Part II: Chapter 05 "The Social Feedback Cycle"

In chapter 5, under Campaign Cbjectives, you have four columns: metric, success value, failure value, current value. If my objective is "product awareness", one metric may be "tweets". Success value will be 5,000 tweets within 90 days of product launch. Failure value... less than 5,000 tweets? Current value = current number of tweets, which is 0 (not yet launched).

Moving onto the Awareness Phase, I hit a similar snag. "Channel" is Twitter. "Success Value" is tweets, retweets, and replies. Failure is... no retweets?

I think I'm approaching this wrong, b/c my failure value is always one unit of measurement less than my success value - or simply the absence of success phenomena. I suspect that this failure value may be more meaningful than that. This trouble with the failure value even makes me suspect that I'm looking at the success value incorrectly.

Re "failure," actually you are asking the right question: The subtly is this: Rather than 5,000 tweets = success, 4,999 = failure, the question posed is more like "what do you **really** think determines success and failure?" For example, would 6,342 tweets--all generated by robotic followers--constitute a success? You've exceeded your numerical threshhold, to be sure, but, in the words of FDR "Have we reached the goal?" Not really. Likewise, if you had 4,997 genuine tweets, is this a failure? More likely, this is a success. So, it's less about the numbers and more about the meaning of the numbers.

For example, on page 93 (Chapter 5) toward the end of the opening paragraph, I say: "Note here that by numbers I don't mean 17 or 112 -- I mean having a quantitative basis for determining whether or not moving from 17 to 112 is getting you where you want to go." So, while 17 may be a failure threshold and 112 might be a success threshhold, 14,15,16, 19, 20 and 110,111,112,...115,116,117...all have real meaning too.

It's to your credit that you are trying to set numerical goals: 5000 may be (and probably is) an arbitrary measure at this point. Watch the trend over time in addition to the literal values, and you'll quickly discover the real success/failure values that apply to your specific case. Importantly, you cannot do this without numbers...so again you are very much on the right track.

Hi Dave,

Firstly I would like to compliment your book; so far it has been a real eye opener and allowed me to get a much greater understanding of the social web than anything I have read before.

The one hiccup I am experiencing at the moment is the worksheets. I appreciate that they have been provided to assist with building a plan, but for me it has been a little difficult to fully understand what information is expected to be completed. For example at the moment the Point of Sale for me is not clear. I am not sure whether this is referring to Point of Sale incentives such as competitive prices, better product, etc.. or the method of transaction such as over the phone, by online, cheque, etc. I assume it’s not the later, but I am not 100% sure when reading the information. I would recommend providing examples of completed forms, do give an indication of what is expected and help with thinking up channels and measurable data.

Please could you clear this up so I understand a little better? Many thanks.

Paul, thank you for the nice note about the book, and for your interest in digging into it and applying it. The exercises are really the key, so your question will no doubt be helpful to others.

In Chapter 5, the overall objective is to understand the components of your current purchase funnel and the "output" end of that funnel, which is to say the conversations driven by actual purchase and use. The focus of Wednesday's exercise--the point of sale--complements Tuesday's work, which was an inventory of your awareness efforts. Point-of-sale efforts aimed at driving purchase includes things like temporary discounts (aka, "on sale", rebates, and bundles) along with end-aisle (think supermarket) or shelf displays and promotions. Online, this might include highly specific keywords associated with the an impending purchase or the use of online coupons.

The end-goal is to be able to combine Tuesday's and Wednesday's results: the things you are doing to drive awareness and the things you are doing to pull potential customers across the line. Between these two is the consideration phase, which is where the conversations generated by prior customers, for example, have their impact. The supposition is this: The degree to which you are forced into rebating or discounting, or the ease with which you can sell your product based primarily on awareness efforts will provide an insight as to how to best leverage the social web.

You'll dive more deeply into the experience drivers in Chapter 6, and then beginning in Part III start work on understanding the various social channels and how to learn from them or use them directly toward your business objectives. The work you are doing in Chapter 5 sets up your success in creating your plan (Part IV).

first i want to say thanks for such a great book. This truly was a "world" that i was somewhat foreign to. I am having little difficulty with thinking through my objectives for the campaign. Overall, we want to increase clients by about 200 per quarter. The objective is to have increased exposure via the web. In particular, whatever networks that would do so....for example twitter and many you have listed in the book. I set the success value at 50 different platforms (twitter, facebook, linkedin etc) , failure less than 50 and current value is zero (since we have nothing in the blogosphere). I feel like i am in the wrong direction. Can you please advise? Thanks so much

Thank you for the nice comments on the book.

If you're early on in the adoption and integration process, then one tip is to focus on one or two social channels rather than attempting them all. In terms of success/failure, rather than measuring the number of platforms measure instead the effectiveness of the platforms that you start with.

