It’s one thing to know we should be measuring our social media communications campaigns – and it’s quite another to know just how to do that. Today marks the start of AMEC International Summit on Measurement, and with it comes something big: AMEC’s Social Media Measurement Framework User Guide.
The guide provides an example of how to apply the framework. It does not focus on developing a single metric for measuring communications progress; rather, it is a guide designed to look at multiple metrics across different stages of campaigns and assess outcomes, not outputs, to make results meaningful, credible, and useful.
Within the user guide are two frameworks: the Paid, Owned, and Earned Framework and the Programme, Business, and Channel Metrics Framework. Both frameworks use the same five stages of the marketing funnel to measure outcomes and help PR pros better understand how each channel impacts the goals of your campaign:
Exposure: Potential audience exposure to content and messages
Engagement: Interactions that occur in response to content on an owned channel
Preference: Ability to cause or contribute to a change in opinion or behavior
Impact: Effect on the target audience. Can include but not limited to any financial impact
Advocacy: Are others making the case for you about something? Includes positive sentiment such as a recommendation, a call to action or call to purchase, suggested usage or change of opinion.
The framework is broken down into six steps:
Plan with SMART objectives. Remember, all your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Select a framework. Decide whether the Paid, Earned, and Owned framework or the Programme, Business, and Channel Metrics framework best fit your campaign.
Populate. Populate the framework with the metrics that matter to you and that represent a balance and broad view.
Data. Identify what data you will need, some of which you may need to obtain from specialist providers. Be sure to be clear how you will collect it and where it will come from.
Measure. Ensure the data covers all appropriate fields and determine when and how often you will need to measure the data.
Report. Put your results into reports that best suit your audience, whether that be charts and graphs, written reports, or videos.
Also, make sure to check out page 10 of the user guide, which gives 10 top tips for using and making the best of the frameworks.
How do these frameworks and models help your measurement processes?