How Are We Measuring Social Media?
Macy’s president/CEO Terry Lundgren said today that there are more than 75,000 fans of his company’s Facebook page. But is that a fair number to use to judge its success?
It’s a huge number for a two-month-old group. But how many of the group’s members really are fans of Macy’s (you don’t need to qualify to join a group), and how is Macy’s using its Facebook page to engage its fans?
It looks like it’s working for Macy’s, in a way. Fans are showing their love for Macy’s on its wall, and Macy’s is using it to promote its Come Together cause to fight hunger. It seems to be using it to promote its events, but not using it for couponing or to engage customers.
But is Macy’s able to use its Facebook presence to drive traffic to Macys.com or to ultimately make the sale? That’s something that’s yet to be seen, and maybe it’s not the best use for Facebook.
What do you think?
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October 1st, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Still asking all the right questions, Tim! For most marketers, yes — “size matters”. Why? As I see it “the experts” are one reason. They seem to be ported over from the “brand advertising” world where the most scientific (measurable) it gets is a “target demographic.” The other reason we focus on quantitative measures of social media success is that’s how Facebook, Twitter et al FORCE us to use it.
Consider what Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. — and how we all have a very similar experience when we log on. We’re asked for permission to pillage our computers’ contacts — email addresses. Then we’re asked to spam them. Er, I mean “let everyone know you’re on Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn…” :)
It’s all about quantity because it’s all about making money (selling banners) or achieving valuation (Twitter) based on quantitative measures. And for some reason marketers are all too willing to talk about “how big mine is…” and ask each other “how big is YOURS?”
Remember, Tim, when affiliate marketing programs first came out? It was the SAME thing… “so, how many affiliates do you have,” said CEO of Company A to VP, Marketing of Company B. 2 years later they weren’t talkin’ that talk no more because they realized — SMART affiliate marketing wasn’t about quantity anymore. It never was.
I’ll argue all day long that most people that follow brands don’t have serious interest in what they are saying. Brands often translate follower “votes” into “attentive listeners”. In fact brands love using that that word “followers” — loyalists! Right? Wrong. They were, one day, curious onlookers — most of which find your tweets rather useless.
I say all this in full recognition that Macy’s has all kinds of good will smeared all over its wall. I just don’t really give a hoot about it because I’m more excited by customer ACTIONS they’re prompting — as you seem to be.