Social media measurement in higher ed: let’s not talk about it?
Performance measurement in digital marketing is never easy, but it seems that it’s even more difficult with social media.
I’ve observed this frequently among the students of my course on social media marketing for higher ed — as well as in many online discussions when we start talking about the measurement elephant in the room.
Many social media professionals still avoid the measurement talk. And, they will often outsource important measurement decisions (what metrics will tell us if our work was successful or not?) to the tools they use to manage social media.
While no chef will let her knife decide how much spices she should add to the dish she’s cooking in the middle of a crazy, busy dinner service, many higher ed social media professionals let their social media management platform decide what metrics matter.
A tool – even one as important as a chef knife – is never left in charge of the decisions about the ingredients, the recipes or the dishes cooked in a restaurant kitchen. Yet, the Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer and other tools of the social media world are given the responsibility to select the social media metrics that matter by many overworked social media professionals.
Social media is busy, and there’s a need to make things happen all the time and often at the same time. So is the kitchen of a restaurant.
Yet, the miracle of dishes being prepared, cooked, plated and served happens millions of times around the world. Every day.
The Secret sauce? Preparation time!
It can only work in all these kitchens, because of all the prep work that is done ahead of time – the day, the morning or the afternoon before a service.
In a restaurant kitchen, you never know what the clients will order from the menu. You can prepare, you can tell the service staff to do their best to promote your specials, but when an order is placed, it’s show time.
In a kitchen, uncertainty is the rule. Yet, it’s possible to increase certainty by planning ahead, defining the type of food you’ll serve and the one you won’t.
Social media isn’t different.
Yes, you want to keep your social media content fresh and authentic.
You want to listen to your audience, entice them, engage them, surprise them, delight them.
But, you can also decide the type of social media content you’ll serve from your account.
You need to make these decisions ahead of time, so you don’t keep changing directions or worst (improvising).
As kitchen staff members are taught very early in their training that preparation time can’t be skipped (it’s all they do at first), you shouldn’t either with social media.
That’s why a content strategy and an editorial calendar aren’t optional anymore if you work in social media.
That’s why measurement – what will tell you whether or not you’ve prepared, cooked and served the social media dishes your audiences were expecting – shouldn’t be defined by the chef knife or the knife manufacturer.
That’s also why your key performance indicators (what I call success metrics in my classroom) should be identified even before your social media oven is turned on.
Measurement should be baked into what you’re serving and the chef of your social media “restaurant” needs to make this decision.
Meet the Faculty: Karine Joly
Higher Ed Experts is a professional online school for digital professionals working in universities and colleges.
When you take a professional certificate course with us, you get a chance to upgrade your skills by working on your projects, interacting with classmates just like you and getting detailed personalized feedback from your instructor.
Karine Joly founded Higher Ed Experts in April 2007 and teaches Higher Ed Expert’s 8-week online course on Social Media Marketing for Higher Education.
She oversees the development of the professional development curriculum for the school. She shares her insights about emerging web and social media trends on collegewebeditor.com, a popular and independent blog launched in February 2005. She also authors the Internet Technologies column for University Business. Karine has presented on social media marketing, web analytics and online courses at leading higher ed conferences (CASE, American Marketing Association, EduComm, eduWeb, CUPRAP, HighEdWeb, PSEweb, UB Tech, etc.).
Tags: Higher Ed Experts Faculty, Higher Ed News, Karine Joly