KD Paine: The dawning of the age of revenutionships
August 16th, 2010 by Amy Krigman
Ever since I’ve been in PR, KD Paine has been the undisputed leader in social media measurement. Though when I started out in PR in the 1990′s, it was more about general media.
Of course as time has gone on, and the media landscape has vastly changed, Paine’s measurement models have modified as well.
Paine’s blogged about her latest measurement ideas a few weeks ago when she unveiled a new term she coined as “revenuetionships”.
As she puts it , social media requires that organizations measure not just volume, dollars and cents, but the quality and value delivered by their relationships.
The same hit you got for your client ten or more years ago isn’t the same as today at all. The social context of what your client/your company is doing is of extreme importance.
I saw the beginnings of this back in my days at Cone, when a presentation was given to Dunkin Donuts. This was really the beginning of the internet (around 1996). My boss at the time, Mike Lawrence, provided a terrific overview of what was great about the internet…and potentially not so great.
Like a fake Dunkin site the execs in the meeting were (I think) totally unaware of. Or very anti-corporation sites that people were exploring with, i.e. BankofAmericaSucks.com (not sure if this still exists or not today – it may just be a Facebook page.)
This was of course a huge eye opening experience for these executives. And that was before blogs!
At Paine says, it’s extremely important for organizations to factor relationships and reputation into their metrics now, and as she said “Boycotts and bans can be started with a few key strokes. Rather than leading to a sale, that direct mail piece or email blast that used to sell product, may actually deter people from buying your product because it isn’t eco friendly, or becomes the butt of a joke, or is linked to a cause people don’t believe in.”
It can be scary stuff, but if your social media program is well thought out, and handled by the right organization, your company will be in a much stronger position.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 9:49 pm and is filed under PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
August 17th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Yes,
Quality measurement is critical in social media. An influencer from a brand’s industry who talks positively/negatively about the brand doesn’t have the same value/impact as a quidam. Social media is a network of niche communities and measuring should take that into account as all communities aren’t of equal relevance to a brand’s business.
Laurent