and if there is a correlation with specific social media activities.
Phase Two: Recommended. The next phase of a social media dashboard moves beyond reporting glorified web analytics and begins to show the impact that social media activity is having on driving engagement and awareness. Organizations can start to consider how social media is impacting demand creation efforts in this phase, but don’t expect to be able to report on anything other than a lift in response rates.
Phase Three: Best Practice. The most advanced social media dashboard will provide insights into the ways that prospects use social media throughout their buying process and how customers use it to engage more fully with your organization. At this phase you should be able to determine the impact of social media as part of your marketing tactic mix, as well as the impact it has on sales enablement.