Jim Sterne’s Social Media Metrics
Jim Sterne (@jimsterne) is an A-List, top notch, impeccable luminary in the metrics arena. He currently chairs the Web Analytics Association, and is the driver of the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, which the Marketing Consigliere has been enjoying for years when it generously comes to the Washington DC Area. So The Marketing Consigliere took great interest when he found out the Jim has come out with another book.
His latest book, Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment, which came out last month, belongs on your professional library shelf. The conversation that is going online with or without you may be more important than you realize, and you need to at least start listening if not joining in.
With this book written by a well respected professional such as Jim, Marketers, especially B2B Marketing types, should understand that social media and social networking are here to stay and that metrics and measurement of same is mandatory.
There are already many “Idiot” and “For Dummies” guides out there, but The Marketing Consigliere advises that you avoid those unless you are an idiot or a dummy. Sterne knows better and focuses on measuring achievement of your social media efforts, which by now you should realize fall neatly into the promotional “P” of the famous four Marketing Ps.
To achieve success in social media, you must first set realistic goals that are relevant to your business, not popularity or “coolness.” Sterne helps you understand that “pure number of followers” is insufficient – that your time is better spent focusing on other key metrics to get ROI, and how to get that stubborn ostrich with his/her head in the sand boss to understand that social media is not a frivolity.
Sterne’s chapters bring a logical approach to achieving your success with social media for your organization:
Chapter 1 Getting Focused – Identifying Goals
Chapter 2 Getting Attention – Reaching Your Audience
Chapter 3 Getting Respect – Identifying Influence
Chapter 4 Getting Emotional – Recognizing Sentiment
Chapter 5 Getting Response – Triggering Action
Chapter 6 Getting the Message – Hearing the Conversation
Chapter 7 Getting Results – Driving Business Outcomes
Chapter 8 Getting Buy In – Convincing Your Colleagues
Chapter 9 Getting Ahead – Seeing the Future
Sounds enticing, doesn’t it? In the Appendix, Sterne lists some additional worthwhile resources for you to digest, such as Roy Sitepu‘s (@roysitepu) Posterous assemblage of social media metrics information.
BuyJim Sterne’s book and read it if you are going to start a social media program with your organization in order to do it correctly from the beginning. As a matter of fact, The Marketing Consigliere will be bold enough to say that if you read Jim’s book, you will be smarter about social media than 99.9999% of the “social media experts” out there.