Media Overload

The dishes were washed, the baby put in bed, and I was all set to get comfortable and watch some American Idol when I remembered that there was a presidential press conference tonight.

I began watching the conference and listening to President Obama explain the budget that came out this week, when I decided to also check my e-mail. Of course, while I was there, I checked out Facebook and Twitter and thought about putting in another blog entry.

So I've got on the TV while following what George Stephanopoulos was saying about it on Twitter, and that's when it hit me, this may be more information than I need (or can properly digest) at one time. The thing about integrating social media with offline channels is that it becomes very easy to get swallowed up in media overload!

I'm sure at some point a proper balance will be struck and folks will find an appropriate place in their lives for social media, but until then it's funny to see how ingrained these things can become into our lives.

New media requires new metrics

So you've got a Facebook page, a blog, a Twitter profile and you've posted some great videos on YouTube. Now what?

Okay, so far so good. Any direct marketer will tell you, however, that it's all bogus until you can measure its success against your own quantifiable goals. With today's social media applications, that's tricky. It's not as simple as response and conversion rates, and forget about seeing a clean ROI. But don't let that stop you!

New media requires new metrics for success. For example, your Facebook page might live by such metrics as new fans per month, or posts per day. Your blog might contain measurements on number of new followers per month or number of comments per post. Twitter can tell you the number of new followers per month if you keep a record of it as you go.

These aren't hard metrics on which you should run a small business, and definitely not by which you'd want to run a large business, but rather are directional in letting you know you're creating an impact. If you properly integrate your social media efforts and use tracking code, such as that provided by Google Analytics, you'll be able to see how each piece works together to create an experience for your customers and prospects.

Take a good look at what is important to you in reaching your goals and go from there.

Why do we love social media so much?

I should be in bed now.

My wife has probably given up waiting for me and is fast asleep. I'd join her, but I just need to tweak my Twitter design and check Facebook one last time, in case I missed something vital in the last 20 minutes.

Some people seem surprised by the social media phenomenon, but it's really no mystery at all. People were built to be in relationships with each other, they just can't help it. And social media makes it ridiculously easy to dig up old high school buddies, feel connected to celebrities and people of power, and scratch that itch for a connection with another human being.

If you ask me, social media is here to stay. This digital version of friendship and communication is only going to get more prevalent and more ingrained into people's everyday lives. In fact, for millions of people around the globe, that day has already come.

Why is Twitter so popular, even though few know how to use it?

The more time I spend on Twitter, the more I see it dominated by four groups of people. CEOs of large corporations, celebrities, online marketers looking to promote their small businesses and news media types. When I talk to these people, or others, about Twitter, few really seem to know why they are there or what they're doing. It seems that Twitter is a new tool for which we don't yet have a defined need or purpose, but we're committed to using it anyway.

For me this begs the question, who is driving this commitment, users who are convinced of its coolness or effectiveness or some genius marketing type at Twitter? Either way, its popularity is growing, even if no one can explain why. I guess this is the part where I confess to having been on Twitter for more than a year now (but only for research purposes only, of course). See my experiment at http://twitter.com/phillipbarnes.