Multiple services are needed to follow all of the media.

Why Monitoring the Media is getting harder as the types of media are segmenting. With Television, and Radio, Traditional media monitoring services are substantial resources to follow "Old Media". Traditional media monitoring services can follow TV, and Radio, and Newsprint just as well as any other service. These services are usually a regional service that provides service in that part of the country. Regional Service CANNOT be overlooked as they have the most comprehensive list of media that is covered for that area. They are have Hyper-local coverage containing weekly papers, local newscast and local radio coverage that has a very limited reach. So if you are tracking something for that community and need to know the impression that the media is giving in that community, then that is your best shot at getting ALL of the coverage that is available.

So with the advent of twitter and Facebook and many other blogging services, RSS is now becoming a real tool to monitor what can be said in the internet world of media. Google alerts is great to get a huge number of hits about a generic topic, but if you are a State Hospital Association for instance, then the number of hits that are found is intimidating. There are too many hits that are false, and Google alerts does not allow you to track these hits with a limited geography of where they originated.

A combination of traditional media monitoring services, and new media monitoring service, or Traditional monitoring services that now offer internet monitoring is the way to go. You will find that there is some overlap from the printed edition of the newspaper and the online version of the newspaper, but only by about 20%. There are many ads that never make it online and there are many article and blog post that never make it to print. Advertising is a whole different ballgame when you are talking about internet vs print.

Solution: A multifaceted approach for media monitoring is needed in order to monitor everything. You will need to use a Traditional Clipping Service, that can provide clips online in a digital format, Broadcast Monitoring Service that can provide online stats and preview of those clips found, and a Internet Media Monitoring service that is versed in RSS and Feeds and can help you set up alerts for yourself to monitor. Google alerts if good if you have $0 budget, but you will spend more time weeding out false hits and the likelihood of missing something is far greater than if you use a professional service.

Please contact me if you wish to discuss this in any further detail. you can find all of my contact information just about anywhere on the web. I am VIDEODRED or Dred Porter all over the internet. Full Disclosure I own and operate a monitoring service, but we are regional in nature and If I can not provide service for you I will tell you straight up, and can refer you to possible contacts that may be able to help from the national association NACPCS (North American Conference of Press Clipping Bureaus) nacpcs.com

Dred P. Porter, Jr.
Magnolia Clipping and Broadcast Monitoring Service
298Commerce Park Dr. Suite A
Ridgeland, MS 39157-2237
dredporterjr@magnoliaclips.com
videodred@gmail.com
Office - 601-856-0911
Cell - 601-946-1207
Google Voice - 601-790-0417
http://www.facebook.com/dredporterjr/
http://www.twitter.com/videodred
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dredporter
http://www.magnoliaclips.com/ - Magnolia Clips Website
http://67.214.99.203/magnoliamonitoringvideo/- Magnolia Portal Demo Video

Historical Clipping Services

Check out this post found at http://w5ran.com
Clippings

These types of services have been around for over 150 years, as good as Google is and as comprehensive as the searches can be, not all of the information that is printed in the newspaper can be found online. A typical example of this is advertisements. Hospitals continue to advertise in the hard copy of the newspaper. So to track these advertisements a newspaper clipping service is necessary to gather all of the media from the print version of the newspaper. Press Clipping Services continue to thrive as online media differs from traditional print media by more that 80%.

Here is a list of all of the Newspaper Clipping Services that continue to operate and belong to an organization called the NACPCS http://www.nacpcs.com

There are additional services run by The Associated Press, and other state press association, all over the country.

People are Still Necessary to Provide the Best Media Monitoring

ALTHOUGH THE CLIPPING SERVICES HAVE UNDOUBTEDLY MADE A GREAT PROGRESS SINCE THE TIME WHEN ARTICLES WERE CUT OUT FROM THE PAPERS WITH SCISSORS, CLIPPING IS STILL JUST PARTLY DONE BY SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY. GOOD SOFTWARE AND STATE-OF-ART EQUIPMENT ARE A VITAL PART OF CLIPPING SERVICES TODAY, BUT IN THE SELECTION OF RELEVANT CLIPPINGS, PEOPLE STILL HAVE THE LAST SAY.

