One of the key problems with Twitter is metrics. How can you really tell what is going on? Is the basic assumption of the total number of followers a real measure of influence? Are people truly being influenced by your posts?
I have to assume there is some influence but you cannot determine true social influence without a closed loop. A full closed loop is a click through, conversion and/or a buy metric. There is software permitting the closed loop but it is not built into the Twitter platform. If and when the closed loop analytics come into play with Twitter its got to be dead simple. Google has done a great job in providing a closed loop data with search. You can see the click through, see the visits to the site and determine conversions to leads or an eCommerce buy. Google’s pay per click and organic search model is not simple but does tell you the value of the searchers coming to your site.
The marketingpilgrim.com says “the number one most misleading metric for Twitter users is number of followers. People tout these numbers and claim ‘expertise’ based on them but in most cases there is no clear line to be drawn between number of followers and actual influence.”
Twitter has over 200 million accounts, and they are aggressively moving into other languages. It’s a great social service, growing at a steady rate over the next few years. In my view providing the key closed loop analytics is crucial for success in the marketing context.
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Jan 22, 2011 @ 17:32:58