Just because data is precise, doesn't mean it is valuable.
A thermometer is precise. However, even without a thermometer, you can answer the question, "Are you feeling uneasy?". A thermometer only verifies.
Social media an*lytics tools are similar to thermometers
They only confirm or disprove your a**umptions. They don't help in decision making and planning. Their focus is on mining numbers that can be turned into pretty charts or graphs: Time of publishing, % split of content by video/photo/text/audio, Average comments per post.
and so on... an*lytics don't give answers
The general feeling is that if numbers go up, everything's great. But almost nobody knows why and what is the impact. Consider these situations- Time on page might go up, but is it because visitors are confused where to go (user journey)? Number of fans went up, but is it because you offered freebies in a contest? click throughs for an ad went up, but is it because people accidentally clicked on it while trying to close it? an*lytics overlook marketing ecosystem
Makers of tools fail to consider the role of an*lytics in the larger context of a brand's marketing. By focusing their energy on perfecting algorithms, they overlook the more important questions:- What are the relevant use cases of social media in different industries? How do people interact with brands online? What are the day to day decisions taken by a social media manager? What is the lifecycle of traditional marketing campaigns? What are the objectives of a brand's marketing team - sales, brand equity, awareness, brand affinity etc.? Lifecycle of online marketing ecosystem
A social media team does not function in a vacuum. They function to the beat of the brand's overall marketing calendar drawn at the beginning of the year.
This would vary depending on the brand and the industry. For instance, a car brand will plan its social media activities around car launches and festival offers. On the other hand, a sports broadcaster would be active throughout the year with big campaigns planned for major sporting events. While the car brand would track share of voice to measure success, the sports broadcaster would track total matches streamed and average view time. To approach both brands with the same an*lytics solution is ludicrous.
For an*lytics products to become useful, its builders need to understand the larger ecosystems. Understanding social media ecosystems
There are only a handful platforms that users start adopting habitually. Often cited examples include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. The common thread among these is they fit into existing ecosystems, instead of functioning as a stand alone destination. For instance, take Facebook. It easily blends in to your day to day behaviour. It fits as part of a larger social system of making stronger connections with people. Facebook does this by triggering existing behaviour patterns: "I want to know where my friends are traveling to" "I want to tell people that I graduated from college" "I want to find recommendations for cafes in my area" "I want to know what songs my best friend likes listening to" "I want wish my colleague a happy birthday" "I want to share my outrage about people littering on the road" "I want to shout out in joy about the national team winning the world cup" These different triggers makes you want to come back again and again.
Align an*lytics with ecosystems
an*lytics tools, on the other hand, are not built keeping in mind the larger social system.
A habit forming product is created when a user pa**es through 4 stages - Trigger, Action, Variable reward, Investment. To become a habit, an an*lytics product also needs to focus on these 4 stages of the user journey. Trigger What did I do yesterday? How far am I from achieving the objective? What should I plan for tomorrow? Action What are the simple repetitive action an an*lytics user should do in anticipation of success/reward? Set the objective, Map the plan of action, Measure actual v/s expected performance, Repeat. Variable reward What are the incentives for using an*lytics - mastery, competency, completing tasks, co-operation? Investment How will the repository of data be built over time and how can that knowledge be used for future decisions?
Image credits:
Marketing manager cartoon -> Source
Pinterest Hooked model -> Source