Facebook Apps, Google Analytic Goals and Reportable Value

Facebook has been a point of contention for social media data collectors for a while now. Mostly because the data that is available is only what user privacy restrictions will allow. Companies and application developers have found interesting ways to capture data from end users. A key component to long term relationships is to provide measurable results through social media applications and data collection.

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
– Albert Einstein

Facebook Applications
Facebook Applications are always asking you for permission to collect certain things. If you are like the average user, seeing a long list of permission requests can raise some alarms and there is a large percentage of users who will stop at that point. This is similar to an abandoned shopping cart in an ecommerce application. There was an opportunity missed. If only there was a way to collect these permissions without raising all these alarms. Marketers are getting creative in their ways of getting this information. Instead of creating a single campaign with a long list of permission requests, marketers will create a series of Facebook applications with one or 2 permission requests that over time can connect a user to a bunch of marketing related metrics. It is one good way to get around the huge privacy issues that social media data collectors have to now deal with for Facebook. A good solution like this takes a while to take off but has a much better return than a single Facebook application.

Google Analytics & Goals
Internal of the applications that are built, should be a refined analytic process for general web statistics. Typically I recommend Google Analytics(GA). A part of GA that is often forgotten or really not used to it’s full potential is the ability to set goals and follow those through to actually define measurable success. The really good marketing companies separate themselves from the pack by giving their clients evidence of the value they provide. This is one easy way to show ROI.

The main thing to remember is to be patient. A good strategy evolves over time and incorporates multiple applications and strategies. A successful campaign would consist of Facebook Applications, analytic collection as well as integration with other social media channels. This type of approach has an impact in developing a strong long term relationship with your client.