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You can’t ignore social media: How to measure Internet efforts to your organization’s best advantage

Summary

This will likely be remembered as the year that the new social media movement came of age. From the dramatic acquisition of YouTube.com by Google to the choice of Time magazine’s person of the year (“You”), it’s almost impossible to have a conversation where creating and expanding social media reach, digital influence or customer engagement is absent.

Skepticism about the use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, blogs, podcasts and video blogs (vlogs) is no longer an option. The impressions of customers, potential customers and the general public are now affected by the Internet with as much impact as television and more than newspapers. Newspapers, in fact, are rushing to maintain their relevance by embracing new technologies.

Many advertising executives are still wedded to what could be characterized as the “spray and pray” method of marketing — throw up some ads, do a Web site and then check the circulation numbers, Arbitron reports and page-views. They remain focused on only those metrics as a gauge of success. The challenge for the early champions of Web 2.0 modalities in the enterprise is to address how to measure Internet efforts.