IAB: Metrics for Cross-Platform

Measuring passive audiences for one media platform is difficult enough - what about developing a metric that tries to measure interactive engagement and involvement across multiple platforms.  A number of major research firms are working on the problem, lead by Nielsen (looking to expand broadcast ratings to online) and comScore (looking to extend online metrics to broadcast and print).

Overseeing these efforts is the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), an advertising and marketing industry group, which is setting guidelines and standards that the industry wants any cross-platform and interactive audience metrics to incorporate before they will be adopted by the industry.  The IAB has recently released a report setting out some basic definitions and outlining six broad goals and 30 core metrics that should be incorporated into proposals for industry-acceptable interactive advertising measures.

The goals recognize that it may be difficult, if not impossible, to build one single effective measure - still, core metrics need to be comparable to those used for other media, and have achievable benchmarks of objective performance.  The report also stresses that social media encompasses more than a single form of engagement.

Determining what you want to know is (or at least should be) one of the first steps in research, and particularly in the development of reasonable and valid quantitative measures.  Too many of the traditional metrics for traditional media were based on what could be easily measured rather than trying to measure the things that those using the metrics really wanted to know.  It's good that the industry is thinking about what it really wants to know about interactive advertising exposure and effectiveness, and isn't rushing to adopt something this time (despite Nielsen's several attempts to jump the gun and get the industry to support it's product).

Sources - IAB Redefines Ad Engagement, Clarifies Core Metrics Cross-Platform, Media Daily News
Defining and Measuring Digital Ad Engagement in a Cross-Platform World, IAB report

Facebook for PR

A recent study of how nonprofits are using Facebook may offer some insights on the general impact and role of social media.  The study, a supplement to the annual eNonprofits Benchmark Study produced by M&R Strategic Services and NTEN Nonprofit Technologies, looks at how nonprofits have been using social media, the successes and failures, and makes some suggestions for the strategic use of Facebook and other social media outlets.
  First, some general results - the study found that the media nonprofit fan page had more than 30,000 "likes", and that wildlife and animal welfare related nonprofit sites were the most popular, with a median of more than 70,000 likes.  The use and popularity of nonprofit fan pages is showing significant growth. Between 2010 and 2011, the median growth rate for fan page users was 70%.  Churn (turnover in users) averaged 0.5% per month.  As for reach, the nonprofits examined reached an average of 20% of their fan base daily.
  The study also looked at several impact metrics. Using the People Talking About This (PTAT) measure, which measures how many people wrote about information on the fan page within a week, nonprofits averaged about 22 PTAT per 1000 fans.  About 9 per thousand "engaged" with the fan site on a daily basis (Daily Page Engaged Users).  Nonprofit fan pages had 2-3 "actions" (liking or commenting) per thousand fans (Daily Action Rate).  There were differences among the various nonprofit sectors in these "impact" measures.

Some of the recommendations -

• "the key is to worry less about [the people who unsubscribe] and concentrate more on producing engaging content for the people who do want to hear from you."
• "If your fan page is one-third the size of another group's page, but has three times the reach percentage, your message is reaching just as many people."
• There are various ways to measure user involvement or impact, and nonprofits should focus on those that best match their missions and goals.

Sources -   Facebook Data Shows What Works,  Brainyard News
You can access and download the main benchmark study, supplement, slides and webinar through http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/ 

Online News and Engagement

A new study of "digital-first" news sites showed that while most are using social media to better engage with their readers, most are finding it difficult to get the numbers they need to see if their efforts are helping.  The study found that there were four general engagement strategies identified -

• engagement as outreach - notifying users of news and sending them to the main site
• engagement as reaction - inviting users to comment on or share news stories
• engagement as civic participation - notifying users of opportunities to address community issues
• engagement as stakeholder participation - soliciting stories, funds, etc. from users

While almost all sites reported using some metrics to track their audiences, these were mostly limited to basic online metrics such as page views and site visitor counts, reported numbers of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, and the number of comments left on the site or on Facebook.  While all are indicators of audience size, they're not terribly useful in terms of tracking engagement, much less whether their social media efforts are enhancing engagement.

  The report also includes some examples of engagement efforts reported by survey respondents, and makes several sets of recommendations, including better definitions and measures of engagement, and greater support for engagement activities by news sites (hopefully supported by greater emphasis on engagement in j-schools, and monetary support for these efforts from "funders")/

  The survey sample was not random, limiting the ability to extrapolate results.  Still, most of the sites participating identified their focus as local or hyperlocal, followed by a focus on coverage topics.  Audience traffic for the responding sites was generally small, with about a third reporting less than 10,000 unique visitors a month, a third between 10,000 and 50,000, and a third having more than 50,000.

Sources -  Online News Startups Need More Data to Convert Users into Supporters, J-Lab press release

Engaging Audiences report