This may sound slightly ironic, coming from me, but I think sometimes we fall a little too in love with metrics. The Internet has trained a new generation of marketers and brand managers to expect that every impression, message, action and conversion should be measurable and trackable, and “less measurable” media such as TV, Print and Radio have suffered as a result. Today, social media is part of that conversation, and the tools and techniques to measure social engagement efforts are legion.
I recently jumped in on a Twitter discussion between a few folks who were at odds about defining social media’s role in building and managing communities. Some felt that requiring social media as part of the job description for community managers was not right and might lead those interested in the role to overlook other skills important for the job. Others stated that they could not think of one community management role that could not benefit from the use of social media therefore it was a must have skill for those in the position. I tend to lean more towards the latter opinion. I posted a few messages from the Twitter exchange below.