You're Gonna Need a Ruler For This One

As the new media intern at my current internship, one of my responsibilities is maintaining and updating our social networking sites. But at the end of the day, how does my supervisor know that I'm not just doing my job- but doing my job well.

How do we put a number on the human interactions that take place on Facebook or Twitter? There is no cookie-cutter answer to this question, but there are tips and guidelines that companies can follow in order to measure their ROI relating to social networking.

These measures can be divided into two areas: qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative measurements give insight to the quality of the connections that are occurring on your social networking sites. For example, it's not just about how many Facebook fans you have, but how many of them are commenting, engaging in discussion, re-tweeting, or posting to your site. Have 137,560 fans or followers means nothing if they aren't actively involved!

Yesterday I met a girl in Pennsylvania at an anti-human trafficking lobby day that said to us, "I found out about this information through the Facebook invitation that you posted [on your fan page]". It felt good to know that my posts were not falling on deaf ears, and even better to know that my supervisor was standing right next to me!

Quantitative measurements are where these numbers, like Facebook fans, start to matter. I am constantly looking at our Analytics page to see how many people read our blog, and more importantly- how many new users read our blog. Obviously, our dedicated readers are extremely important to us, but we also need to know how to attract new readers and bring in more traffic. Measuring the amount of Facebook friends or Twitter followers you have helps you recognize what you're doing well and should continue doing OR if you lose friends, what you need to stop doing.

If my post doesn't make sense- it's not my fault. There's no easy answer to this question, right?

Social Watch:Trends to Look Out For

All of the articles I came across listed similar trends related to social networking to look out for in the year 2010 and beyond.

For the most part, the ideas were the same: Social media is growing! yes. The audience is in control! duh.

There were two trends, though, that really caught my eye.

Trend one.

To the marketing team:

Have you considered creating a Social Media Protocol? A policy that sets "rules of engagement" for multiple networking sites. This is a trend that will soon be implemented at your company, if it hasn't been already. It'll probably look a little something like this:

1. Don't be mean to our followers, friends, or foes - it just makes us look immature

2. Don't curse and definitely DON'T TYPE IN ALL CAPS. It offends some people..unless of course you're being nice like, "THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT JENNY! WE REALLY APPRECIATE IT! In which case you should add a smiley face because, well, it looks nice. ;)

3. Don't be an idiot.

Trend two.

To the Corporations:

Try as you might, it is harder than ever before to control your employees. The reason being because social media is now able to reach behind corporate firewalls. I had some no idea that 70 percent of organizations ban social networks. SEVENTY!? With the rise in sales of smartphones, employees are now taking their social networking off their computers and on to their iPhones.

But, there is a solution: take their cell phones away. It's easy and it works! Just put a little bin at the entrance of the building where cell phones and any other distractions go. But I can't take all the credit for this wonderful solution. I got the idea from a sorority. Not really a corporation, more like kindergarten- except you have to pay for it.

Kudos to me.

221B Baker Street

Very rarely do I get writers block. Actually, it has only happened twice in my entire life. Usually, when I sit down to write the ideas come flowing from my brain, through my hands, and onto the paper (or in this case..my keyboard, laptop, or what have you).

But as I lay here, trying to write this blog, my mind is preoccupied with only one thought- bread, and it's not as random as you think.

I recall someone once telling me a "fun fact" (I am quite fond of random fun facts)- that grocery stores purposely put the bakery near the entrance so that when a customer walks in they immediately smell the delicious baked goods and are thrown into a shopping frenzy. She may have put it more eloquently. But neither here nor there.

Albeit deceptive, I remember thinking how ingenious this concept was. Get into the customers head, make it easy to guide them towards the things they like, and keep them coming.

The rise of the internet and technology has simplified the manner in which businesses are able to do this- to predict what we need, what we like, and what we want. They are able to cater to these needs by tracking our every move.

With methods such as split testing, conversion funnel analysis, and click tracking, companies are able to understand how we view their sites. Did we like it? Which page did we visit most often? What turned us off from the page- when did we exit out? With this information they are able to customize their pages, rearrange the layouts, the formats, all so that we stay there longer and (hopefully) by their product.

And it's not just what buy..oh no! It's what we watch, how we got there, the flow of traffic. What page did I click on that led me to this video? What exact words did I use in the Google search that sent me to their site? They want to know these things. So that they can position themselves more favorably. So that they can get inside our heads.

Tricky tricky, me likey!