At one of the conferences organized by FIBEP, an international association of media monitoring bureaus, one of the delegates expressed his concern about the increasing number of internet search engines and their complexity, as well as an increasing number of media that, apart from their printed edition, also have an online edition.
However, what seems to be a potentially dangerous area for clipping agencies is, in fact, an advantage. An increasing number of media and their availability
online means that it has become a lot harder to find the right information and that there is an increased need for a professional service in selecting the abundance of information.
Selection of information is the part in which software, no matter how good it is, still can’t entirely replace people. Nobody can deny the important role that technology plays in media monitoring and information processing. That role includes a
whole spectrum of functions: from the selection of clippings to generation of clipping reports, as well as a variety of value-added services such as the generation of different statistical reports, online clipping delivery etc. Clipping process consists of several important stages, and the first one is, of course, to define topics and key words. Key words tracking is usually not a problem, but topic
monitoring is a bigger challenge, especially in the case of general topics such as news from tourism, legislature etc. For example, an article wholly about, let’s say, a visit of a state official to an institution or company can have a sentence or two containing very important information for a client. There are countless examples illustrating how hard it is sometimes to assess if an article is important for a client or not. The next stage in the clipping process is the input of data into the database. In this stage it is necessary to type in basic information about every clipping.

Media Analysis more than just another tool in the belt.

If you want to be successful in THE 21ST century, certanly the most important predisposition is to have an accurate and timely information. It is important to know if you APPEAR in the media and in what context. Not knowing the situation can reflect on your reputation and your business. Apart from all kinds of officials and artists WHO MAKE A LIVING ON their reputation, today it is also true for business subjects companies and brands). Influence is measured by how far someone’s message penetrates.

GATHERING AND EVALUATION OF MEDIA CONTENT
Magnolia Clipping Service has long-time experience in monitoring and analysis of media reports in Mississippi. We are a member of NACPCS (North American Conference of Press Clipping Services). The membership enables us to exchange experience, improve our work and keep pace with the newest trends. The basis of media analysis is coverage, collection of media reports clipping during a certain time period.
There are two basic functions of analysis to describe and to explain. An analysis report written in an understandable and clear way shows the quantity and quality of media presence. For this we use precisely defined and relevant variables. All analysis reports are always tailor made for our clients.

MEDIA LIST
Press clipping’s media lists are created according to the following criteria: readership ratings / viewer ratings / listener ratings, demographic reach,
relevance and quality of some media based on their specific coverage. Those are:
ECONOMY, POLITICS AND SOCIETY, QUALITY OF LIFE, CHILDREN AND FAMILY, LIFE STYLE, SOCIAL EVENTS, IT, AUTO, & SPORTS.
This is important to know when choosing a type and dynamics of an analysis (Simple, Advanced, Comparative, Qualitative, Qualitative etc.) Media lists are updated regularly adding newly launched media or removing the ones that ceased to exist. The media lists are also updated taking into consideration changes in the broadcast
media. We keep an eye on the changes of the media reach (figures pertaining to the consummation and demographic data).

