Are Social Media Marketers Improving Their Measurement Skills?

Lack of defined metrics and smaller scale keep marketers from tackling measurement challenges

Most marketers feel they are improving in their ability to measure the return on investment of marketing efforts, including certain elements of social media marketing.

In its “2011 Marketing ROI and Measurement Study,” Lenskold Group found that 14% of marketers thought they were very much improved at measuring ROI, 35% said they were somewhat improved and 30% said there was a slight improvement. Only 22% of marketers saw no improvement.

When it comes to social media, there are several outcomes that marketers believe they are able to measure well. On a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), 43% of marketers rated their ability to measure the amount of engagement or participation a 4 or 5. Marketers also reported they are good at measuring new names generated (36% rated it 4 or 5), prospects or leads generated (32%) and a change in awareness or perceptions (26%).

Lenskold also found that around half of marketers consider social media measurement a high priority. Of the 45% who consider social media measurement a low priority, 41% said it was because they were still testing and experimenting on a small scale and 19% said they did not have defined metrics or objectives.

Of those who reported that social media measurement was a high priority, most (65%) said they made it a priority because they needed to improve effectiveness. Additionally, 59% said they needed to improve integration with other marketing.

As marketers experiment with more social media elements and make a greater effort to define their objectives, measurement will only rise as a priority. As it does, marketers will learn from their work and continue to grow in their ability to measure marketing impact overall.
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