Many Happy Returns: How Companies Measure Their Social Media

by Mauren Kunz, Vollmer Public Relations

So you’ve decided to venture into the social media realm, but how do you know if it’s making a difference and reaching your audience? We talked to some companies leading the way in social media to find out how their outreach through up-and-coming avenues is making an impact in a real way – the bottom line.

The General Motors family of brands was among the first to adopt social media when it launched its FastLane blog in January 2005. GM now utilizes a series of blogs, along with Twitter, Facebook and other tools, to spread its good news and educate its audiences, even throughout the bankruptcy process.

Rather than assigning social media aspects a numerical value for measurement, GM takes a different approach – measuring quality over quantity. That includes anything from first-class conversations to comments from people that say their outlook on the company was changed by a GM social media intervention. GM also utilizes a paid program to track page views and clicks on the various GM blogs, and even piloted a software program that measures the tone of GM-related blog posts to identify which are most influential.

“The piloted software streamlined the process of responding to posts, which we try to do on a regular basis,” says Adam Denison, assistant manager, Chevrolet Communications. “That allowed us the opportunity to be involved in the dialogue from the beginning. When it comes to measurement, we look more at how the conversation is changing as a result of our efforts, and we see it working.”

Southwest Airlines, another social media veteran, first jumped onto Twitter in June 2007, shortly after the 140-character site launched. Known for its non-traditional attitude to flying, the low-fare air carrier uses a combination approach to measure its outreach efforts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

“We measure many of our social media channels similarly to how we measure PR,” says Christi Day, emerging media specialist, Southwest Airlines. “There are a ton of free tools that can help us gauge followers on all three outlets, but we also subscribe to paid analytical tools that help capture the entirety of the conversation.”

A combination approach seems to be working for the company, which now boasts more than 115,000 Twitter followers, more than three times the number it had on June 1, 2009.

“We’ve found that the best way to measure is to be in the tools every day, using them to build relationships with the audience,” says Day.

No matter what your company values, there are tools to measure your outreach efforts and ensure you’re contributing to the bottom line. Turn to the experts at Vollmer, and let us help you determine what makes the most sense for your business!