Magnolia Launches Internet Monitoring

Ridgeland, MS, April 25 -- Magnolia, the leading media intelligence provider, announces the launch of its Internet broadcast monitoring service.
Whilst Magnolia has monitored and analyzed the impact of print and broadcast media coverage on behalf of leading corporate, financial, PR and public sector clients for a number of years, the company is now able to seamlessly integrate Internet content into its range of monitoring and analysis services.
Commenting on the service, Dred Porter, Managing Director at Magnolia said "We have responded to client demand for a service that is fast, accurate and delivered in a simple to use format. Because the impact of Internet news can be immediate, we update our database hourly."
Magnolia has developed a proprietary system based on search technology that searches Internet and Blogs, effectively in real time. "This allows us to create a searchable database from which our searches to extract and assess content relevant to our clients' requirements," says Porter.
Internet news content is delivered via email alert and available alongside other media coverage via the Magnolia Media Portal that allows clients to carry out a range of activities including the creation of coverage and analysis reports, and historical searches by media type, coverage area or keyword.
As well as covering all local newspaper and TV websites, and blogs, Magnolia Monitors ALL major national and regional television and radio stations, the service is unique in having Hyper Local coverage so end-users can access all of the content available. Magnolia's Analysis Products can now contrast the impact of broadcast coverage against other media channels including Print and Internet Sources to help focus PR activity.

Note to Editors:
Magnolia is the leading provider of media intelligence services in Mississippi and the Southeast, providing press, online, broadcast and social media monitoring, media analysis and forward planning services to support PR and external communications activity. Magnolia is based in the Ridgeland, and retained by many corporate, financial, PR, charity and government clients.

For further information, contact: Dred Porter, Jr. Marketing Director, Magnolia (601) 856-0911 Dredporterjr@magnoliaclips.com 298 Commerce Park Dr. Suite A Ridgeland, MS 39157 www.magnoliaclips.com

Media Monitoring Service = Definition

Media monitoring service

A media monitoring service provides clients with documentation, analysis, or copies of media content of interest to the clients. Services tend to specialize by media type or content type. For example, some services monitor news and public affairs content while others monitor advertising, sports sponsorships, product placement, video or audio news releases, use of copyrighted video or audio, infomercials, "watermarked" video/audio, and even billboards.
Such services hold, or have held, various names - changing over time as new forms of media are created. Alternative names for such services include:

Press/media cutting agency/service
Press/media clipping agency/service

In the past, the mass media consisted almost solely of printed matter, so monitoring the press was the chief activity of such agencies. But with radio, television and the Internet now providing output of interest to their clients the services have expanded their activities.

Typically, a client (either an individual or an organization - such as a charity or corporation) approaches a media monitoring service to keep track of what is being said about them, their competitors, or other topics of interest.

An author has a book published and has a strong interest in tracking how well the book is received by critics. The media monitoring service will have a method by which they extract any information about the author and their book from newly printed magazines, radio programs, television programs and so on.

The author will receive a printed bundle of clippings, i.e., the bits of the magazines and newspapers relating to them and their book. They may also receive recordings of any radio reviews, television programs and so on, in which they are featured.

In the past the services relied on employing people to read through printed matter and physically cut out relevant articles. With the vast amount of publications on offer now some services use scanning equipment with optical character recognition to automate this task to some degree.

Television news monitoring companies, especially in the United States, capture and index closed captioning text and search it for client references. Some TV monitoring companies still employ human monitors who review and abstract program content.

Online media monitoring services utilize automated software called spiders or robots (bots) to automatically monitor the content of online news sources including newspapers, magazines, trade journals, TV station and news syndication services.

The International Association of Broadcast Monitoring (IABM) is a world-wide trade association made up of news retrieval services which record, monitor and archive broadcast news sources including television, radio and internet. It acts as a "clearinghouse" or "forum" for discussion on topics of collective concerns and acts as a united voice for the news monitoring industry. Members of IABM subscribe to a code of ethics for broadcast news monitors.

FIBEP (Federation Internationale des Bureaux d’Extraits de Presse/International Federation of the Press Clipping Services) is the most important professional organization in the media monitoring field. The organization was established in 1953 in Paris, and, at present, has 92 members from 43 countries all over the world. Every 18 months, the members of FIBEP members organize a three-day FIBEP-Congress. In work groups, workshops, reports and discussion circles, members discuss the latest trends in the market.

