Measuring social media likes and clicks was enough when social media was a young technology. Now it is an important and sophisticated customer engagement tool, so measurements need more sophistication to ensure social media strategies are making the desired impact.
By Joshua Ferdinand

Social media is now a major marketing technology for building a brand's reputation and driving business from the customer's first access to desired outcomes like a sale. Initially, the measurements commonly used were very simple – number of likes and clicks and then conversion rates. The entire middle of the customer journey was ignored, so there was no way to know what could be done to make a bigger impact.

To get the full value of social media, measurements need to provide information about strategy effectiveness, content impact and progress toward desired outcomes. Without that kind of information, it is easy for marketing resources to be misdirected.

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