Data Can Be Big, But Keep In Mind That It is Still Yours

Defining, collecting, and analyzing data can be massive undertakings but the current data buzzword is “big data.” “Big data” has been getting quite a bit of media attention and can be described as dynamic sets of information that require non-traditional tools for analysis. However, most methods (and often the capacity) for analyzing “big data” are unclear or still in the early stages of development. Photo via The IBM Curiosity Shop 
What is clear is the value of harnessing big data, including making information more valuable, improving performance, and sparking growth in multiple business sectors.

Also clear is that finding a path to understanding that data ultimately is up to people, whether it is the PR pro looking to show the results of his or her campaign or analysts here at CARMA. To illustrate the human element in analyzing data, I liked the author’s following point made in this O’Reilly piece:

“Of course, data are just a collection of facts; bits of information that are only given context — assigned meaning and importance — by human minds. It's not until we do something with the data that any of it matters.”

It’s been pointed out that by 2018, the U.S. could face a “shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data.” So with data sets growing and analysis capabilities limited, it’s no wonder that weeding through big data can be a challenge.

Just keep in mind your end goal with your analysis. If you don’t have the capacity to crunch terabytes of coverage, you may not need to. Taking a representative sample might be a better option for your particular needs. Remember that the data you're analyzing is ultimately yours and you know it best, and make sure to reach out to other pros in the measurement world if you need help. 

Starting 2012 Out with a Bang!

By: Angie Jeffrey, APR

How exciting to write my first blog post for 2012 in my new capacity as Senior Counselor to CARMA International, a company I have admired for more than a decade.  I remember sitting on a plane from London back in 2001 as I tried to decide whether to start a US office for a UK analysis firm as an extension of my then PR software firm – TRAKWare, Inc., (creator of PRtrak™).  I had gathered some competitive information and remember the visceral reaction I had to CARMA’s brochure.  In a nutshell, CARMA’s work was heads and shoulders above the rest, and I decided NOT to pursue the other opportunity.

Flash forward 10 years, past two acquisitions of PRtrak™ and a lifetime in PR analysis, and I finally have the chance to add CARMA as a flagship client of my new PR and measurement consulting firm.  A lot of time has passed, however, with automation encroaching on the quality of media analysis … and, of course, with CARMA adopting automation processes that make sense.  However, CARMA remains committed to human analysis to guarantee the highest possible quality and accuracy, which is why I’m proud to be part of the extended team.

By Alexis Pollak

What excites me most about working with CARMA, though, is its ability to link the results of media coverage to hard business outcomes like survey results, sales, leads, website hits, and more through a correlations process they call CARMA Connect.  Over the past decade, I’ve been involved in a lot of research that uses correlations to outcomes, and there’s no question that the C-Suite “gets it” when you can show the relationship between your work and business results in hard numbers. 

Anyway, I’ll be blogging and Tweeting along with the rest of the CARMA team, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.  Happy 2012!

CARMA at the PRSA NCC Measurement Panel

Thanks to PRSA's National Capital Chapter for hosting yesterday's panel discussion on the latest measurement trends and practices, with a focus on how PR professionals can better analyze, interpret, and understand their media performances in the increasingly blurred social media landscape. Featured panelists included Barbara Coons of Edelman/StrategyOne (@StrategyOne), Johna Burke of BurrellesLuce (@GoJohnaB), Scott Arenson of Golin Harris (@scottarenson), and CARMA's own Alan Chumley (@alanchumley). A couple of key takeaways from the panel:

- Don't go into media measurement blind: As Coons said in her piece focused on public affairs "craft metrics specific to the end objectives." Burke had another great insight that "until 'busy' is a metric, we need to go by our organizational objectives."

- Go beyond the data and numbers: Per Coons, this is necessary to "see the insights the data presented."

- Related to the above, make sure humans stay involved: Burke stressed that "you still need the human approach to figure out what it [the data] means," while Arenson characterized the person who evaluates the data as "the opinion leader."

Alan also emphasized thinking about ROI vs. roi in his presentation, "Think Bigger, Integrate, Correlate," which focused on the quickly eroding dividing lines between PR, marketing, and advertising. Theorizing that because these fields are becoming a cross-discipline, cross-disciplined measurement is necessary. The takeaway here was considering analytics in terms of value, integrating multiple disciplines into PR strategies, and using a broader range of methods for analysis (topics also discussed in CARMA's white paper, "The 7Cs of Social Media Measurement").

Some of the panelists' presentations are already available online. Find Barbara Coons' slides here and Alan Chumley's slides here (or the video of his presentation).

So how did discussion of the media measurement panel fare on Twitter? Here's our look at some graphics speaking to the nature of the conversation during the event:  

Aside from the obvious attention on the panel itself, StrategyOne's Beltway Barometer (a research product that targets the most politically elite, influential, and engaged citizens living in Washington, DC and the immediate suburbs) displayed a decidedly strong showing in the Twittersphere. Below, the word cloud hits on speaker topics with quite a few links to photos/presentations thrown in there for good measure.

 

These word clouds of Extracted Entities and Popular Phrases reflect general information on yesterday's panel as well as the overarching theme of social media measurement strategies.

The full Twitter analysis on the #prsa_ncc hashtag from this morning is available here.

CARMA USA's Paper on Social Media Measurement

We've blogged before--though in brief only--about the 7Cs of social media measurement and the 5Ps of influence. 

Here is an expanded piece that we've been tinkering with and we'd welcome feedback on. 

It articulates the 7Cs, the 5Ps, UPPERCASE ROI vs. lowercase roi, the need for a multi-method aproach, and some high level for now thinking on layers of an 'index' of sorts.     

Book Bag for Social Media Measurement

Looking to school up on social media measurement?  There are so many fantastic blogs on the topic and so many smart folks (and so many great hastags and lists) to follow on Twitter.  There are even some great (and some horrible) presentations on the topic in LinkedIn / Slideshare.  So many of each of these, in fact, that a blog post citing many of the best would be impracticle.

So this post offers up a few key hard copy (OK, e-reader if you prefer) books on the topic:

• @jimsterne's Social Media Metrics:  How To Measure & Optimize Your Marketing Investment
• @avinash's Web Analytics 2.0:  The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity
• @kdpaine's Measure What Matters: Online Tools For Understanding Customers, Social Media, Engagement, and Key Relationships 
• @wemetricsguru (Marshal Sponder's) Social Media Analytics: Effective Tools for Building, Intrepreting, and Using Metrics
• @thebrandbuilder (Olivier Blanchard's) Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization

What's in your social media measurement book bag?