Some people can argue that Google News provides a media monitoring service by allowing queries on the number of times a keyword has been mentioned in thousands of publications, based on the publications' websites. However, specialized services will very often provide a much more reliable service based on trusted publications and human reading.

Starting in 2005 companies like Global News Intelligence began using Java based artifical intelligence to automate the process of coding clipped content for tone and sentiment. This emerging technology is often referred to as media meta analysis. Key technological differentation to clip/cut only services is instant visualization media tone and sentiment without requiring the user to review content.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Utilizing Media and Media Monitoring Services in the Legal Atmosphere

Utilizing Media and Media Monitoring Services in the Legal Atmosphere

In The Beginning
In order to know where we are going we have to understand where we have been.
Old Days Old Ways At Home Manual searching
High school Grandfather reading at night at home
Mrs. Godwin with the Godwin Group Bama my Great Grandmother’s Friend
Four Quadrants of News Print Internet Television and Radio
Two Offices over 30 employees
Newspaper Clipping Today
The industry has come a long way
Modern techniques
2 southern states
Index Cards Out
Computers in
Reference Identify Account
Over 1 year to train a reader
Bar coding
Demographics
Circulation statistics and reports
Clip Analysis
Clips on disc
Regular hard Copy Newspaper clippings
Tracking Press Releases
Clients Legal
Unknown to them or their organization
You Missed it…. Once its gone its gone
Baptist hospital administration
Previous media response
Media Training How to handle the media better (what to say what not to say)
Innovators… the first clipping service in the 80s to become computerized.
NACPCS
FIBEP
Olfa Mats and circular razor blades
Internet Monitoring
Internet publications
Nationally
Specific internet sites
Publications with internet sites not the same as the hard copy newspaper
Different version, revised versions, abbreviated versions, less detailed information
Pro faster con Less info
Clips on disc
Searchable
Permanent archive
Easy to share
print email fax sort
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Kidzone to kids
Ageless heroes
Insurance related topics
Disasters
MS Department of insurance topics

Broadcast Monitoring
VCR Betamax to VHS to VCR
Manual logging, meaning someone would have to watch ever minute of every newscast and manually summarize or transcribe each newsstory into a database
Client asking for total Media Monitoring
Print mentions mixed in with Television and Radio Monitoring
Want to come to one source for all media needs
Then manually / Now international automated closed captioned. Digital recorded internet uploads instant views multiple servers
IABM
All stations in Mississippi and Alabama 24/7 news 210 markets in the use nearly more than 2500 local channels over 100 cable stations across the US.
Specialty recordings
News Entertainment Morning show
News Content
MS Outdoors
MS Roads

Television Stations refer callers to us,
We also act as the Television Stations backup
Subpoenas
Trick of the trade, it is cheaper before the subpoena call first before issuing a subpoena

File manipulation
Upload raw data to a local database as well as a central server on the internet backbone.
Searchable 2 second searches

Board of Directors of the organization that run this data sharing
IABM FIBEP NACPCS
Clips available on the internet, can not store them, nto DVD quality
DVD klilled VHS

Delivery
Reporting
Searching
Daily multiple Daily delivery
Daily Summery
AM from Same Day
PM from night before

Reports acts as a menu from which to choose clips
From none to all
Some representative clips
Build clients master reels some go back to 1992
Same day or Overnight delivery on DVD all of our markets.
We record everything whether we know you need it or not.
Permanent archive for Jackson market.
An archive is an investment for us.
We have clients that are law firms all over the country

Special Analysis Built
Confidential
For instance we knew the people running for public office long before they even announced themselves.

