Measuring Impact

I have been researching the impact the So Much More Hawaii social media and blogging tour had on the effort to promote Hawaii as a tourist destination site. It was the state of Hawaii’s first all social-media travel tour, and included all major islands.

Looking at the media coverage, I wondered, “Did the So Much More Hawaii Blogging Tour achieve it’s goals?” According to the campaign, the ultimate goal was “to inspire actions associated with travel to Hawaii,” online bookings and reservations.

In measuring public relations, Dr. Lindenmann, in Public Relations Research for Planning and Evaluation, describes that this type of change in behavior as the final level of campaign measurement — the ability to measure how individual initiatives contributed to overall campaign Outcomes.

However, Dr. Lindenmann also explains that successful Outcomes are predicated on successful metrics of Outputs (Web site traffic, RSS subscribers, page views, unique users) and Outgrowths (number of conversations started; better understanding of target markets; the ability to influence purchase decisions; growing a membership base; new ideas).

Outputs

The most commonly reported metrics in Social Media are “Outputs.” These are the types of metrics found in Google Analytics or WordPress dashboards. Dr. Lindenmann refers to these short-term, basic and immediate results of campaign measurement as the “first level” of measurement. Unfortunately, these rudimentary metrics do not tell the story of whether audiences understood a message or whether a particular message changed any behavior. Because the “Output” level covers the basic results of PR work, about 80% of all campaign evaluation is conducted at this level. It does not give a complete picture of a campaign’s success.

Outgrowths

The second-level of campaign measurement is campaign outgrowths — to measure whether strategic messages were received by intended audiences and whether those audiences did anything with or because of that information.

Hawaii HTA told Pacific Business News that one of the intended outgrowths of the social media campaign was to bridge the local social media and blogging community with the So Much More Hawaii team. Campaign officials also said the goals of the campaign were to:

• Increase awareness of all the Hawaiian islands on numerous social networking sites.
• Produce and share content about Hawaii’s traditions, values, and culture.
• Increase distribution and visibility for the content produced by the So Much More Hawaii campaign.

Without data about what the awareness levels were before the social media campaign began, it’s impossible to gauge the campaign’s impact on this area.

However, there are more than 1,000 Facebook sites dedicated to vacations in Hawaii, and with an established presence on Facebook, Hawaii HTA could have a direct pipeline of communication with people who are highly likely to visit Hawaii again.

What’s Next ?

Campaign’s organizer L.P. Neenz Faleafine has more than 1,100 subscribers to his personal Facebook page. As Hawaii HTA continues its social outreach, it would be great if Neenz could add the SoMuchMoreHawaii blog into his Facebook feed. Unfortunately, Facebook will limit Neenz’s personal profile to 5,000 fans, so eventually Hawaii HTA will need to set up a branded “Fan Page” to ensure full syndication of its content.

The benefits of Fan Pages are that there are no limits to subscribers and that anyone can post blog content using the Notes application. Fan Pages are also effecting at building opt-in subscription lists for special promotions that can drive even more online engagement. There are currently more than 200 million Facebook profiles worldwide, so the opportunity for greater reach is significant.

In addition, Neenz has 7,000 people following him daily on Twitter. His frequent updates keep readers engaged and thinking about Hawaii every day. The Hawaii HTA Twitter feed reaches another 1,100 people. Both resources have been highly effective at spreading the word about the Hawaii HTA social media campaign and promoting readership to its content.

I’ll take a closer look at the So Much More Hawaii media coverage using metric analysis software in future posts.