[SOCIAL MEDIA] The missing metrics: actions after words

We're all familiar with the usual metrics: # of unique views, referrers, and quantity of comments and trackbacks. Marketing-focused pathways measure certain actions like conversions, but what's largely missing in all of this are creative actions which can be identified, but aren't so easy to tally on a spreadsheet because they're not uniform.

For instance,

I make a how-to tutorial. I want to know not only how many people say it's "Awesome!" in the comments, but what actual creative product came out of it — whether it's someone dabbling or taking it seriously as a stepping stone in their artistic career. This tends to not come out unless you openly ask for it, which is why I've had great success asking people to send me stuff they make as a result of watching my Second Life video tutorials and using my Torley Textures and piano music.

This is about more than case studies

and floating testimonials, for it doesn't just aim for an anecdotal few, but all that exist.

People who care about what impact words have on actions…

really need to measure this more: a bit fat Technorati rank and Twitter follower count look impressive because it's easy to be wowed by big numbers, but placing them in context reigns higher: substantial influencers inspire their followers and go beyond stimulating chatter to executing great acts.

Earlier today, I mused on Twitter:

Words without action is like matter without energy.

I think that's a beautiful starting point.

How then?

We won't know what's next until we've done the initial legwork. It takes persistence over time to identify patterns. I save almost every instance of creativity in response to something I've done. Depending what's most convenient, I clip videos onto my tumblog, save snippets from emails and blogs into Evernote, and pay close attention to trends. A specific example: Flickrites who've downloaded and applied my WindLight settings… thank-you! (More about them here.)

There are a number of possible channels, and I've continually tuned the balance such that my communication flow isn't overwhelming, yet it's flexible towards the people who want to reach me most. Between Twitter and Plurk, I found the former far more effective for reaching my intended "creaticians", so I don't use the latter. I'd encourage every artist to do this!

What next?

These developments, in gradual turn, will shape my mind to envision a better tool to measure these missing metrics, just as they've led me to making this post. I'll pursue opportunities arise to bring up ideas and create tools for making this commonplace (like how "Share this" buttons are omnipresent), and if you have the slightest whit of interest, you should as well. Maybe a startup will be involved… who knows?

But don't be fooled!

What scares most off is that compiling seems egotistical, but don't be fooled by that deception. It's really not, because it's about more than you — true creativity benefits someone else to be creative, too. So get start making awesome stuff, encourage others to riff off and remix it, then measure those results.