Special Searches
Hard and expensive
Ongoing searches
Easy sharing of files over the internet.
Order Extra DVD’s for archives or discovery

Send clips in high resolution or portable low resolution for blackberry’s and PDA devices

Media Analysis
Sample Reports
Katrina
Killen Trial
Horton Tobacco Trial

Crisis management
Trail Wrecks
Fish Kills
Employees interviewed by the media



Radio Monitoring
For long periods of time without being there to flip the cassette tape over we would then record in 6 hour mode on the audio only on VHS tape. Now we use computers to record multiple stations at once, the trouble is what to record, and when. The next issue is an old one, how to get what was said on the radio into a digital text searchable format. (still a troublesome issue today) we now monitor statewide several networks reaching into all 82 counties of Mississippi.

Media Monitoring Traditional vs New Media the rule of 40-40

It is the Rule of 40-40… 40 % of the papers in Mississippi have websites that are updated regularly, of that 40% they only include 40% of the content. Now this is an average, and as we papers progress there are more and more websites for newspapers. But the newspapers are protecting their content & subscription base from the web by not publishing everything that they have so that they will retain some of their subscribers.

40% of 40% is 16% ---------So only 16% of what is published actually makes it to the web.

The methodology that I used to get these numbers was taking a single newspaper and clipping every article out of the paper and searching for those articles on the website.

I automatically excluded ads (Advertisements are completely different on the internet than they are in print)
I automatically excluded AP stories (Associated Press stories can be included on website, but the paper must pay for those stories to run there -
I automatically excluded classifieds (Classifieds are different that what is on the internet, and frankly classified revenues are going down the tubes since the advent of craigslist and eBay)
I included what was left, original articles, sports news, TV listings, entertainment and Calendars from that paper only are an average only 40%. Realistically the hard news is only about 20% of the paper’s original content.

I have not done such studies with TV and Radio websites but they have to be much lower than print. So in a sales call or a reply to a blog posting, I respond with the following. This is a typical explanation for why marketers and PR professionals need to include newspaper clipping & broadcast monitoring services in their tool belt in addition to Google / Yahoo alerts and other online monitoring services. But know you as well as I do that perception of what the client’s needs are different from reality.

Actually Google only monitors and indexes about 4500 news sites with Google alerts. The reality of matter is that as the newspaper industry is fighting with how to create revenue and fighting the online new media threat they are actually holding back many of the stories from their websites. The truth of the matter is that not every newspaper has a website with content it is actually about 40% but growing of that 40% they only post 40% of the content. You must exclude AP stories, ads, classifieds, and most sports stories. So 40% of 40% is 16. 16% of what is printed actually makes it to the paper. The same is true with TV sites as well, but even less of the coverage is on the web. Radio stations mostly have promotions and contest and virtually no news content. Twitter is easy to monitor but not understood by 85% of the population. You do the math. Is an online monitoring service with FREE tools going to compare with media research professionals that actually know the news. I don’t think so. Check out http://newsmediamonitoring.blogspot.com or http://www.magnoliaclips.com for more in-depth information about this topic.

Fundamental shift in Media Monitoring

As communication in our world becomes more and more depend on computers to transmit messages, there is a shift in communications. The way that we get our news from the Main Stream Media (CNN, FOX NEWS, HLN, ABC, NBC, CBS, and NPR) and Daily and Weekly Newspapers is moving towards the online world. Like most people the first thing that they do at the office in the morning, is check email, and open up a browser. On this browser page whether it be Yahoo, MSN, iGoogle, or another, the news is one of the first things that they read.

As a Media Monitor, this directly affects my business. My company will have to adapt and shift the paradigm from monitoring traditional media to monitoring online media, blogs, RSS feeds, Newspaper and Television Websites. That is not to say that there is no need for traditional media. People are tactile creatures, we like to touch the newspaper turn the pages, flip them over. There is a sense of accomplishment once you have read the entire newspaper. Sure there is Wifi at the coffee shop, and news websites, and Amazon’s kindle, but the fact remains that newspaper are still printing papers. Not all of this content is online, therefore how will you monitor this? With a traditional newspaper clipping service that is how. Magnolia Clipping Service as been around for nearly 70 years, that is before TV news, which my great grandmother was worried about way back when. Nothing is going to change the fact that people still want newspapers, and that the Local 6 PM newscast will remain indispensable at least not in the near future. TV website have some of the content on the website, but usually it is only the package that they post, not all of the segments from the 5, 6, 10, and the two hours of AM shows. One thing that will not go away are the ratings from the TV, PR professionals will still need to track it, measure it, and make sure that they can count that towards their ROI stats for the PR campaign.

