Measurement has arguably be the topic of social media discussions and blogs this year.  Whilst more and more comment is aimed in the right direction looking at job adverts and the like suggests that for many, measurement still means counting your followers and trying to judge ‘engagement’.

Now of course there are going to be some out there that are heading in the right direction.  They won’t be measuring useless vanity metrics, they’ll be taking the things that matter to their business.  They’ll be starting off at a key organisational goal, determining how social can help with that, and then determining what to measure from that.

That’s nice, and a sign that you’re going in the right direction.  I’m going to suggest going one more step however.

Measuring what matters…..to your customers

You see if you’re a true social business then you’re using social to both sense what customers want, and then respond to their demands.  To do this well you need to fully understand your customers, what it is they want and how you can meet that need.  All of the metrics we mentioned above are generally irrelevent to your customers.  They don’t care what the bounce rate of your website is, or whether your social intranet has improved collaboration.

Here are a few things you’ll need to consider when creating metrics that matter to your customers.

How to make metrics that matter to your customers

1. Determine your customers’ outcomes – This should be basic business, you understand what your customer wants, meet that need, both parties are happy.  The thing is, not many organisations actually know what their customers want.  They might know what they want, and then create processes that manipulate the customer down that channel.  Customer service on Amazon (or any other online retailer) is a good example.  Never stop learning about what it is your customers want.
2. Understand your customer’s  context – Context is also very important, because not all customers are the same, and nor do they want to be treated the same.  It’s likely that your heavy users will hav every different needs to the casual user.
3. Monitor in real-time – One of the nice things about social is that it allows us to monitor what customers are doing in near real-time.  We are awash with data on what our customers are doing online, and should be using that data to improve things now.
4. Use scenarios to determine what to measure – For each customer segment you want to create several key customer scenarios.  These are the things you’ve identified that really matter to them.  Once you’ve identified them you can monitor them to see how you’re doing at meeting your customers needs.

Measuring what matters to you is fine, and a whole lot better than simply measuring what is easily available.  The real money comes though when you start measuring what matters to your customers.  These tips should help you get started.  Happy monitoring.