You might have heard about the traditional 5 key metrics in measuring your marketing and online marketing success:

1. Awareness
2. Influence
3. Attitude
4. Response
5. Value

But what if there was a different approach we should be taking in our measurement?  One that will clearly define whether or not we need to rework and refine our own messaging and positioning in the marketplace?  The 6^th Key metric, in fact, encompasses them all, and lies in the term we (not so) loosely term: Customer Value Management.

So let us explore…

1. Awareness
   Getting awareness right in the sense of volume to your site, your brand name and your social presence, is a great way of measuring your marketing success.  In terms of Customer Value Management (CVM), though, this does not clearly indicate our success in getting our message across.The measurement here is to ensure that your brand persona or messaging clearly outlines your value proposition, and that it is interpreted this way.  People build trust relationships, and if they do not understand what you’re representing and understand your positioning, they won’t trust your brand and interact.

   It’s not about what you say, but about how they interpret it.

2. Influence
   To measure your influence in understanding that people believe in you so much and enjoy the influence you have in their decision making process, that they want to keep you close. They want you to not only influence them, but also the people around them continuously.
   
   
3. Attitude
   Oftentimes we measure attitude by what we hear people say about our brand or marketing messages.  Let’s turn it around and start by looking at our own attitudes.  If our attitudes are right, if what we say and do make people want to draw near and feel the need to connect and affiliate, then we got it right.  If not, we need to go back to the proverbial drawing board and re-assess where the attitude pointing outwards should or could be adjusted.
   
   
4. Response
   Traditionally response is seen as the response to your message.  Increased sales, increased revenue and more likes and fans in the social realm.  These are all good principles to measure response and have been the driving force behind charts and graphs for years.  And they work.But in terms of the customer and their value, we need to look at our own response to their response.  When faced with a challenge, do we respond with an open mind, or do we react arrogantly?  Do we welcome their opinions on our brand, or follow the regiment ways of mass media, not allowing them to form part of our ethos?

   People don’t care what we know, until they know that we care.
   

5. Value
   And finally – instead of seeing our clients and marketing as just the impact on our bottom line, seeing what value we are adding to them. This is exactly the shift marketing needs to make when we look at our brands becoming interactive instead of trying to dictate to the mass media and enforcing our ideas on the predominantly ‘prosumer’ market.

   Our measurement in engagement value should provide the flexibility and insight to measure whether or not the market is letting us in.

Most of us love the idea (still) of speaking or broadcasting our ideas and values.  The world has changed and is changing as we speak.  New measurement metrics are key to keeping abreast of our client partners, and in this measurement, crucial to our realignment of voice and strategy.

Influence and Collaboration: Robin Pullen, BCI

In this fast-paced technology-driven environment we work and operate in today, people and business have had to adapt and change.

Business conforming to convention can no longer sustain market share and can certainly not bank on maintaining customer loyalty. A complete rethink in business strategy, the way marketers creates a buzz around products and services and most importantly how we go about disseminating our messages to a target audience is required.

We can no longer rely just on mass media reaching a mass market and affecting everyone at the same time in the same way. .The digitization of technology has changed the way we need to communicate and how your audience perceives you as a brand. Research shows that on average consumers are exposed to 2000-3000 marketing messages a day.  Our challenge today is no longer just being the most innovative producer, but the most innovative marketer in getting our products to the fingertips of the consumer seeking it, and almost more so, making the person who is yet unaware of it, feel that they need it.  You have to be able to get into your customers’ heads and hearts, and create a trusted brand affiliation before proverbially getting into their pockets.
. The manner in which target audiences consume content is changing and will continue to change. Where it was once relatively painless to reach your audience through print channels, reaching your audience through multiple channels presents its own set of challenges. Media fragmentation has become a massive challenge for marketers and business. Products previously perceived as luxuries, today, have become commodities.  Most marketing messages will not stand out above others…

Besides this, people have become individuals.  We speak a new language.  Consumers are in control and they want to be heard, leaving us almost vulnerable if we do not adapt the way we speak, think, act – and react.

So how do you establish your product as trusted and known, a brand that stands out from the rest? How do you mobilize your brand?

You can achieve this by speaking to your captive audience, in their language, and at their time…  Your message, when delivered at the  right time and in their preferred medium of communication will now not only be well received, but will also be processed well. You will be able to create the initiation of a trusted relationship between your customer and your brand.  More importantly, you will create a brand that people love as much as you do, and more.

Mobilisation looks towards the people who create within this daunting and yet amazing reality. The very talented individuals who, together, are shaping business and continue to pioneer new technologies, actively creating that which is not yet there.

