Here are the tactics and how I see them being applied to social media marketing in general across all channels:

1. Need to start with concrete goals & tactics

Before you decide on metrics, it’s imperative that you decide on the objective. In creating the strategy, then it will be necessary to outline the goals and tactics required to achieve them. The goals will be tied to business objectives and that will dictate what to measure. Simply put, it’s the percentage increase or decrease towards realizing the business objective.

2. Set benchmarks to compare channels

Everything needs to be benchmarked. If this isn’t done then it’s impossible to track the change over time. There are a number of items to benchmark per channel. Here are some to get you started: – volume of conversations – sentiment – amount of participation – number of leads (percentage that convert)

3. Connect data from the social channels to website stat’s and CRM

Having all traffic directed to your main website will make it very difficult to track the sources. If you have significant amount of traffic coming from social channels such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn then create landing pages for each. If there isn’t enough traffic to justify that then survey those coming to your site by adding a field asking, "Where did you hear about us?".

4. Understand how many engagements convert

Social media is difficult in this aspect because engagements in social channels are about building relationships. But attribution is very important. If your social media marketing is building brand visibility and creating interest that is resulting in conversions, then you’ll want to track that. Use custom landing pages, specific coupon codes, hash tags, a distinct telephone number, etc to allow for attribution. Another tip is to make sure that your CRM denotes leads coming in from social channels.

5. Analytics data for social channels

Each channel has its own unique set of metrics. Set up metrics that make sense based on your objectives. In addition to the metrics in Facebook,YouTube, Slideshare pro account, Twitter apps also offer many.

6. Connect to business KPI’s

Tip 1 referenced the importance of a strategy. That needs to be based on a firm understanding of the business needs. Brand awareness and sentiment are important and are measureable.

7. Use metrics to improve your marketing efforts

Social media marketing is a continual process of defining and refining. Always keep in mind that the most valuable insights are the ones that you didn’t know about. When those are discovered then flexibility will be a huge asset when changes need to be made to your strategy to accommodate them.

Do you feel like you’re effectively measuring your social marketing efforts?

What are your biggest challenges?

This profession is evolving and becoming mainstream which means that there are a number of professional communities emerging. Here is an overview of groups that you can join:

• Facebook group Community Manager, Advocate, and Evangelist 

Jeremiah Owyang & I kicked this off back in 2007. It is a vibrant group and there are many new people joining. There is a doc that you can add your contact info to. And there is also an informal job board.

• Community BackChannel

This is a new group that Claire Flanagan, Ted Hopton, Jamie Pappas and Megan Murray recently launched. Membership is free, but there is a process for requesting it.

• CommunityAdmins.com

These active forums are a part of Patrick O’Keefe’s iFroggy network. Patrick is the author of Managing Online Forums.

• Community RoundTable

Jim Storer & Rachel Happe are the founders of this peer network. They have built a very active community that is based on resources, research and regular activities.

• Social Business Council

I received a formal press release that the Dachis Group had launched this community. I have applied for membership & will update this post when I find out more.

Where do you hang out? and why?

Online Marketing Summit does a great job of covering all these topics in one place. Last fall I sat on a panel at the event and it was the most comprehensive marketing event that I’ve attended.  It offers a broad array of expertise on digital marketing, content marketing, demand gen, SEO or web analytics The best part was that it featured local speakers which allowed for networking that extends beyond the event. I wrote an overview on a web analytics session from last year’s summit.

I’m really looking forward to the great speaker lineup at Online Marketing Summit in Minneapolis on June 7th! I always learn something new about SEO from Lee Odden. Last year, Kim Albee’s presentation on lead gen was excellent. And I look forward to Steve Woods, CTO of Eloqua, lunch keynote. I recently reread his book, Digital Body Language, and noted the many insights on database & email marketing.

If you’re just getting started in digital marketing, there are also two bootcamps available:

• Online Marketing Boot Camp June 6th
• Social Media Workshops June 8th

And what if you don’t live in the Minneapolis area? Online Marketing Summit is holding similar events around the world! Find a date and location near you.

Update: Here’s a 15% off code for my readers: MINN15

See you on June 7th!

Over the past few weeks we have been in the process of hiring community managers. Here are some tips for those seeking this type of role.

Resume

• Your experience needs to be relevant to the position (it needs to be obvious)
• Include metrics for the impact that you had in previous positions

For example:

• Increased sales by X %
• Increased the community by X %
• Increased participation in the community by X %

Tip: Do not represent consulting as if you were an employee

Your Social Presence

• Google your name: What online presence do you have?
• LinkedIn – Some key aspects:

Do you have a complete profile that is public?

Do you have a number of references from previous employers?

Have you written references for others?

