Marketers tend to be comfortable using established metrics for word-of-mouth (W-O-M) and social media measurement, with most currently using click-throughs (93%), daily or monthly active users (83%), and Facebook likes (82%). Many, however, are looking for better definition and clarity on other metrics that are less widely used, such as momentum effect, according to a survey from the Association of National Advertisers released in July.
The least-used metric at 11% is the momentum effect, and it tops the list of metrics that require better definition or clarification (at 41% of respondents). Similarly, only 23% of marketers use value of a fan/follower as a metric, while 40% believe it requires clarification. And while 37% are measuring influence, 31% believe this metric needs more clarity.
Interestingly, only 20% believe that ROI needs to be better defined. Previous research from Wildfire has found that marketers lack a standard social media ROI metric, although they appear to gravitate towards various soft metrics such as presence, fans, and mentions.
Social Media ROI Measurement Stalls
Further data from ANA’s “2012 Digital/Social Media Survey” indicates that just 60% of respondents are measuring the ROI of their social media efforts, relatively unchanged from 61% last year. By contrast, far larger proportions have processes in place to measure the effectiveness of SEM-paid keyword (90%), websites (89%), email marketing (88%), online ads (88%), SEO-organic (81%), and mobile (70%).
The big movers from last year include: SEO-organic (81% measuring this year compared to 69% in 2011); viral video (50% vs. 58%); blogs (40% vs. 48%); video-on-demand (48% vs. 65%); and location-based apps (46% vs. 67%), among others. The drop in measurement for the latter channels may be in part due to the relative immaturity of marketers’ experience with some of those platforms.
New Media Metrics Rise In Effectiveness
Provided with a list of 19 new-media metrics, the highest proportion of marketers responding to the ANA survey rated purchases (67%) as a top-3 box rating on a 10-point scale of effectiveness, up from 53% in 2011. Time spent (54% vs. 39%), would recommend/forward to a friend (51% vs. 39%), and registrations in general (51% vs. 39%) also saw increases in the proportion considering them to be effective. New behavioral metrics identified this year included number of shares (49% rating effective) and number of replies (also at 49%), as well as interaction rates (42%), video views (40%), number of re-tweets (39%), and number of uploads (39%). Impressions (31%) and number of likes (30%) were rated as effective by the fewest respondents.
About The Data: The ANA conducted a survey online during April and May of 2012 to address ANA members’ questions relating to digital/social media marketing. In total, 224 client-side marketers are represented in the survey. Participants included members of the ANA survey community who are periodically surveyed on a range of timely, industry-related topics. Respondents to the survey had an average of 13 years of experience in marketing.
