Social Media Metrics – Kristaphere…
One of those annoying little points of clarity came screaming out at me today…I was reading Kristaphere and came across this about social networking metrics:
I think the fallacy here is thinking one can accurately discern human behavior and motivation from quantitative measurements. I’m from the old school. If you want to know why customers did something: ask them. Directly. Listen to their answers and act accordingly. No, you can’t point and click to get this information or have a pretty line graph in a nanosecond, but you’ll have the most valuable information available for making decisions. How many times do you shop on-line or in person and say “I wish they’d ask me what I think about…..” but you never share it?
After I wiped the ginger ale off my computer screen, I had to think “these are the truest words I will read all day…” Remember – metrics are nice, but they don’t take the place of interacting with (and understanding) the customers – at least when you want real results.
3 thoughts on “Social Media Metrics – Kristaphere…”
Vario: Thanks for the affirmation and linkage! Visit anytime. –Krista
I couldn’t agree more. Actually talking to the customer is very important to learn about their business: What works, what doesn’t and what they foresee in their future. Doing all the analytics and technical feedback is a great offering, but knowing and interacting with your customers can be a priceless investment. You’re not only keeping on top of what the needs of your customers are, but you’re fostering a relationship that will hopefully keep you at the forefront of their marketing process.
We often become too enamored with our technology, and forget our real goals. Having good numbers to show the boss or customer that we’re achieving the goals we’ve set is still important, but real life situations tend to be more amorphous, less clear cut.
The metrics are one tool in coming up with an overall picture of what’s going on. Note that word, tool – their just a means towards our goal, not the goal itself.