Currently there is a thrust of companies to try to get into blogging, and trying for find their place in the blogosphere, and again, this does not mean that they will not need to also follow the old ways too. This will be a gradual transition, as people and companies have different learning curves for the Social Media.

As always I welcome any comments you may have on this topic.

Twitter and Business Development; What I have learned in a two week twitter trial

Twitter and Business Development
In merely a week using twitter, I went mad following people, by doing a search for “PR”, “Public Relations”, “Media Relations”, and “Media Monitoring”. Typically when you follow someone they follow you. I have found that 2 out of 5 people I follow started following me. This is a good thing since the message I wanted to send was targeted specifically to an audience that has a need for monitoring service. Without being to self promotion, I posed questions to my twitter followers such as,
“Are you happy with your traditional media monitoring services?”
“Do you wish that there was an alternative your current service provider?”
“What is the best new product that Media Monitoring services have introduced recently?”
“Have you found that the measurements of media monitoring service to be accurate?”
“If you could change the way media monitoring services work, what would you change, how and why?”
There were a few other question, but most of the responses I got the best results from were questions. I also threw out there a few things that were more like pitches. Most people did not respond to that. I believe that the best way to engage the twitter community is to participate in the conversation. Asking who they use, why, what is good or bad about them.

Most people in the twitter community want to believe that online is the only thing out there and that traditional media no longer exists, or has become irrelevant. This is not the case. Statistics that I have found are that only 8% of people in the U.S. are actively engaged in Conversational Media. By far the audiences are still going to traditional sources, Newspapers, Television, and Radio for news. That being said the online communities and social networking sites are growing, and building a momentum. Social Networking Sites like Facebook, and LinkedIn are good for measuring your sphere of influence, and creating a social graph of people you know and who know you, through how many degrees. I will admit that the mainstream media sources are now referring back to online sources more and more. Nielsen’s ratings show higher numbers than online communities.

When attempting to use twitter to get people’s attention, you have to be subtle, not to “in your face” about marketing your product. If you are then you just become a spammer, another used car salesman, another furniture store with a crazy gimmick. Twitter is a wonderful means to grab the attention of a specific market. People who are using twitter have several attributes that many real world people do not have, but the twitterverse has to cross over into the real world somewhere.
They are aware of new technology
They know how to use this technology
They are willing to try new things
They know that they “the people” are the influencers now
They are aware that their words DO have an impact on others thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes

The main thing to remember is that it is a two way conversation. Pitches, and traditional sales techniques do not work in the conventional sense, but some of the traditional sales techniques can be altered, and then they become a real force. It is more about the art of conversation, a way to steer your audience, or your listeners into wanting to know more. In many ways it is good speech writing, or good written salesmanship that creates curiosity. You have to believe in the product or service that you are selling. You have to be willing to share what you know about your area of expertise in order to win people over. Twitter does not get you more business, it is the proper use of twitter and tying that into a blog, by the use of link bait that gets traffic, readers, and more eyeballs on you material that is the driving for of twitter in the business world.

Where does Social Media fit into the daily business activities of Traditional Media?

Social Media & Traditional Media collision inevitable!

This is a question that many people are blogging about, there are discussion all over the Internet trying to figure out how the corporate world will change once people "get it". In Valarie Maltoni's Blog she displayed this image. It is an excellent visual demonstration of how the communication will transform from dissemination information from the few to the many, to the many to the many. Media will change for sure. This has been demonstrated over and over again.

