Is Social Media Even Worth the Effort? Session Blog Post

Session: Is Social Media Even Worth the Effort? Wednesday Jan, 12 8:30
Amy Baroch/PBS, also for Kevin Dando
Terry Dugas/NET Nebraska
Kevin Brown/Rockhouse Partners
Reported by blogger, Kate Spears http://www.KateSpears.com

Terry began this session by speaking a bit about how social media is the hot topic on peoples' minds right now and that a big question/concern of managers is "what is our return on investment?" 

Amy shared some information about different social media ventures that involved the Twitter platform "TwitGrid" as well as a Facebook campaign. 

Amy stressed that something they feel is vital is a collaborative effort, with stations and all the departments that comprise them. 

Some stats: 

PBS's main FaceBook page has over 480k fans and adds 500-1000 daily.
The main Twitter page has over 640k followers with a gain of 300 each day. 

These fans and followers can be used to benefit stations in that they help to drive visitors to sites. They advise stations to monitor Twitter hashtags (i.e. #WCTE) as well as to stay abreast of Kurrently.com which helps to monitor keywords and search terms. 

Stay up to date with PBS's Facebook page and Twitter account to see what it is discussing or promoting. Send items that your station would like promoted to Kevin Dando at PBS. (kdando@pbs.org)

Facebook posts can now be geo-targeted in a way to share them with folks in your viewing areas to help promote events and other goings on in your area. 

Take advantage of the great tools at PBS Interactive (free tools, tips, webinars/etc.)

Kevin Brown (Rockhouse Partners) - "Social Media Measurement"

Rockhouse is focused on music, sports, and live events (major music festivals, venues around the country, Lance Armstrong Pro-Cycling Team, authors)

"Data focused & Dollar Driven" The digital marketing behind the scenes

"We don't have a choice whether we DO social media, the question is how well we do it" -Erik Qualman

Social Media isn't a fad, rather a fundamental shift in the way that we communicate. People, Technology & Time are the necessary things for good social media. 

"The best social media starts and ends with data." 

Great book "Content Strategies" by Christina Halverson

Trying to figure out your ROI is the Gain from Investment minus the Cost of Investment divided by the Cost of Investment

As of August 2009, 84% of marketing professionals did not measure their ROI

Social Media Metrics: easy to measure, but not conventional
1) Quantitative: unique visits, page views, followers, demographics, frequency
2) Qualitative: emotional component of social media, how people are connecting with your organization
3) Mix of Both: the number of positive comments, number of other blogs linking to you
4) ROI: How social media has increased viewership or led to more donors

The key is to choose metrics that most impact your org and don't get bogged down by the rest. 

Data >> Reporting >> Analysis >> Insight >> Action >> Data (cycle repeats)

At the end of the day there is a sequence in social media ROI, 1) investment 2) action 3) reaction 4) non-financial impact 5) financial impact

Driving traffic is half the battle, what users do/see/feel on your website once they click matters as much if not more. 

Successful social media strategies focus on more than just getting attention. 100k followers are not as great at 1k true fans who are actually engaged with your org. Try to cultivate relationships with the most passionate fans.

ROI Best Practices
1) Define goals & objectives (what are you trying to accomplish and how will you measure success?)

2) Track everything. All the time. (bit.ly, Google Analytics)

3) Give viewers donor opportunities where they live and play. Reach out to them where they are instead of waiting for them to come to you. 

4) Look at all metrics in one place (metrics dashboard to show a comprehensive dashboard of stats)

5) Test, test, test

6) An email address is always more valuable than a social media interaction

7) Don't think of social media channels in silos. Allow disparate social networks to complement and amplify each other. Drive interaction between the channels. CROSS-PROMOTE! 

8) ROI isn't just about tracking success metrics. You should also track time spent managing social media. 

9) Learn how to best communicate social media metrics to key stakeholders

10) Be patient. It's a process, not an event.