• Twitter presence – quality of tweets and a balance of followers to following

Preparation for the Interview

Research the company that you’re interviewing with. What talking points can you take with to your interview?

Research the person that you will be interviewing with. Do they have a personal blog or are on Twitter? That insight provides great conversation starters.

If your LinkedIn profile set to show  your activity, then the interviewer will see that you’ve viewed their profile.

All of the above interactions happen before the interview ever happens. They are all items that can be used to qualify candidates. If you’re applying for a social media role, take some time to ensure that your application stands out from the crowd.

If you’ve recently hired for a social media position, what additional tips would you give?

That is the objective of my present day job. I just published my tenth white paper in a series on the ROI of Social Media on the topic of ‘Creating A Social Business Through Listening’. It is a culmination of over two years of direct focus in the social media monitoring industry. My work with Alterian SM2 (formerly Techrigy) has contributed to evolving online listening based on customer needs and industry requirements along with the measurement of value and ROI. So this was indeed a momentous occasion for all I evangelize and represent!

My vision is that every company needs a community strategist to guide the culture shift in a company so that the organization can embrace and leverage social channels in order to meet it’s business objectives. It is only through building community internally that the company can realize the full potential of the social web and build an external community along with realizing all the benefits.

Dell gets this! and they are executing on a massive community building project internally. They have trained 5,000 staff of their 100 k strong. And they are listening to their community (both internally & externally). I see the new listening control center as a statement to their commitment to not only listen to their customers, but to make sure that change happens. As we all know, Listening is the first step and the most imperative!

It was amazing to hear the passion that these people have for socializing Dell and making their brand strong. I was touched to see Michelle Brigman, Social Media Listening & Engagement Operations Sr. Manager, get emotional when talking about what they’re trying to accomplish. I watched her express how they want to provide their customers with the best service in the upcoming seasonal rush when everyone gets harried. They are working as fast as they can to empower their teams company wide to provide the best customer experience possible. Imagine the scope of this project.

In the near future I will be sharing some videos that imparts the efforts and passion of this amazing project that Dell has taken on. Manish Mehta, VP Social Media & Communities, asked me if I thought other companies would be doing this and my response was, “Absolutely! This is the future!”

Thank you to the Social Media team for inviting me to join your celebration of Community Building and Listening. Special thanks to Lisa Grimes for coordinating it. I appreciated the opportunity to be introduced to Michael Dell and shake the hand of a man that is leading such a huge change in the profession and industry that I’ve been pioneering. Congratulations to Dell on making great strides in setting a new organizational standard.

More information from Dell’s perspective can be found on Mashable. And you can read about my experience with Dell’s Customer Advisory Panel:

Dell Takes Listening to a New Level with #DellCAP

What companies do you think are doing a good job in operationalizing social media?

Long ago in 2007 a developer from Microsoft commented on my blog post about LiveWriter. As team lead he asked for feedback. When I read his signature, I rubbed my eyes and asked myself, can this be real? Granted I came into the online world as a result of a company reaching out to me. So I asked my readers what their suggestions for MS LiveWriter (which was in beta at the time) and posted them. Imagine my surprise when I woke to a Facebook message from that same Microsoft developer suggesting that I check out the newest release because they had incorporated my ideas! It made me feel as if my ideas mattered and I felt ownership in the product. I still use LiveWriter, evangelize it & train my staff in it’s use.

So when Chris Byrd @ChrisBatDell invited me to Dell’s first annual Customer Advisory Panel #DellCAP I was both honored and thrilled. The date fit between a couple of corporate meetings and so I booked Austin in between Chicago & Rochester, NY.

I learned in May that 3 cities in one week isn’t advisable, but I was excited to see what Dell was up to. I have been watching them steadily grow their team of online community managers. Their invitation was transparent that there were no expectations and they were taking care of all expenses.

The talented Mack Collier moderated the day. Imagine starting out the morning with an audience of Dell’s CMO and other executives. The group of 15 of us were gathered around a board table at Dell’s Executive Briefing Center and members of various Dell teams were behind us in the room. Our conversation was focused and we were invited to share out thoughts and ideas.

The topics were:

Expectations with CMO Erin Nelson – we talked about Dell’s brand and the opportunities that Dell has. I firmly believe that the new marketing is education.

1. Help consumers help themselves in the purchase process.
2. Capture and utilize user generated content of knowledgeable users to create a knowledge base
3. Use profiles in the Dell community to highlight the type of hardware that person uses to facilitate people connecting with others of similar computer needs.

We also talked about price points, customer service and expectations. I felt completely comfortable in expressing myself candidly.

Customer Support – This was a hot topic and surfaced in the earlier session. Dell is moving towards a new model of combining customer service and tech support. I expressed my experience with having support outsourced. I found Twitter to be much more effective. @ChrisBatDell resolved my issue a year ago. I was surprised to hear that they wanted to encourage social media channels for support. I am curious to hear how they communicate that to their customers?

