I’m trying, really I am. Part of the problem is that any liberal arts major can look at a chart (or worse, make one) and draw completely specious, unwarranted, and often contradictory conclusions. Or rationalize around numbers we don’t like: “Have we accounted for seasonality?” “It’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison.” “True, pageviews are low, but we’re targeting influencers.”  “The numbers we can collect don’t capture the true impact.”

Actually, those last two sound a lot like last week’s “The ROI for Social Media Is Zero” by Augustine Fou [link via @MaddieGrant], which reads a lot to me like an apologia for social media metrics, though it’s more of an indictment of traditional media marketing metrics.

On the other side (well, on another side), is Geoff Livingston’s “Thoughts on Measurement,” which says that social media measurement isn’t that hard, if you start by looking at a strategy’s desired result, which informs the type of metric to use, which implies the tools needed.

It’s all very confusing. It’s handy to have a few metrics aphorisms to whip out when you get into trouble, including grumbling “lies, damn lies, and statistics,” “correlation is not causation,” and the whole, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

Getting beyond the aphorisms, I’m going to list out a few Web resources that I’m tracking in an effort to bone up a little more on Web metrics and analytics. This is by no means a comprehensive list, so if you’ve got your own resources that you’ve found useful, leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list:

* KD Paine’s PR Measurement Blog – I was first introduced to KD at 2008 Blog Potomac conference. Her book, Measuring Public Relationships, had just come out, and though I didn’t get it then, I have it now and I’m catching up.

Her blogroll and sidebar are chock full of other resources to check out, and you could probably do worse than running down the list.

* Measuring Success, the Web site for the book by Brian Clifton — I came across this site after searching on a question about Google Analytics.

* Speaking of which — whatever tools you’re using, read the help resources, docs, and other learning guides (Google Analytics has Conversion University, for example) –basically, RFTM.

* Trending Upward — this blog is targeted towards analytics in higher education, but there’s good primer material on all sorts of Web metrics stuff.

* Social Science Statistics Blog — this one is way, way in the weeds and thus over my head [to mix my metaphors], but I’ve known since the 2007 International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media that I need to bone up on my knowledge of statistics. At the very least, I’m trying to get to the point where I can ask better questions after reading, say, the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report.

Anyway, like I said, this is just a short list of resources I’ve added to my feedreader to try to get better at applying analytics. If you’ve got your own suggestions, please share in the comments.

This is the third in a series on building brand. If you missed the first three then you may want to read them first.

• Building your Brand 101 Series
• Building Your Brand Series – Part 1 – Listening
• Building Your Brand Series – Part 2 – Responding

In the overview I described an example of a niche business of a professional photographer that wants to sell her photos online. She has created a site for posting proofs from portrait & event shoots. And she also has created a section where she displays her nature & landscape photography that’s for sale.
In the first two parts of the series I talked about using Google Alerts & other tools for monitoring mentions about your brand & then how to respond. That is social media monitoring.
Now we’re going to shift to the statistics that you can gather & how to use them to build brand.
The three free tools that I use are Google Analytics, Feedburner & Compete. There are many others.
We’ll cover Google Analytics in this post:

• Google Analytics is frequently used. It offers a variety of information. It’s easy to install & use. Follow these steps.
• You’ll need a Google mail account. Then sign up for Google Analytics & add your website. That will give you html code. You need to put that code at the bottom of each page.

You can also see:

• Top content (write more like that – people like it! write a post listing those links)
• Traffic Sources – Here you can find a list of the sources where the traffic that visited your site came from. If there are any surprises go check them out. Maybe you should be providing customer service or joining the conversation there? And if there are ones that you expect, go thank them.
• For the key words – this is what people are searching for & successfully finding your blog. You want to consider these words & use them in future writing. They are also ideas for SEO keywords.

Do you use Google Analytics? and if so what types of information do you find important & how do you use it?

I decided to introduce him to the world of social media marketing & word of mouth! Here is what Connor did on his own:

• The Problem

Connor realized that there are many hungry children in our world.

• The Vision

He decided he wanted to partner with the food bank & make a difference. Connor decided to put a twist on his fundraising.

• The Execution = www.PopcornForKids.org

Using Network Solution’s WebBuilder Image Cafe software to create a website for people to purchase popcorn for the hungry children.

• The Dream

Connor’s goal is to give each of the 35,000 hungry children in the US a tin of popcorn.

A Winning Combination

Network Solutions is matching donations up to $500!!!

So your contribution will be doubled. Help Connor achieve his dream.

You are also helping Connor learn about the power of Social Media & word of mouth.

How else can you help? Blog it, spread the word on Twitter by changing your picture to popcorn.

How to change your photo in Twitter:

Click on Settings | Picture Tab | Browse to your image & Save

(take a screen shot of popcorn & save it to use – here is the one we’re using in Flickr)