No Magic Wand for Measurement

June 3, 2010 | Posted by: Thea Roberti

For years, I have preached about the inaccuracy of some automated analysis tools and why, at a bare minimum, a certain level of human analysis is necessary. Now, with the flood of new measurement tools on the market that claim to help us measure both social and traditional media, it is more important than ever to take a critical eye to these tools.  We do not want to fall into the far too easy trap of thinking that we can simply press a button, produce pretty charts and graphs, and stick them in front of our clients, without ever stopping to examine whether or not the results are accurate.  This approach would absolutely come back to bite us.

This blog post by Katie Paine "I'm 100% Convinced that 50% of PR and Social Media Metrics Are Wrong"...and if this was accounting, you'd be in jail discusses many of the pitfalls of measurement that my colleagues have heard me talk about.  Measurement may seem “easy” or “simple,” especially with the availability of new tools, but it is actually far more complex than most people realize.  There is a science to getting accurate and complete data.  In my opinion, this is what differentiates MG from other agencies.  We can stand behind the data that we provide.  

I am not saying that all automated tools are bad.  As a former Biz360 Knowledge Engineer, I certainly have first-hand experience with both the pros and cons of automated tools, and I understand how necessary and powerful they can be, especially for large clients.   What I am saying is that we need to choose our tools incredibly carefully (more carefully than ever before).  And - as I have always said - we need to combine any automated tools with human analysis for complete results.