If you hold true the notion that being responsive to online customer questions, complaints and feedback is an essential core tenet of good social media marketing, then you should consider your response time a valuable success metric. Being fast (and first) to respond to the online conversation, particularly when it turns bad, is a critical component of online customer service and an engaged social business.
The fast food industry certainly appreciates response time. The word “fast” is in the description of their market segment. Those computer monitors that hang from the ceilings behind counters at McDonald’s, Chick-Fil-A and the like primarily display the orders yet to be filled, but secondarily also flash how long it has been since the order was placed to keep the staff focused on their basic unique selling proposition: fast.
An old man is approached by a traveler. He’s asked how to get to Dublin. The old man replies: “I sure wouldn’t start from here.” As a web analyst I’m occasionally tempted to use that line. It happens when I’m brought into a project long after a site is launched and I’m asked to report on user behavior the site just wasn’t built to measure.
Increasingly the metrics requested are of user engagement, related to social media conversations surround the site content. If my client is lucky I’m able retrofit a solution, but it’s always best to plan for these from the start. Here’s how. I’ve drafted a short list of considerations for you as you prepare for your next site or site redesign.