Social media is all about, well, being social.  The platform was developed to interact (again and more frequently) with the people around us as we live in a more-and-more isolated environment.

As this media evolved and took the shape of groups, chats, instant messaging, professional contacts and job portals, some of the pioneers in ‘social for corporates’ have, it would seem, missed the point.

We are bombarded by a myriad of marketing messages daily.  Emails take the average user approximately 2,7seconds to analyse and assess whether or not it will be opened, read, or instantly deleted.  Ad breaks on television are almost longer than the program itself and almost every website you enter has flashing advertising banners screaming for you to hear their message.

What we want, more than anything, is to be human.  We want to have people (and companies) to interact with us in such a way that it is kept fun, inspirational and even emotional.  We want to be respected for our likes and interests – not some marketing faux.

Direct marketing used to know us by name – social media allows companies to ‘know’ us for us.

Getting a company or brand liked by nations on a social space, is certainly then not a marketing message.  It is an interaction.  A care.  Based on the knowledge gained by constant interaction with the ‘we’ following your company or brand.

Social media is a platform, thus, not for marketing products or services per se, but to be and remain social with the people who care about your brand as much as you do… People who believe in your ethos, trust you, and know that your brand development would mean the development of self.

I wonder how many of you are reading this article on your mobile device or iPad/tablet while waiting for your kids’ school to come out?  I will not be surprised if 40-50% of you are.  Mobile is the fastest growing industry in the world and the future of the internet.

Currently, iPhones account for 58% of mobile internet usage, and 17% come from iPads. . Furthermore, over 74% of the world population own mobile devices, which calculates to over 5 billion people worldwide!  Google also estimates that they have seen a 500% growth in mobile search from 2008 to 2010.

The statistics are borderline unbelievable, actually, but a great reminder as to why it is so important to make websites mobile friendly.  Operative word to this is, of course: Optimisation.

Optimisating mobile sites would include the following:

1. Content: Keep in mind that your computer has a bigger screen than a mobile; put only the necessary information on your mobile site.
2. Design: Try to avoid large images on your mobile site. Too many images can influence the amount of traffic to your website. The reason for this is large images takes longer to download on a mobile device and this can lead to a click away from your website.
3. Navigation: Put bigger buttons on your mobile website. Today, most of the smartphones are touch screens and bigger buttons makes it easier for a user to click on it and this will also make the navigation much easier.
4. Bigger: As discussed earlier, the screen of a mobile is smaller than a laptop screen, make your content, text, images bigger and put important links in big buttons.

After you have optimized your mobile website, make sure you test to see what the site will look like on all kinds of devices (Android, Iphone, Blackberry, Windows Device and an iPad) before you go live.

Why are companies with Facebook profiles on the hunt for more “Likes”?
It could be one of the following reasons or in most cases all of them:
To gain more social media fans, to gain brand exposure, to position their brands in the eyes of the consumers, and ultimately to effectively utilise this medium to run competitions and promotions.
As the Social Media Expert at SAbest it intrigues me as to why Facebook users do not want to like a Company or Brand on Facebook. I did some research to see why and what expectations people have when they do interact with a Company or Brand socially.

There are various reasons why Facebook fans don’t “Like” a Company on Facebook:

• 54% don’t want to be bombarded with messages or ads,
• 45% don’t want to give any companies access to personal profile information,
• 29% don’t want companies to contact them through Facebook,
• 23% don’t see the benefit of it,
• 4% don’t understand what it means to “Like” a company.

If a Facebook fan likes your Company page, it is very important to observe that they do so with an expectation. People don’t just “Like” every page on Facebook, they “Like” it for a reason. Fans like Company pages to gain access to exclusive content, events, sales or promotions.

47% of users “Like” a page to receive updates about the company, persons or organisation in their newsfeed. 26% want to interact with the page owner. The survey also shows that only 24% want to be contacted through other social media channels such as Twitter once they have interacted with a company on Facebook. 37% do not expect anything to happen.

Media such as photos and videos always perform well on Facebook. It grabs attention in newsfeeds and it is easy to share.

Just ask. People like to interact with each other so ask for those opinions on topics, and if you want your fans to share favourite content, go ahead – ask them.

One of a fan’s expectations is that the page owners will thank them for their replies and for sharing their opinions. From time to time, talk about things other than your products. Wish them happy holidays. Ask them fun questions or to share their personal stories.

Remember, if a fan likes your page; interact with them, because it’s one of the biggest expectations any Facebook Fan has.