Ads are like throwing darts and Social Media can't be measured

So how do you decide where you’re going to put your money? It can often feel like the first time you ever put a dollar bill into that Pepsi machine that sucks in your dollar and spits out a can of cold soda – that is when I first did, I just didn’t know if it would just disappear or bring my desired return. Or like throwing darts, in that you have a target but no real solid knowledge of what you are going to hit.

Advertising has always been covered in debate as to if it is really trackable. Can you measure results? Now that fight has gone by the way side, and people have shifted their concerns to if social media can be measured. It is truly this big debate that fills many blogs and even only a year ago the traditional marketers were saying “you can’t measure social media” while the SM evangelists were saying “give me a break”. The fact is, it is easier to measure. When you place an ad in the newspaper, the best way to measure is when the paper comes out and you get flooded with calls, then it worked. But what if your sales cycle is much longer than that? What if you are like Murata Machinery and you have to be top of mind for a long time before it turns into a sale? How do you measure that?

The fact is, the relationship can be measured in many ways. The hardest one to measure is the one that yields the least results (not no results, just the least). There are many ways that you can measure. First, measure the the medium before you put money or time into it. Here are some questions I think you should ask:

Is your customer going to be exposed to your advertisement if it is placed here (such as a magazine that men read and your mens cologne)?

Are they engaged in this environment or more passive (Is it a browsing magazine or a more in depth educational magazine)?

How far are they between my ad and a call to response (such as an ad in the subway and our online store)?

How many people are there (such as the millions on facebook or the thousands watching the local news)?

Finally, can you afford the frequency needed to capture them as a customer? (like a long term social media plan or one month of radio ads).

What do you think?