Many of you probably have read Karine Joly‘s University Business article about social media measurement, since it’s been out for a month. (Karine blogged about it exactly one month ago, on Oct. 2.) But for those of you who haven’t yet read this article, check out Social Media Measurement 101. In the article, Karine outlines a very simple seven-step formula that can be used to measure just about any sort of communications campaign.
Here are the seven steps:
1. Define measurable goals for social media activities.
2. Choose key performance indicators (KPIs) carefully.
3. Plan ahead and properly set up the right measurement tools.
4. Capture the data at preset intervals.
5. Don’t forget some benchmarking.
6. Share your measurement data.
7. Use measurement data to craft your next moves.
It’s a good primer that anyone in communications or marketing should find helpful.
If you’re really into measurement, you ought to follow K.D. Paine’s Measurement Standard blog for frequent news and insights.
Andy writes! 
Thanks for the plug, Andy!
Hope you had a blast for your birthday. Was it the BIG birthday or is it next year?
At my age, every birthday is a big birthday. ;) (But it wasn’t a “decade” birthday, if that’s what you’re referring to.)
Thanks for the shout out. How come eveyrone has 7 steps, not 3 or five or 10? :) In terms of benchmarks we’ve got quite alot of data these days specific to the Higher Ed marketplace. http://www.themeasurementstandard.com/Issues/10-1-08/painegtsocialmedia10-1-08.asp for starters.
KD – What do you think the shelf life on SM research is? The link you posted is 13 months old. Sone principles and theory still apply, but at what point do we discard data since everything evolves and changes so quickly? (For example, I’d never listen to someone using Twitter data from 2008 to make strategy or content decisions.)