Social Network Analysis Techniques

Twitter and other social networks require a different approach to measurement.

According to a September 2011 report from Nielsen, Americans spend 23 percent of their online time on social networks like Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Twitter. Although social networks are popular, you may find it difficult to analyze and track your conversations, marketing campaigns and return on investment. To ensure you are getting the most bang for your buck and your time, use a mix of measurement techniques designed to capture the unique aspects of social networks.

Quantitative Analysis

Social networks are full of numbers like numbers of fans, numbers of followers and numbers of comments. You can analyze the strength of your networks based on these numbers if you want to measure your engagement on a quantitative level. A June 2010 article from the Social Media Examiner website suggests looking at your number of YouTube views and subscribers; Facebook fans, comments and likes; Twitter followers; and blog views. Automated tools like Facebook Insights and Hootsuite can help you conduct quantitative analysis. By taking a closer look at your numbers, you can get insight into which social networks are your strongest in terms of popularity and which ones may need some additional effort. Of, if you are looking to narrow your focus, it helps to know which social networks have the highest levels of engagement.

Sentiment Analysis

Sentiment analysis or opinion mining is a technique that measures attitude toward a particular brand, issue, event, person or business. Online tools are available to help you more easily conduct sentiment analysis, but you can also perform the technique yourself. These online tools crawl Twitter and Facebook posts, blog comments and other social networking channels. They analyze the conversation to determine if the general feeling toward a topic is positive or negative.

Conversion Analysis

In some situations, upper level management may ask you to demonstrate the return on investment of your social networks. According to a February 2010 article on the website Social Times, you can analyze conversions to better measure the connection between your social networks and profitability or engagement. This technique involves tracking clicks that directly correlate to a sale, registration or other action. Conversion analysis can work well for individual social networking campaigns where you have set a specific goal.

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Analysis

Social networking largely revolves around the conversation between you and your audience. A softer method of analysis involves taking a look at how well you are responding to your audience. Examine the content of comments, mentions, posts, Tweets and re-Tweets to determine how well you are managing your relationships. Take into account the good and bad, paying particular attention to how you have resolved any negative chatter.

References

• Mashable; Americans Spend 23% Of Online Time On Social Networks
• Social Media Examiner; 4 Ways To Measure Social Media And Its Impact On Your Brand
• Jeff Bullas; 5 Tools To Measure Your Social Media Success
• Mashable; How To: Measure Social Media ROI
• USA Today; Measuring The ROI Of Your Social Media Efforts
• Ignite Social Media; Social Media ROI Revisited: 4 Ways To Measure
• Social Times; The 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor