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Can you measure social media?


By Herschell Gordon Lewis


There’s no evidence that investments in social media have paid for themselves.


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or starters: The word media is a plural. So proper grammar calls for “social media are” rather than “social media is”. Unsurprisingly, within


the multifaceted catalogue


universe, attitudes toward social media range from sycophantic worship to pure hatred. Traditionalists tend to reject change they themselves haven’t originated; members of the “That-which-is-new-equals-that-which-is-better” cult defend missteps as well as advances. Paralleling the ancient line from The King and I: Is a puzzlement.


Measuring the unmeasurable What has my blood pressure rising in this viciously competitive holiday season is the flood of “expert” opinions in both directions. Can both pro and con be correct? Well, yes, based on the total history of


catalogues, in which some marketers have achieved such spectacular success online that their printed catalogues have become simple feeder-mechanisms to their web presence, while others have discontinued or downsized their web versions because of lack of action. What differs in the new half-worlds of


Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and their parallels is that at this point in their short histories opinions are just opinions, unbacked by solid evidence. On the pro side, we have this typical


authoritative statement: “Using social media, you are able to add information and value that your customer would otherwise not have access to. Now you have all of these different channels to connect with people, and to show them what you have to offer—not only as a business owner, but as a father, a mother, a community member.” Uhhh. What? On the con side, we have this typical


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authoritative statement: “Anyone who equates ‘I notice you’ as a response equivalent to ‘I shall buy from you’ should not be put in charge of a marketing effort. That person is your ideal competitor, because measurement is as foggy as a rainy November late afternoon.” Uhhh. Noted. As of the declining days of the year 2010, I’m neither converted nor atheistic. Maybe I’m still agnostic, because within my own


Catalogue e-business www.catalog-biz.com


informational circle, opinions masqued as information run both ways. What I haven’t seen is solid evidence that pound for pound, dollar for dollar, or euro for euro, investments in social media have paid for themselves.


Muddying the mix What adds more mud to the marketing waters is inability to identify social media as the prime source of results. And by results I mean sales. “Give them time to grow” may be a logical


argument for a potential flower-garden. It isn’t, in my battle-hardened opinion, a logical argument for a competitive marketing situation. Early on, I joined the chorus of approval


accorded to web catalogues and web single offers. Why? Because results are measurable. Cataloguers know quickly whether an item or an offer is a hit, a miss, or so-so. By easy coding, we can compare not only the effectiveness, medium against medium, but also the effectiveness of the wonderful world in which I operate and happily compete, catalogue and direct response copy. I can’t summon that same enthusiasm


for social media as media. Is it because the two words social and media inhabit different universes? Is it because attention or even interest aren’t parallel to action? The dilemma is one marketers have faced since radio invaded the communications domain of newspapers and magazines, since television invaded the communications domain of radio, since the internet became the latter- day giant of both communications and direct marketing. Are social media the next generation of


marketing media? Or are they just reflections of their given name, social? Ask those questions again, a year from now. Maybe, just maybe, an answer will be rising out of the mud.


Herschell Gordon Lewis is president of Lewis Enterprises. He writes copy for and consults with direct response and catalogue companies worldwide. He is the author of 32 books including the recently-published Internet Marketing Tips, Tricks, and Tactics.


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