*** To register, please go to SMC Atlanta’s Eventbrite page ***

Join Social Media Club Atlanta on Thursday, September 17 at 5 Seasons at the Prado for “Social Analytics: Measuring the Relationship between Brands and Consumers” — part three of our three-part “Social Media Love Affair” Series.

If your organization has invested in social media, it is time to begin identifying the parameters for tracking, measuring and reporting the activity. In this discussion, we’ll hear from panelists Jim Anderson of Vitrue, David Vanderpoel of North Highland Consulting, and Jim Snyder of Net-Net Analytics as they talk about social analytics and the latest approaches and tools for helping their clients measure social media initiatives.

Topics Include:

Establishing Goals & Objectives

• What should or should not be measured in Social Media?
• What is and is not Social Media ROI?
• Do your customers/consumers want to be tracked?

Finding the Right Tools & Methods

• What can existing web metrics platforms do / not do?
• What SM specific platforms exist that can be integrated with existing web analytics?

Interpreting the Data into Meaningful Numbers

• Examples of SM scorecards – what are the most important metrics? Who’s doing it well?
• Do social media numbers always tell the real relationship story?

Future of Social Analytics

• What should organizations be looking for?
• What does the integration of social with the rest of digital and traditional look like?

Special thanks to RealPlayer SP for their sponsorship of this month’s event. Launched in July 2009, RealPlayer SP is an application that allows you to download video from multiple web sources and then remix and replay it on the portable video player of your choice. Click here to download and check out the player.

PANELIST BIOS:

Jim Snyder – Web Analytics Specialist at Net-Net Analytics
Jim Snyder has over 12 years of experience in web analytics and content and online marketing positions at top sites including CNN.com, Weather.com, and research institutions Yale University and Georgia Tech. Jim has the unique combination of web analytics and content strategy along with hands-on experience in web software and database development.

Jim Anderson – Chief Product Officer at Vitrue
Jim Anderson has nearly 20 years of experience and a successful track record of leading development teams to collaborate with sales, marketing, and other constituents to deliver successful consumer applications. At Vitrue, he guides the com

David Vanderpoel – Principal at North Highland
David works in North Highland’s Strategy and Marketing practice and leads their Social Media team. In his role, David has advised several of the world’s biggest brands on social media strategy, mobile strategy, and precision marketing. While North Highland doesn’t cite clients by name, much of David’s recent work is in the public domain; including high-profile apps and pages in Facebook, extensive campaigns in Second Life and YouTube, and Emmy-nominated work with EepyBird.

ING’s Digital Advertising Director Jon Caddell gave an honest perspective on both the difficulty and challenges of implementing social media at a large, reserved company. Jon’s essential message was that in organizations that are slow-to-adapt and focused very heavily on traditional ROI metrics, the best strategy is to go in small and deliver ROI value that is already understood and embraced by the company.

In Jon’s case, it was his decision to marry a social media campaign to accepted and tested targeted advertising initiatives with LinkedIn and Facebook that allowed ING to enter social media on their own terms and at their own pace. By utilizing data-driven engagement ads that tapped into social media user profiles and by offering up value to the consumer (a popular retirement calculator application), ING was able to subtly introduce their brand into the social media conversation and deliver ROI that was significantly higher than a traditional banner-only campaign.

L-R Jon Caddell (ING), Michelle Batten (SMCATL), Diane DeSeta (SMCATL), Dan Greenfield (SMCATL)

Jon was able to deliver great advertising impressions AND also backdoor his brand into social media by working closely with his analytics team to adjust KPIs and show greater ROI than a standard banner run. His ROI success has allowed Jon to demonstrate internal proof of concept to senior management and allow ING to inch further along into opening up the brand to a larger social media engagement. A real world lesson for many big brand marketing folk looking for ways to move the social media needle in cautious organization.