First there was the printing press, which was an easy way to duplicate the same news information many time. It came from one source, and was distributed to many readers. The along came radio, now instead of having to purchase something new everyday you could make one purchase and get all the news still from one or more sources. The radio gave you a choice of how to get your news. Eventually Television made it onto the scene. The traditional "BIG 3" networks had cornered the market for news. Again the news came from a few sources, and had further reach, and spread throughout the the country by the creation of affiliates. This has pretty much remained the same for about 60 years. Sure there have been upgrade, like cable, and Satellite TV, but this remained news from above. Now we are almost current. Now the 400 lb Gorilla in the room s THE INTERNET, with its websites, blogs, and twitters, and forums, and newsgroups, and wiki's and and and... All that is what we have today. Newspaper adopted websites, so did radio and television, but now with blogging, and Social Media giving anyone a chance, anyone who is willing to share his/her opinion a voice. I say speak up, Speak LOUDLY. Make a change.

This new revolution, will change the world as we know it. Take for example, advertising. How has it changed? Think back, just say 5 years. no AdSense, no Google ads, nothing splattered all over the margins of you page. Now they are everywhere, and cheap, with a much more targeted niche markets. Advertisers can reach people who are looking for their product. So where does this leave the traditional media players? I believe that they are still trying to figure it out. But to what end? How to make a buck from Web 2.0. This is slowing their ability to move ahead. When the day is done, people will still pay to have themselves mentioned in front of people who might buy their products and services. They need to stop trying to tie news distribution directly to advertising. Advertising should always be in a peripheral experience. Nothing bugs me more than an in your face auto dealer commercial between the first block and the weather. I know that there is money to be made there by the TV station, the car dealer, the production company. But do they have to raise the volume up to 11? I got a car, why do they have to scream at me to see if I want a new one. Does this method work? Yell at me enough times to buy a car, and I will most definately NOT go to that dealership. Name recognition is worthless if I recognize your name as being associated with the cheezy loud car ads. To me this seems counter productive. Plus I bought my last car off of the Internet.

In my opinion, newspapers, tv, and radio should all attempt to drive people to their own sites, and involve more people in discussion, report discussion, comments, interesting blogs. Let the people behind the blogs be the news, and not the latest murder rate in the crime invested city. The people are beginning to show the media that they are more intelligent than the media wants them to be.

Social Media Metrics to Measure

• Activity Metrics
  Pageviews
  Unique visitors
  Members
  Posts (ideas/threads)
  Number of groups (networks/forums)
  Comments & Trackbacks
  Tags/Ratings/Rankings
  Time spent on site
  Contributors
  Active contributors
  Word count
  Referrals
  Completed profiles
  Connections (between members)
  Ratios: Member to contributor; Posts to comments; Completed profiles to posts
  Periods: By day, week, month, year
  Frequency: of visits, posts, comments

• Survey Metrics
  Satisfaction
  Affinity
  Quality and speed of issue resolution
  Referral likelihood
  Relevance of content, connections
  ROI Measurements

• Marketing/Sales
  Cost per number of engaged prospects (community vs. other initiatives)
  Number of leads/period
  Number of qualified leads/period
  Ratio of qualified to non-qualified leads
  Cost of lead
  Time to qualified lead
  Lead conversion
  Number of pre-sales reference calls (to other customers)
  Average new revenue per customer
  Lifetime value of customers

• Customer Support
  Customer satisfaction
  Number of initiated support tickets per customer per period
  Support cost per customer in community
  Product Development
  Number of new product ideas
  % of ideas from customers/prospects/community
  Idea to development initiation cycle time
  Revenue/Adoption rate of new products from community vs. traditional sources

• HR
  Retention/Employee turn over
  Time to hire
  Prospect identification cost
  Prospect to hire conversion rate
  Hiring cost
  Training cost
  Time to acclimation for new employees
  
  
  Props to : http://rhappe.typepad.com/thesocialorganization/social-media-metrics.html