Jo Bell, data and technology director at the digital marketing agency Three Whiskey writes about measurement strategies and how it facilitates performance data.

Harnessing the power of measurement

In today’s crowded online marketplace, brands are constantly seeking new ways to optimise their online communications to get the greatest impact.

Social campaigns offer a great opportunity to drive communication that converts followers into customers. But in order to see impact, you need an in-depth understanding of how your campaigns are performing with your audience.

The answer lies in measurement strategies: simple, practical frameworks that streamline the process of collecting, analysing and acting on performance data. A strategy provides a reliable structure for you to measure the results against your goals, ensuring your social output is having the impact you want.

Building your measurement strategy

There are several ways to approach the development of a measurement strategy, but they all start by clearly outlining your goals. What are you trying to achieve? You might want to offer more customer support, for example, or broadcast your company’s updates. Whatever it is, having a clear idea on what you want to accomplish will make it easier to interpret your data.

Next, you’ll need to match these goals to measurable metrics and behaviours. For example, if you want to track engagement, which acts of audience engagement will you monitor? It could be retweets, replies, clicks, or anything else that demonstrates a quantitative interaction with your brand.

Once you’ve set this groundwork and collected your data, the next step is to organise it into reports. Reports are informational summaries where analytics are turned into meaningful insights that can be easily consumed by end users, driving better decision-making. Whether the results are good or bad, good measurement breeds optimisation and growth.

These steps provide the foundation for a strong working model, but in order to maintain its focus, your measurement strategy should be reviewed regularly to identify any gaps in your understanding or metrics that have been superfluous. This will hone its efficacy and maximise its usefulness as a business tool.

Knowledge is power

Living in the information age, the success and longevity of a business depends largely on its ability to collect, process and interpret data from multiple streams. Effective measurement goes beyond the collection of the data itself, into the broader reporting and interpretation that provides colleagues and management with valuable insight.

The more data a business collects, however, the harder it can be to keep track and draw conclusions that will keep the company moving forward. That’s why it’s so important to have a robust measurement program that streamlines this process as much as possible. Technology, such as centralised dashboards and automation, can play a key role in giving marketers a broad view of how their campaigns are performing across platforms.

Metrics have always played a key role in marketing and how brands plan their subsequent campaigns. Social media metrics, in particular, are highly valued due to the unique and critical insight they grant into audience preferences. But, as valuable as this data is, it counts for nothing if its potential is left untapped.

Organising and interpreting rich, social information through centralised measurement strategies helps us to plan and adapt campaigns that speak to potential customers with greater nuance. They can ensure strategies are aligned with objectives to boost that all-important ROI, while nurturing engagement that resonates with audiences in a bespoke and meaningful way.