Marshall Sponder is a Web analytics and SEO/SEM specialist with expertise in market research, social media, networking, and public relations. As both an in-house team leader and consultant, he has used sophisticated analysis to optimize the social media marketing efforts of companies and brands including IBM, Monster, Porter Novelli, WCG, Gillette, Pfizer, Warner Brothers, Laughing Cow, The New York Times, and Havana Central. Sponder is a board member emeritus at the Web Analytics Association, a member of the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO), and a member of the Certified Institute of Public Relations Social Media Measurement Study Group (CIPR).

1. Finding the Right Analytics
Methodology for Your
Organization
Marshall Sponder
WebMetricsGuru INC
9/12/12

2. Often we have to make tough
decisions with not enough or the
right information
Often we
need an
approach,
method help
us to make
better
decisions

3. Methodology really is …
Steps to the Story we
are telling (ourselves)
…about how we
reach our destinations
(business goals)
…and our choice of
platforms affect how
the Story turns out.

4. Reaching our destination
Too many platforms / no time to try them all in any depth
leading to Analysis Paralysis
..some need to connect
up together

5. Finding the Right Fit
Platforms 4 Social
were developed
with features
targeted for specific
customers, then
generalized to
cover a broader
audience

6. Real Value vs. Hype
Marketing
hype and
check box
comparisons
meaningless,
but difficult
to
disambiguat
e, so as to
make the right
decisions

7. Getting up to Speed
Real pricing is unclear till everyone is up
to speed (which may never happen).

8. Balancing between Two Dangers
Analysis
Paralysis
Investing in
the Wrong
Platform

9. Symptoms of Analysis Paralysis
Too many options not enough time
or resources
Lack of information, structure,
reporting schema
Unable to learn from previous
experience
No KPI's and data feeds defined
Lacking right framework to put the
KPI's in
Haven’t brought the team on board

10. Wrong Platform Symptoms
Medium
is Message

11. Being Unprepared
for Big Data
• In Big data denial - BD is
unstructured & growing rapidly
• Big Analytics requires right data
skills team and methodologies
• Unable to determine requirements
(if company can handle the data)
• Stuck with platforms and business
processes that can’t be easily
changed to something better.

12. Ur

13. 1) Evaluate Vendors carefully
Here's some places to get more information
GigaOM Pro has up to date, in-
depth research for Big Data platforms
from Analyst, Owner and User
perspectives, well worth $299 yr
subscription
..chose from a small, select
Ideya for Social Media list and then vet them
Monitoring survey ~1K USD vigorously

14. 2) Visualize the right decisions (in
your story continuum) so you can see where
you stand
• Research sites such as
Quora and other
forums/LinkedIn groups
to find opinions about
platforms you are
thinking of deploying;
this will help cut through
the marketing hype.
• Hire experts like me who
can help untangle the
mess and cut to the
chase.

15. 3) Determine type and maturity
level of your organization
Common Dimensions
• maturity scale
• degree of socialness
• organization management style
• size of the organization
• scope
• needs of your business segment

16. 3b) Gauge where your organization
is right now

17. Operation
al Metrics
Based on
Advanced
NLP
Listening &
Influence the
Categorizati
Analysis
on functions
your
organization
preforms
(inner circle)
Customer Listening you can
Data
Integration
& Web
Analytics anticipate the
platform
Engagem
types needed
ent &
Attrition
(outer circle)

18. 4) Some examples of matching up
Organizations with the right platforms by primary
functions
Product
&
Custome
r
Researc
h
Listening
& Web
Analytics
Social
CRM

19. 5) Additional Factors to Consider
• Specific use cases (lead gen, PR, etc)
• Types of platforms needed (Qual / Quant
• /Big Data)
• Online/Offline Data
• Cost
• Immediacy of data / latency
• Security of the data
• Build vs. buy

20. Delivering Better, Scalable
Solutions to reach your goals
quicker
• Building a custom taxonomy (i.e.: Drug
Patient Journey)
• Designing a tagging scheme to
organize/categorize incoming/outgoing
communications.
• Organizing your reports using custom
taxonomy and tagging schema
• Create Frameworks that enable you to embed
your KPI’s around specific business goals and
strategies

21. Summary
There will always be
methodology challenges in
finding, choosing and
implementing the right platforms
for your organization and there
are ways to cut through the
hype and make decisions that
take you to your destination,
once you have the right
information.