Measure, Measure, Measure!

http://kdpaine.blogs.com/themeasurementstandard/2011/03/
measure-what-matters-is-now-6-on-amazons-pr-
bestsellers-list.html

Yes, we all hear about it, we all know we should do it, but do we know why? Katie Delahaye Paine aims to answer this question in her book “Measure What Matters.”

Paine says we should measure because of the following seven reasons:

1. Data-driven decision making saves time and money

2. It helps allocate budget and staff

3. Gain a better understanding of the competition

4. Strategic Planning

5. Measurement gets everyone to agree on a desired outcome

6. It reveals strengths and weaknesses

7. Measurement gives you reasons to say “no”

These reasons are pretty self-explanatory. But, what doesn’t make as much sense is why so many companies aren’t measuring social. Paine cites two studies that found shocking statistics about measuring, or lack of, social. One study showed “the average corporation spends just 4.5 percent of its marketing budget on evaluation” (16) and the other study showed “79 percent of organizations aren’t measuring the ROI of their social media” (16).

I just don’t understand why companies won’t take the time to measure. If you are going to take the time to produce high-quality content, why not measure it to see if your customers are actually looking at it and clicking through?

I am very excited to start learning about measuring social media. As I am applying for marketing and social media jobs, social media analytics are almost always in the “experience needed” list. Reading Paine’s book will definitely give me some more insight!