Public Media Social Media Handbook

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5. Measurement and ROI

Download pdf of Measurement and ROI

This section explains what you should measure and lists some tools you can use to do
this (full list of tools in Directory of Tools). It also places particular emphasis on how you
should be looking at each metric in order to properly translate its value to staff members
in other departments.

5.1 Social Metrics

Platform	Metrics	Measurement and Monitoring Tools	What should you be looking at?
Facebook	# of Likes # of new Likes # of unlikes Comments on posts Likes on posts Active users Page demographics Media consumption Page/Tab views	Facebook Insights Crowdbooster Seesmic Postrank Export.ly	Discern which posts are producing the most engagement: What type of content is it? Are you asking users to engage? Are comments positive or negative? Check Facebook Insights often: Are there spikes in activity? What produced those spikes? Who is making up your audience? How can you tailor your strategies to better engage them? What kind of content and messaging should you be posting to best reach them? Look at change in fanbase and engagement: Likes vs. Unlikes, increase or decrease in engagement, and identify the cause for each. What time of day are you posting? How often? Should that increase or decrease?
Twitter	# of followers # of new followers # of unfollows Mentions Retweets Replies	Tweetdeck Hootsuite Twazzup Twittercounter Klout Tweetreach RowFeeder Export.ly Friend or Follow Listorious Quitter	Who is mentioning and retweeting you? Are they influential and relevant to your content? Who are you engaging with that is not engaging you back? What type of content is producing the most retweets and mentions? Are you engaging with other users? Should you be engaging more or less? Are you retweeting anyone? Look at your follower growth in TwitterCounter. Are there any spikes? If so, when and why? How can you create more spikes in following? Look at unfollows: when do unfollows typically occur? How can you avoid unfollows int he future? What time of day are you tweeting? How often?
YouTube	# of video views # of total views # of new subscribers # of unsubscribes # of comments Demographics Community	YouTube Insights Raven	Which videos have the most views? Which are the most popular? Which types of content are receiving the most comments? Look at YouTube Insights: When did videos get a boost in views? What are the top sources of traffic? Where are the videos being embedded? Put the video URL into backtype.com. Are people tweeting the video or sharing it on Facebook? Have the number of subscribers increased - if so, why? Have videos been commented on? Are the comments positive or negative? Do they further your mission and should you share them with your team?
Flickr	# views # comments # favorites Referrers	F*Stats Statsr.net flickrstats Sweeper Flickr Stats Backup FlickeFlu Exif Statistics Flickr Contacts Stats Flickrooster Statlr simachin Flickr tools Ivyroot	What pictures are the most popular based on views? How many people are “favoriting” your pictures? Who are they, based on their profile and the photos they are posting? How can you use that information to create content that will best target that audience? What are your referrers? Are users coming to your page from Flickr itself, or from external sites? Understand who driving traffic to the page: local affiliates, the national website, or bloggers? Referrers can also expose partnerships or areas in which improvement is necessary.
Blogs	# of subscribers # of new subscribers # of unsubscribes # of comments Total page views Unique page views Referring websites to your blog Keyword traffic to your blog	Google Analytics WordPress blog Metrics Newsdesk 4	Which are the top viewed blog posts and why? What type of content was discussed? Are people commenting on posts? If so, what type of content? If not, why aren’t they commenting? Are your blog posts receiving any visibility? If not, why not? Should you be promoting your blog in a different way?
Podcasts	# of subscribers # of new subscribers # of unsubscribes # of downloads per podcast # of total downloads	PodPress FeedBurner RadioTail	Which are the top downloaded podcasts and why? What kind of content was it? Which programs are they associated with? Where did you promote the top podcasts: Website? Homepage? Facebook? Twitter? E-newsletter? Air? Did top podcasts correlate with increase in tune-in?

Platform

Metrics

Measurement and
Monitoring Tools

What should you be looking at?

Facebook

# of Likes

# of new Likes

# of unlikes

Comments on posts

Likes on posts

Active users

Page demographics

Media consumption Page/Tab views

Discern which posts are producing the most engagement: What type of content is it? Are you asking users to engage? Are comments positive or negative?
Check Facebook Insights often: Are there spikes in activity? What produced those spikes? Who is making up your audience? How can you tailor your strategies to better engage them? What kind of content and messaging should you be posting to best reach them?
Look at change in fanbase and engagement: Likes vs. Unlikes, increase or decrease in engagement, and identify the cause for each.
What time of day are you posting? How often? Should that increase or decrease?

