The Steps of Measurement

Throughout the entirety of “Measure What Matters” author Katie Paine explains a seven step process that can be used to measure nearly any social media tactic. Using this tool it is possible to see the effects of what you have tried in order to cause a change.

Step one is to define your goals and objectives. Without a goal you have no direction so it is important to start with this. Knowing what outcome you are seeking saves time and money because you will not waste it on strategies that are not centered around your specific goal.

The next step is defining your audience. Figuring out exactly who you are marketing to is essential, it is impossible to know how to appeal to people if you do not know who they are. There is a big difference between an 18 year old girl and a 90 year old man so knowing who you are talking to is important.

After you do this you should define your investment. Figuring out exactly how much your strategy is going to cost is important, otherwise you could end up spending more than you should and throw off your entire budget.

Step four is to determine your benchmarks. Just like you need a control group with an experiment as a basis for comparison, you need a benchmark to compare your social media efforts to. This shows if you have been successful or not.

Next comes determining your key performance indicators. This is what tool you will measure success with, without deciding on these you cannot figure out how successful you actually were.

After this you need to select the tool you are going to measure with. It is important to choose the right tool and ensure that it covers everything you want to measure, you cannot see how successful you were without the right tool.

The final step is turning data into action. This includes analyzing your data, making conclusions on the insight you’ve gained and making recommendations on what you should do next. This step wraps everything up and helps you glean insight on what changes and goals you should make next.