There are many ways to measure success in social media. But do most social media measures really mean anything to businesses? To answer the question, we consider the popular Ad Age Power 150 and other measures.

Take One: Becker

Last week Geoff Livingston had an epiphany as his blog, The Buzz Bin, broke the 20,000 mark on Technorati (congrats on that, Geoff), which was a goal he established in March. But now he wonders … what does it mean?

nowisgone.com/2007/09/21/does-blog-rank-mean-anything-seven-pros-and-cons/

It’s the same question I’ve been asking about social media measures for some time at Copywrite, Ink.’s blog (run a search on ROI, among other things). We appreciate it, recognize it, but it just doesn’t translate into anything tangible for businesses, especially those that have yet to enter social media.

I’m not knocking the measures because they help us connect with other people. But if we’re talking truth, social media measures just don’t mean anything to the businesses we serve or hope to serve. What does? Meeting their strategic objectives. That’s it.

copywriteink.blogspot.com/2007/09/changing-times-new-york-times.html

This was one of the reasons I never joined Todd Andrlik’s, now Ad Age’s, Power 150, which was a combined ranking system to measure marketing and public relations blogs that used a number of social media measures: Google rank, Bloglines, Technorati, Andrlik’s take on blogs (his subjective measure). My only motivation for joining would have been because Andrlik is pretty nice guy and it gives you a mini-billboard too (despite the ladder-like feel).

Otherwise, who really cares? It’s the total measure of nothing; although you might think otherwise given the way a few people gloat about their position. Andy Beard, who isn’t on the list, ranked himself when the Power 150 moved to Ad Age. (He has since written other articles about it, noting that it does a good job at bringing the marketing community together).

andybeard.eu/2007/07/marketing-blogs-go-ballistic.html

In his article, Beard asks several good questions, including why e-mail subscribers might be discounted. In subsequent articles, he offers some advice. It’s all good reading.

And far as I know, Livingston didn’t read Beard’s take on it, but he has started asking similar questions. Who uses Bloglines? What about my other subscribers across the vast expanse of other readers? What about e-mail subscriptions? Does Technorati really count considering you can earn links with any number of tricks and tactics? Aren’t RSS subscriptions a better measure? What about Feedburner? And what about traffic? What does it mean? And on and on.

Perhaps not for personal blogs, niche ezine blogs, etc. but most social media measures lead people to erroneous conclusions when they live and work too much inside the bubble. As I’ll be writing about later this week, traffic alone (or rank or anything else for that matter) is not the true measure of a successful blog or business. Let me provide a brick and mortar example…

Sudance catalog (www.sundancecatalog.com/) had opened a store in a premium retail location in Las Vegas called Boca Park. I know it was premium, because I worked on the account, and several stores are thriving there. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Sundance.

Had Sundance used social media measures, it would have been a goldmine. It had tremendous traffic, great brand awareness, high visibility as a flagship store, was written about often, and seemed to have everything going for it. Except one thing. For whatever reason, nobody bought any products, at least not enough to justify the rent.

Take Two: Livingston

I posted extensively again on this topic today at Now Is Gone, so I’ll try to be short and sweet here. Yes we love to talk about rankings in the marketing blogosphere, but they don’t mean anything. As practitioners and players they are important to us – mostly for ego and bragging rights.

But no business or organization will engage in social media for a cute badge on their blog that proclaims them to be the 78th out of a 500 companies on a questionable index. Unless you can attain a top ten ranking on such a large list, who cares? There’s no PR value. There’s only one number that really matters, that’s #1 with your customers.

We also love talking about conversation and ethics, but those are just the means and rules of social media engagement. It’s good to remember that whether it’s a social media campaign that’s meant to enhance or alter perception, or a campaign that seeks to attract a larger community of buyers, corporate social media always has a purpose. Social media must have an end purpose, a measurable, tangible purpose. Even if it is simply engaging with customer to create a better product.

I think the social media marketing crew really needs to look beyond rankings and the era of conversation discussion, and focus on delivering tangible results. It’s a great ideal, but pragmatic realism demands more.

For more read Corporate Social Media: What’s the ROI, nowisgone.com/2007/09/24/corporate-social-media-whats-the-roi/

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