As I write this journal entry for my final assignment on social media metrics and return on investment (ROI), I can’t help but reflect on an event I attended early in the day. Today, a small collection of close friends, neighbors and family gathered for a celebration of life to honor a charming and incredibly articulate woman, Shelly Sanderson. Although my neighbor for seven years, I knew Shelly more in casual conversation. She succumbed to cancer after enduring through a hard five-month battle. I will miss our chats.
I reflect on the moment and remember Shelly as a metaphor for the quintessential qualities of effective social communication. No matter what the occasion of the encounter that brought me in contact with Shelly, she would always ask insightful questions and then take the time to listen. During one of the heartfelt speeches at the celebration, these admirable traits of hers were acknowledged, and I found myself smiling in agreement. True it was. Shelly, who spent a career in early childhood education, could cleverly weave together a tale by merely collecting tidbits of useful information and turn it into an entertaining story for her young audience. Shelly was the epitome of social communication.
Taking the time to listen. From all the assignment readings this month, social listening struck a chord the most. Social listening is that special skill that requires a bit of measuring to track a whole lot of deciphering to understand.
What are our customers saying about our brand and why should it matter? Brian Fanzo, a millennial social media speaker and founder of isocialfans.com, describes it as putting the social back in social media.
According to socialbaker.com, social listening is a key performance indicator (KPI) worth investing time in, if we truly want to build customer relationships based on trust and understanding. Relationships that enhance our brand, encourage engagement and build loyalty so that when things go south, our customers will step up as brand ambassadors and defend our name.
How do we truly understand our customers? The second most valuable skill I learned in ROI was how to optimize my website content with keywords and keyword phrases to reflect what the target audience is asking when they need answers to a problem. I went through my Wix-designed website to optimize content and felt like I had just cleaned out an overcrowded closet. The experience was uplifting, like weeding the garden only less arduous.
The third valuable take away this month was the enriching educational experience with Google Analytics. I walked through the two video presentations assigned in our reading step-by-step using my client’s website, Comox Valley Schools. My understanding of the data and how it contributes significantly to achieving business goals increased ten-fold.
Coming into this course, I had three objectives, learn how web content can go viral, figure out the best ROIs to track and learn how to interpret analytics to determine if my social media efforts are aligned with my client’s business goals.
After putting the pieces of the social media metrics puzzle together, it is evident that every topic covered during ROI will serve me well as a P.R. practitioner. All my goals on this course were met, and then some. However, the most valuable source of literature, the one that comes to mind as I envision myself standing in the office of my client asking for more resources to execute the social media strategy, is the assigned reading from Deidre Breakenridge’s book, Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional (2012).
Breakenridge explains the value of social media metrics quite eloquently in chapter eight, The Master of the Metrics. Specifically, the reference to outcomes, outputs and outtakes, the three measurements that are fundamental in the work of P.R. practitioners. The subtle reminder that these same principles, which I learned early on in my career, hold true today was encouraging. I now use this as a model to explain the role of a communicator to colleagues. When I do, suddenly I see the light-bulb go off, a rather refreshing change to the head-banging moments trying to explain the value of “communicating socially” with the audience.
Thank you, Shelly, for putting it into perspective. Let us not forget the art of listening.
Mary Lee's Mastery Journal 