Measuring the value of conversation marketing
Social researcher Dina Mehta is at the forefront of technology trend research, particularly corporate use of conversational and social media. She has an acerbic quote from French author Guy de Maupassant on the home page of her blog:
“Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It’s the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all. How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation?”
She is a strong believer in the value of anecdotal evidence in marketing research:
“When I meet more traditional marketers, they tell me they are really Web 2.0 savvy and transferred their attention to metrics like clickthrough, cost per lead, customer acquisition cost, lead generation, opt-in, churn rate etc. While these fulfil one need, I do not believe they really aid either an evaluative or predictive model for success. The social media space is different, and in understanding this, I’m hoping clients will value the stories and conversations more.”
In terms of measuring social media ROI, she recommends companies look at the parameters of:
- Participation
- Engagement
- Influence
- Imagination
- Energy
- Loyalty or stickiness
She diagrams it as follows:
Like so many marketing measurement techniques, Mehta says that there are no industry standard measures to use. Organizations need to develop their own benchmarks “along parameters that are important to them and against a set of goals” so they can track effectiveness of their social media campaigns over time.”
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