Support centers rely heavily on scripts. We expressed our frustration with that. It made me realize the huge value in the reference interview that we used in the library world. Imagine if the support were to take a few minutes and ask 3 questions rather than asking, “Is your computer turned on?” Here they are:

1. What is the problem?
2. What have you done to resolve it? (then make an educated decision on how to resolve
3. Set expectations and agree on the goal of the call. In other words repeat and make sure that the customer is in agreement and that both sides understand the need.

Design Lab – This is where everyone geeked out over the new Streak. I enjoyed seeing the Adamo and Adamo XPS. It caused me to realize that my work issued Dell Latitude doesn’t fit my needs.

Technology Briefing Center – A senior product manager gave a product demonstration that hasn’t been shared with others outside of Dell. We signed an NDA and enjoyed being privy to secret information.

The last session of the day was on Sustainability and Recycling. Unfortunately I needed to go to the airport, so i missed it.

One of the highlights of my day was having lunch with Caroline Dietz. She created IdeaStorm. I loved how she described how it evolved. And it was nice to visit with Lionel Mencheca again. He shared that they are transitioning away from a centralized social media team and scaling it out to teams by business unit. I look forward to watching how that evolves!

Overall I have to give Dell total credit for bringing in their leadership to spend the day with us. They brought in a group with very diverse backgrounds. We had a variety of ideas and it was a great focus group. Earlier in the week they had brought in a group of 15 detractors. I had seen their tweets and they were negative. I hope that Dell was able to garner constructive feedback from both groups. Their process was excellent. We filled out a pre-survey. They created a community and now I need to fill out a post-survey. There is a lot of content in a variety of formats floating on the web. I see on Twitter that a couple of people have ordered Adamos so the products sold themselves.

Thank you Dell for your invitation to listen to us and your hospitality! I hope that as an organization you can continue leading the way in implementing ideas from consumers.

If you’d like to read more about #DellCAP, Mack Collier is gathering all the content. Sunni Brown captured the day (this was very cool!).

If you had the opportunity to talk directly with a company, which company would it be? and what would you tell them?

I always enjoy conferences that are well organized. This one was very well done. They interviewed all of the speakers and put them on YouTube. What a nice touch! The slide deck from my presentation is below.

The slide deck on Slideshare. I presented the deck virtually to a Roundtable group in Geneva, Switzerland. The recording is here on my speaking page.

The Abbey and the Roman Baths seem to be the center of Bath. A choir had just started performing and provided the perfect ambience.

A view down a street.

The one thing that amazes me about Europe is the age of the stones and structures. This is what remains of the medieval wall.

I am excited to announce the first in a series of white papers on Social Media ROI. I have ten topics planned in which I will be exploring the versatility of social media monitoring and how it can influence your organization’s bottom line.

My white paper series will show how a social media monitoring tool supports business objectives across an organization. It allows you to measure your social media efforts and is a must have for every marketer’s toolbox.

The first topic covers how you can leverage social media monitoring (SMM) to leverage your search strategy. SMM can be a powerful supplementary tool to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for getting your web site ranked and found by your target audience. Every organization wants to better know their customer segments. Traditional market research and focus groups can be expensive and time consuming. Social media monitoring now provides a cost effective method to gain an in-depth sense of what consumers want and need. This whitepaper outlines how you can utilize that information to make your website(s) and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns more effective.

You can download the paper here: 4 Ways to Take your Search Marketing to a New Level with SMM

You are welcome to sign up for the Freemium of Alterian SM2 and explore my ideas.

Questions? Please ask!  And I would love your comments & ideas!

Jeremiah Owyang always has thoughtful and innovative ideas. Last week he asked on Twitter:

Community Managers are your unsung heroes. If your company is forward thinking and has one or a team of them then you know how important they are. They work tirelessly to ensure that customers needs and expectations are met. It’s a very challenging role yet very gratifying! We do it because we love it. We love providing for our people: our customers, our colleagues, our management and our community at large.

Jeremiah has suggested that we make the last Monday of every January as “Community Manager Appreciation Day” #cmad

I would like to expand on Jeremiah’s list of challenges that Community Managers face.

Internal challenges: A large part of a community manager’s role is facilitating a culture shift within the organization so that the customer’s needs are not only heard but responded to in an appropriate manner. This includes ensuring that management and the executive level are well informed with feedback.

There are so many Community Managers that have influenced me:

Jeremiah Owyang, Chris Brogan, Sean O’Driscoll and the list goes on.

And I am so appreciative of all those that I’ve had the opportunity to cross paths with over the past few years. I always learn with every discussion & try to give back what I can.

So hug your community manager & let them know they are supported!