Recommendation: A digital media framework for all.

TLDR: You remember? On June 3, Forrester showed that measuring success is the biggest challenge in digital marketing. And we promised a recommendation to all who know / fear that tools are not the solution. Here it is. How nice that Facebook supports it since last week.

Continuation - Communication Management - with Yesterday's Tools?

We had seen: The metrics and measurement methods of "social relationship tools" are yesterday's news and irrelevant.

What is now added to this is the realization that the KPIs of the social platforms themselves are also yesterday's news. This is evidenced by an announcement from Facebook on July 9. It states the following (quoted from allfacebook de, original here):

"Advertisers (...) need to know how effective their ads are at driving their stated goal. That's why starting today, (...) , we're updating the definition of cost per click (CPC) on Facebook to only include clicks to websites and apps, and not likes, shares and comments".

and ...

"It's also important to remember that having lots of likes and shares on an ad or post is rarely an end unto itself."

So much for Facebook's original sound bite.

Facebook's Message: The End of Specific Social Media Goals and Metrics

The shifts mean big changes, this time not just in API programmers, but in the mindset of digital marketing and communications managers .

(For those who can't relate: please read the FB sentences above out loud to a corporate social media manager - and then listen carefully).

Facebook's measurement of success is thus similar to the common currencies in marketing and media. Conversion and CPC are measured just like elsewhere in performance marketing - and Likes are left alone.

"I see," says the advertiser, shrugging his shoulders. But communications and marketing managers are alarmed

The end of special SocMed metrics (also observed in media response), increases the pressure for integration. CMOs and CCOs must take away the special role of social media.

"Clearly," the agency says, "SocMed will be absorbed into content marketing."

But there, people talk about advertising and pay in paid media currency. How are communicators supposed to reconcile that with corp comm and PR?

Our message: The framework for integrated performance measurement is already ready.

For us as specialists in marketing evaluation, Facebook is pushing the market in the right direction, namely the integration of digital silos. We have been working on this for years. If you want to integrate the digital disciplines, you MUST align the fundamentals of success measurement.

No more different yardsticks for classic and digital. No more special metrics for each silo, comparable statements about "Paid", "Owned" and "Earned", that sounds good, but how do we get there?

How good that the future car manufacturer Google came around the corner in 2014 with the Hero - Hub - Hygiene model for content.

Designed to facilitate discussion about Digital Storytelling (which it does), we used Google's 3H model to develop an approach to metrics integration. The core idea: we think in terms of campaigns rather than channels.

Performing KPI integration on the basis of campaigns is actually obvious. This is exactly how marketing practice works: campaigns bundle budgets, targets and management attention.

What counts in marketing are campaigns - not channels

The advantage of campaign focus: If performance measurement is carried out in the campaign context, the annoying variety of "silo analytics" in social media and website, which are a major obstacle to integration in the corporate day-to-day, is eliminated. This does not mean that silo tools will become superfluous; they will continue to be needed to optimize content, websites or advertising media. It's just that they're no good for controlling.

If we succeed in cutting out old digital habits, many things will become easier.

What integrates digital media are comparable metrics - and no others.

Our PRO model provides a crucial basis for the integration and comparability of all digital channels. It is a model for the overarching evaluation of campaign success and content marketing.

And this is how it looks.

(excerpt)

Our recommendation. Use the methods for measuring success to bring together what belongs together.

Native advertising: We're happy to provide support. With advice and data service for day-to-day business.