Twitter

# of followers

# of new followers

# of unfollows

Mentions

Retweets

Replies

Who is mentioning and retweeting you? Are they influential and relevant to your content? Who are you engaging with that is not engaging you back?
What type of content is producing the most retweets and mentions?
Are you engaging with other users? Should you be engaging more or less? Are you retweeting anyone?
Look at your follower growth in TwitterCounter. Are there any spikes? If so, when and why? How can you create more spikes in following?
Look at unfollows: when do unfollows typically occur? How can you avoid unfollows int he future?
What time of day are you tweeting? How often?

YouTube

# of video views

# of total views

# of new subscribers

# of unsubscribes

# of comments

Demographics

Community

YouTube Insights

Raven

Which videos have the most views? Which are the most popular? Which types of content are receiving the most comments?
Look at YouTube Insights: When did videos get a boost in views? What are the top sources of traffic? Where are the videos being embedded?
Put the video URL into backtype.com. Are people tweeting the video or sharing it on Facebook?
Have the number of subscribers increased - if so, why?
Have videos been commented on? Are the comments positive or negative? Do they further your mission and should you share them with your team?

Flickr

# views

# comments

# favorites

Referrers

Flickr Contacts Stats

Flickrooster

Statlr

simachin Flickr tools

Ivyroot

What pictures are the most popular based on views?
How many people are “favoriting” your pictures? Who are they, based on their profile and the photos they are posting? How can you use that information to create content that will best target that audience?
What are your referrers? Are users coming to your page from Flickr itself, or from external sites? Understand who driving traffic to the page: local affiliates, the national website, or bloggers? Referrers can also expose partnerships or areas in which improvement is necessary.

Blogs

# of subscribers

# of new subscribers

# of unsubscribes

# of comments

Total page views

Unique page views

Referring websites to your blog

Keyword traffic to your blog

Google Analytics

WordPress blog Metrics

Newsdesk 4

Which are the top viewed blog posts and why? What type of content was discussed?
Are people commenting on posts? If so, what type of content? If not, why aren’t they commenting?
Are your blog posts receiving any visibility? If not, why not? Should you be promoting your blog in a different way?

Podcasts

# of subscribers

# of new subscribers

# of unsubscribes

# of downloads per podcast

# of total downloads

PodPress

FeedBurner

RadioTail

Which are the top downloaded podcasts and why? What kind of content was it? Which programs are they associated with?
Where did you promote the top podcasts: Website? Homepage? Facebook? Twitter? E-newsletter? Air?
Did top podcasts correlate with increase in tune-in?

5.2 Web Metrics

Platform	Metrics	Measurement Tools	What should you be looking at?
Web Analytics	Pageviews Total Visitors Unique visitors Top pages viewed Referrals from other websites	Google Analytics Backlink Watch	Is your pageview count increasing or decreasing? Why? Which are the top pages/articles visited per week? Are there spikes in traffic? If so, which content is causing those increase in visitors? How many of those web referrals are coming from social media sites Such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr? Is the traffic FROM social media sites increasing over time, decreasing, or staying the same? What are the keywords people used in search engines to land on your page, and do they correlate with any blog posts or other targeted content written? Use Backlink Watch to see who is linking to you. Are there many people? Who are they? Are they relevant to your station’s mission?
Link Tracking	# of clicks to a link Referring websites Time of day clicked	Bit.ly Hootsuite	Which are your most popular links, and how can you replicate that popularity for other links? Is it the content? The kind of promotion? What are the referring websites for your top links? Who is clicking on your links? When are they clicking on your links?

Platform

Metrics

Measurement Tools

What should you be looking at?

Web Analytics

Pageviews

Total Visitors

Unique visitors

Top pages viewed

Referrals from other websites

Google Analytics

Backlink Watch

Is your pageview count increasing or decreasing? Why? Which are the top pages/articles visited per week?
Are there spikes in traffic? If so, which content is causing those increase in visitors?
How many of those web referrals are coming from social media sites Such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr? Is the traffic FROM social media sites increasing over time, decreasing, or staying the same?
What are the keywords people used in search engines to land on your page, and do they correlate with any blog posts or other targeted content written?
Use Backlink Watch to see who is linking to you. Are there many people? Who are they? Are they relevant to your station’s mission?

Link Tracking

# of clicks to a link

Referring websites

Time of day clicked

Bit.ly

Hootsuite

Which are your most popular links, and how can you replicate that popularity for other links? Is it the content? The kind of promotion?
What are the referring websites for your top links?
Who is clicking on your links? When are they clicking on your links?