Are marketers in China measuring social media properly? Our data says NO. Marketers, if you are wondering at which stage you are for social media measurement and how you should improve it, the report “Social Media Measurement In China” is right for you.

In the report, we surveyed interactive marketers in China and found that most marketers are still at the early stage of social media measurement.

  • Social measurement is not new but very challenging. Nearly every social marketer we surveyed is measuring their social efforts. However, most consider effective measurement to be their top challenge in social marketing.
  • Marketers are measuring the wrong things. Most marketers we surveyed in China say increasing brand favorability is their primary social marketing objective, but most don’t conduct brand-impact surveys to measure it. Instead, the top three metrics that marketers use are number of fans/followers, number of comments, and number of shares.

We state in the report that marketers in China mature through three stages of social measurement:

  • Stage 1: Measure volume metrics, such as number of fans and number of shares.
  • Stage 2: Measure engagement, such as participation rate and fan activity.
  • Stage 3: Measure business success, such as brand awareness and sales contribution.

In addition, the report explains why volume and engagement metrics are not the right metrics to measure marketers’ social media success and why business metrics are. It also tells marketers how to measure social’s contribution to business success step by step and avoid the common challenges. I hope you enjoy reading the report and welcome any feedback.