So, you may start with Twitter: it's certainly one of the easiest to use. Be sure you have a complete profile. Then, tell others you have this presence ("Follow me here...") and begin to develop that audience. Measure the change in the number of followers, but only on the condition that these are followers you really want. Then, add some of the Twitter API-based features: pull the conversation into your blog or onto your website, and continue to grow it.

Once you've got one channel working and being measured, move to the next. As you gain in your ability to manage these you can move more quickly.

Let me know if this helps you. ;-)

I’m finding the book to be excellently written and completely in line with the service or product line I’m trying to get started. I knew this was the right book when Dave talked about the need to be completely open and honest as this is what makes the service I’m offering work. I have a situation that is holding me back from getting the full benefit of the book and for that matter other internet services such as Google adwords. For example, when it comes to keywords it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I can come close but that’s it. I started week 2 but, found myself in remedial week one. I had a eureka moment when I came across this. http://ask.metafilter.com/63521/Advice-for-finding-reputable-photographer-for-nude-photos This is my client. The woman I’m trying to reach. The service I’m trying to market is crafted around her needs. What should be a straight forward approach is rather complicated. I believe it’s about social norms as the problem is they don’t know how to ask without coming across as a freak or a bimbo and on my end, it’s hard to offer without sounding like a pervert or a sleaze. I’ve heard other women make similar requests when at the studio for other services. But, this is the first time I’ve found something in writing and expressed in a way of what I’ve found women are really secretly thinking and wanting for themselves. I’m finding it hard to believe I’m the only one that has caught on to this. I hear her say words such as “natural” yet for example, she may be forced to search using keywords such as “boudoir”. I’m like the alternative to boudoir. What has worked on a limited bases is when she’s at the studio. If she’s interested she’ll ask some probing questions about the images I have hanging in the studio. It gives me an opening. I’ve found the only way to reach her is when she’s at the studio. Outside the studio it just doesn’t work and I’m trying to find a way to draw her in. Also, posting images of other women, I believe would be a big negative. It needs to be handled more discreetly. Maybe something like drawing her to the website www.womansportraiture.com might work. I hope I’m making myself clear as what my problem is and I’m asking for any suggestions. Thanks Joe Motola

Joe- That's a tough one: I've got several photographer friends. I asked them and they kind of shook their heads. There are the obvious keywords -- "discrete photos" for example, and similar but as you note that's a long-shot. Any search with "nude" is likely to trigger a flood of exactly what she does NOT want to see at home, and a free trip to HR is her sys admin is monitoring search at the office! I also recognize that you can't show your prior clients as easily as you might with other types of portraiture. I'm inclined to say that combination of an online portfolio with black/white facial images and a full description of the complete range of services would form the base. Show that you are a top-notch photographer first, then describe the full range of services. On top of that is "send-to-a-friend" and testimonials. In your descriptions you can include the keywords and phrases that might be commonly used. In the end, this is going to come down to word-of-mouth, I think, plus tasteful, respectful writing and presentation of representative works. You can certainly use the balance of the social channels to increase distribution, and in particular services like Twitter where someone may no someone who is interested in your service. Good luck, and thank you for your interest in my book.

I want to thank you for taking the time to ask your photographer friends about me. It doesn’t surprise me that they also don’t know. This as even stumped the women I’ve worked with! The product line started out as just an experiment that grew to what it is today. It took a year to find the right words and tone for the website. The concept came from my college days (philosophy) and my interest in gender relationships. I want to ask you what you think about taking an alternate approach but, first the keywords. I spent sometime playing with Google search and following some random thoughts. I started finding small areas where I would be able to slip my ad in. It started to click. I know what I’m looking for I don’t know where to find it. It’s like there is a gap between week 1 (chapter 4) and week 2 (chapter 5). I’m thinking about doing the best I can on week 2 (chapter 5) and moving on. Hopefully, by working the rest of the book, what ever is missing will be filled in. If necessary I can go back and fill in the blanks. I haven’t had much to do with the social end of the web. I’m not sure how to connect with them. In other areas I’ve tried, it’s like there’s a disconnect. I’m always pleasant so I’m not sure what it is. Something tells me I’m not alone on this one. I’m wondering if the place to start is with the blog I found. Although, it’s 2 years old, there are 9 that marked it as “favorites” and the last respondent was a proxy for the originator. She’s still active and her last comment was made less then a day ago. No one really understood what she was asking for, but I do. If you think this would be a good idea, there are some fine points I would want to clear up before I responded. Thanks for the help Joe

Correction: I missed the part of the thread that said it was closed. Any ideas or how would you rekindle it?