Pro & Cons of Social Media - Assignment Example

Module Social Media Measurement Describe the social media measurement process. Social media measurement is in its early stages, therefore, it is projected to evolve as time goes by and marketers figure out a way to evaluate the data produced by the social media interactions (Truste Whitepaper 2). The social media measurement process comprises of five stages, which begin at the concept phase followed by definition phase, design phase, deployment phase and end at the optimization phase. The concept phase involves determining what brands wish to attain by advancing their relationships with the customers and the prospects.

This stage requires an individual to set business objectives, establish important performance indicators that relate to the objectives and create performance targets to evaluate success. The second stage of the social media measurement process is the definition phase. It requires an individual to make an outline showing how social media platforms could be supplemented to attain a brand target and interact with them to achieve the objectives. Design, is the third phase of the social measurement process.

It involves laying out appropriate venues and specific tactics for the brand that will help in establishing an active social media presence. Deployment is the fourth stage and it entails the program implementation and launch, which ensures that accurate data is collected and the program is launched appropriately. Optimization is the final phase of the social media measurement process. It seeks to look at performance drivers and identify opportunities that can assist in adjusting the program for better results (Murdough 94).

Why is it important to understand the reach of social media—how do the key messages propagate across social venues? The reach of social media refers to the amount of traffic or the number of people that are accessing the social media platform. It involves monitoring the number of mentions and the characteristics of the authors. Some authors have more influence on social media, therefore, being able to promote the brand effectively when they mention it. Other authors have less influence (Bernhardt, Darren & Amanda 137).

Therefore, it is important for the key authors to mention the brand as it will generate more comments and discussions that will promote it. Messages are transmitted across different social media platforms such as Facebook, twitter and MySpace in different ways. Facebook, blogs and discussion forums have room for comments that can be viewed by customers and prospects, therefore, promoting the brand. On the other hand, Twitter offers tweets that can easily be seen by prospect customers when an author promotes the brand (Murdough 95).

Name and describe the pillars of social media? According to Chris Murdough, the three pillars of social media are reach, discussions and outcomes. As aforementioned, reach involves the extent to which the brand is mentioned by different authors on the social media platform. It involves careful considering the authors’ influence and the social media platform used to promote the brand. The other pillar of social media is discussions. In the social media, messages are transmitted to the customers and prospects through discussions.

Brands are promoted by different authors using discussions that influence the customers positively (Murdough 95). The third pillar of social media is outcomes. These include the purchases and number of leads that the brand has received. One should monitor the outcomes as they indicate the economic value of the social media experience (Murdough 96). What does the Application Programming Interface (API) measure? This is a tool that is utilised to help an individual to access social insight activities that are not promptly available in the public domain of the social programs.

Using the API, an individual is able to measure usage and access information on Facebook insights. How does this article make you think about social media?This article helps an individual to see the power of social media in marketing. It shows that social media is an important tool for promoting a brand when one uses the right venues ad authors. The article shows the different ways that an individual can measure social media’s marketing success. It also gives insights into the different ways that an individual can improve a brand’s image by marketing it through influential authors and measuring the impact by evaluating purchases (Murdough 97).

Works CitedBernhardt, Jay M., Darren Mays, and Amanda K. Hall. "Social marketing at the right place And right time with new media." Journal of Social Marketing 2.2 (2012): 130-137. Print.Murdough, Chris. "Social Media Measurement." Journal of Interactive Advertising 10.1 (2009): 94-99. Print.Truste Whitepaper. The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing Surviving and Thriving in The Era of User Generated Content. San Francisco: Truste Whitepaper, 2010. Print.