Continuing with my recap of the Chicago PR: Get in the Loop posts (recap of the keynote here) , I attended a session hosted by Amber Naslund on “Measuring and Analyzing Social Media.” I’ve been following Amber for a while on Twitter and read her blog religiously (check both out).

Even though our session was only 45 minutes, I could tell Amber could lead a conversation about measurement for hours. In mostly Amber’s words, here are some of her tips:

• It’s critical to set measurable objectives. Your objectives should relate to reputation, awareness, money, engagement, education and entertainment. Find out what’s measurable for these subjects and get to work.
• Start with benchmarking. It’s easy to set a goal or objective, but it’s important to have an understanding where you are at this second before setting goals.
• The ultimate metric is how much money you make through business efforts. The best digital efforts are the ones who are actually making money through online strategies. Remember to be strategic and not just hop on the tactics bandwagon.
• ROI is only one measurement. Executives are looking to see if their investments are worth it, but there may be more to the picture than just measuring ROI. I came in to this session thinking that it’s all about ROI. Amber told me no. I believe her. What comes after ROI isn’t totally clear and you need to guide the measurement beyond just ROI.
• You should always be learning something new through measurement. You can easily get lost on mounds of data, but if you’re not analyzing what’s being said about your company, you’re missing a huge opportunity to engage your community.
• Sentiment is a good guide, but a bad metric. It’s important to understand sentiment in posts but quantifying other things is more important.

Below is the slide show, courtesy of Radian6′s Slideshare page:

Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation. Amber is wicked smart and she made us think big in terms of how we can apply these measurement standards in social media. However, I left with more questions than answers. I suppose that’s both good and bad. I know I have a lot to learn on the subject, but it is so subjective.

How can you learn more about measurement? Any practical advice out there?

Like many people, I’ve been reading a few articles here and there surrounding NBC’s decision to replace Conan O’Brien (or Coco, for those who are particularly close to his show). While Conan may not have been bringing in the ratings NBC was looking for, it appears the influence value Conan brings to the table is far greater than strictly traditional television ratings. To me, this is another example of incorrectly applying traditional measurement techniques in order to measure success.

It’s a little late to take back all the legal issues and settlements. However, some important lessons were learned. Besides never making a comedian mad, NBC [hopefully] learned never to miss out on a huge opportunity with community. A colleague, Rebecca Denison, asked on her blog how to quantify the measure of influence. It appears that Conan wasn’t big on TV ratings, yet he leads an enormous groundswell online. Instead of giving up, NBC should have found another way to capture Conan’s community. With a few witty tactics, Conan single-handedly armed millions of people against the network. He could have done the same, but instead arming millions of people to support NBC.

Where is Conan’s blog? Is he on Twitter? Does he have a YouTube channel? It appears Conan was not part of the groundswell until after NBC was talking about getting rid of him. In looking over the POST model from Groundswell, NBC broke the first part. P – People. Conan is popular among 18-34 year-olds. This demographic is active on social networks, yet the Tonight Show isn’t. It was only a matter of time before someone harnessed the power of this groundswell; Conan managed to after NBC wanted to get rid of him. Even though Conan is out of a job, guess who lost a lot of loyal stakeholders?

Even so, Conan is still out of NBC. I think it’s best to cite “irreconcilable differences” for this divorce. So, what’s next for Conan? I just read a piece in the New York Times recommending Conan skip the time slots and make the Internet his time slot. If I had to guess, I think Conan will continue to harness this groundswell online. Whether he joins another network is up in the year, but his Internet presence is here to stay.

So, until NBC figures out what they’re doing, I’m with Coco. I wish him the best of luck with his $30 million and his next oppounity online. Are you with Coco?

Original photo with more “I’m With Coco” swag can be found here.