Page 168 - Social Media Marketing

c h a p t e r 6: SOCI A L A NA LY T ICS, M ET R ICS, A N D M EASU R EM EN T ■the importance of being clear as to the basis for ROI calculations, note that the focus
of the Bazaarvoice offering is commerce. For many types of community platforms and
social applications—covered in detail in Chapter 12, “Social Applications”—the ROI
is derived not out of incremental revenue but out of cost avoidance (lower support
costs online versus phone center costs, for example) in return for the platform invest-
ment. Whatever your program, it is essential to understand what is being measured and
how the measurements will be used to guide performance.

What is most interesting—and most telling—with regard to the Bazaarvoice
study is that when the measurement is clear and the social application is directly tied
to the business, the expectation of CMOs is that their use of social media will make a
net positive contribution. Further, the expectation is that the contribution made can be
measured. This is at least in part a result of the focus and attention that Bazaarvoice
has placed on its platform and its connection to business: Bazaarvoice goes to great
lengths to educate its customers and ensure an understanding of the value of its plat-
form. It is also in part a result of Bazaarvoice’s dominance in its market segment.
146 Because of the significant presence of large brands within Bazaarvoice’s client roster,
and given the direct and measured connection between the platform and the businesses
it serves, it is no wonder that a large proportion of leading CMOs recognize the value
of ratings and reviews as applied to commerce. More platforms, and more CMOs, need
to be looking more intently at quantitative measures of social media.

Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice offers a strongly metrics-driven solution that can be used with online commerce
platforms. You can learn more about the Bazaarvoice social commerce solutions here:

http://www.bazaarvoice.com

The takeaway is this: Apply the same sort of critical assessment to your social
media program as you would apply to the running of any other aspect of your business
or organization. Always begin by connecting your proposed social media effort to your
business, and only then begin the process of evaluating specific tools or social applica-
tions. Like any measurement-driven program, the choice of tools follows the business
objectives and the establishment of numerical goals.

Source and Sentiment Analysis

In Chapter 2, “The New Role of the Customer,” you saw tools like Buzzstream and the
Grasshopper business example. Buzzstream provides a view into the sources of influ-
ence within an area of interest—defined through keywords such as the name of your
product or a competitor’s—so that you can create relationships with the people talking