The Thoughtful Thud Revisited

Could labelling end social media measurement confusion?

On my flight from London to Athens yesterday I was reminded how the nutritional advice label on my in-flight meal could end up transforming social media measurement.

Instead of Calories, Salt, Fat, Sugars, etc, the new social media measurement “label” could use similar “markers”, to tell clients what their social media measurement campaign scores, by way of Sentiment, Engagement, and Definition of Units of Content. All yet to be agreed.

It is one of the routes the new Social Media Measurement Coalition of AMEC, IPR and CPRF, is likely to take a look at as the whole industry comes together to develop global standards in social media measurement.

Clients need global standards because of the dizzying competitive claims made by some software manufacturers in this space. There is a real collaborative will to crack this.

Earlier this year, AMEC’s International Business Monitor™ study found that while most clients said social media was important, only 11% measured what was being said about them. Perhaps with new industry wide standards we can finally unlock the real potential to communications professionals that social media represents.

I’m in Athens speaking at a seminar organised by AMEC member Clip News.

Industry collaboration the key to the “Big Ask”

Everyone is talking about social media measurement. AMEC today announces the start of the “doing” process with our “Big Ask” conference and consultation.

Creating global social media standards is one of the top four commitments of the Measurement Agenda 2020 initiative agreed at the European Summit on Measurement AMEC presented in Lisbon with the IPR. Already since Lisbon AMEC, the IPR and CPRF are talking. A group of us will get together also at the North American Summit in Philadelphia in under two weeks time.

Our “Big Ask” conference in London on Thursday 17 November will aim to do what it says on the can. We are inviting PR and media intelligence professionals to tell us what their “ask” would be in the set of global social media measurement standards we are all committed to developing.

What’s so encouraging, building on the collaboration promised by IPR and CPRF is the ready involvement of the CIPR, PRCA and PRSA to support the event.

When the industry comes together like this, even the biggest of “asks” is possible.

I saw the future today!

I was part of a small group today which judged the PRCA’s new Evaluation Category in their annual Awards Evaluation Category. So kudos to the PRCA for helping AMEC put programme measurement on the PR Agenda in the UK.

What was good to see was the high level of entry interest in the new category which was designed to show…..”That the PR team and its campaigns are making a significant contribution to the organisation.” Specifically the emphasis was on outcomes rather than outputs.

What I saw was great work. Period.  But what I wanted to see was more entries which started with clear and measurable objectives. Instead I found myself reflecting, "why do PR consultancies ignore best practice and insist on listing tactics, rather than objectives against which they expect to be judged by their client." It reminded me that the first of the Barcelona Principles emphasized the importance of goal setting and measurement.

In my experience, in PR consultancy and within AMEC, the most successful award-winning agencies get that reputation because they take it seriously. They have at least a dedicated person, usually a small team, who act as the final arbiter/litmus test/hard man and sign off on all consultancy award entries.  I remember working for a top 5 consultancy in New Year at the turn of the Millenium and thinking, "how can any one beat Ketchum. They had the formula. They had the insistence on great work.  Or, put another way, it clearly did not get entered.

What  organised Consultancy Awards Teams are looking for is:

-      Consistency in the consultancy entry approach;

-      There is a common language and lay-out in award entries from campaign to campaign, e.g. Objectives does not suddenly become Tactics in one entry! What was perhaps surprising to see, even from large consultancies, was that there was so much variation entry to entry.

-      An appreciation of what external judges look for.

One of the best entries we saw today was from a consultancy which unsurprisingly got the total attention of the judges. How? What they did was literally lay out the Objectives side by side with the Results. It was effective presentation which showed the judges at a glance how they had delivered against their programme promise/objective. It was that logical. That clear. And they deserved to be shortlisted.

What professionals in the UK can expect is for PRCA to run training sessions to show younger PR professionals how to write SMART objectives.  Professor Tom Watson, Professor of Public Relations, Bournemouth University, UK, laid down the ground rules at the European Summit presented by AMEC and the IPR in Lisbon this year. He said, simply but clearly: “You cannot underestimate the important of goal setting and objectives and of course it is linked to the Barcelona Principles.”

Based on today’s judging, AMEC will commit to develop- an international webinar “teach in” to share tips like this ahead of the Call for Entries for the AMEC Awards (Sept 19). 2012 is a big year for the AMEC Awards. If everyone gets behind it. 2012 is the year it goes truly international to show best practice. More about this soon with the Call for Entries due on September 19.

We can make global standards in social media measurement happen

There are a number of social media measurement initiatives running worldwide and that is exactly why AMEC has formed a Social Media Measurement Group.

Working together we can make global standards in social media measurement a reality. For its part, AMEC has committed to work in coalition with like-minded international groups, including PRSA, IPR, Council of PR Firms and others, to make global standards for social media measurement a reality.  Already good conversations have taken place.

Together...we need to bring greater consistency to social media measurement and cut through market place confusion.

Development of global standards for social media measurement was one of the key elements of the Measurement Agenda 2020 debate at the AMEC/IPR European Summit in Lisbon in June this year.

The new AMEC Group was launched today as an international fusion of talent from Asia, North America, Europe and the Middle East. The group will be chaired by Richard Bagnall, Managing Director of Metrica(Gorkana Group).