Exploring Social Media ROI with PostRank Analytics

As a blogger, have you ever wondered about the value of a single blog post? Sure, Google Analytics allows you to track event such as engagement, comments and contacts, but then there's social media. How much value is added by a Tweet on Twitter, a Like on Facebook or a reader's comment? Today we examine a web-based tool called PostRank Analytics that attempts to answer these questions and explore the social media ROI of your blog.

I was immediately intrigued when I first heard about PostRank Analytics while reading an Avinash blog post about quantitative and qualitative web analytics tools a few weeks ago. Measuring social media ROI is the mission of the three-year-old Ontario data and analytics services company. PostRank Analytics monitors and collects any social interaction between your blog and major social networks. PostRank then assigns a value to these interactions and creates reports to put everything into perspective. Let's take a look at a few ways you could use PostRank Analytics on your blog.

Your Social Engagement Dashboard

PostRank Analytics Overview dashboard provides a summary of social engagement with your blog. I like this view because it provides a history of several different types of engagement. You can link PostRank to your Google Analytics account to see web analytics metrics such as pageviews and time on page. But then you can also see the social interactions down to the individual Tweets and Likes that reference your content. The two types of information together provide a richer story of how people are interacting with your content than by just looking at pageviews alone.

The Overview shows summary and detail social interactions next to web analytics data.

Which Social Networks Work Best for You?

You may have many social media accounts across the web, but which ones are working? PostRank Analytics' Engagement Sources report in the Trends tab provides a breakdown of your most active audiences among your social network accounts. This report may influence how you choose to spend your time on each of these hubs.

It's clear I'm more of a Twitter guy than a Facebook fella.

Who are Your Biggest Advocates?

Sometimes you can get a huge spike of traffic, RTs and new followers when someone important in your niche shares your content. The Optimize tab of PostRank Analytics helps you identify the most influential people among those that share your content on social media. Find out who these people are and look for new ways to connect with them and to create content that appeals to them.

Here are some of my new BFFs on Twitter. Hi friends!

Which of Your Blog Posts are Most Engaging?

Have you ever wondered which of your blog posts have the highest social media value? PostRank Analytics' Analyze tab provides insights into each of your blog posts. This section is probably my favorite because it takes many different engagement signals - tweets, comments, diggs, likes, etc. -- and aggregates them into a single metric: engagement points.  It then lets you assign a dollar value to your engagement points to come up with a rough idea of your social media ROI. It may not be a perfect metric, but it's a really good something.

Objective measurement and trending of all social interactions. Now we're getting somewhere.

Brave New World of Social Media ROI

I don't think anyone has developed the perfect way to measure social media ROI, but I do like what PostRank has done so far with their social media analytics tools. What tools are you using to measure interactions between your blog and the social web? What measurements carry the most meaning? I'd love to hear your thoughts on PostRank or any other social media analytics tool in the comments below. Or if you choose to tweet your thoughts, I look forward to seeing them in PostRank Analytics.

A MN Blogger Conference Recap: Coffee, Directions and 20 Other Lessons

This past weekend I was among the 130+ extremely lucky people to be a part of the MN Blogger Conference. I initially didn't get a ticket because they sold out almost immediately. Then I missed another shot when I didn't win Top Rank's contest for a free pass. Finally, conference co-founder Arik Hanson took pity on me and let me volunteer my labor in exchange for a seat at the event. And after all that effort to get in, you bet I'm going to blog about my experience at the first-ever MN Blogger Conference.

If you were there Saturday, you probably saw me either directing foot traffic towards the CoCo entrance before the event or in the kitchen brewing coffee for the caffeine-craving blogging crowd.

If you think about it, I couldn't have asked for a better assignment from the impeccably well-organized Arik and his conference coordinating partner in crime, Missy Berggren.

Between the complete havoc that was the road construction on 4th St. in downtown Saint Paul and the fact that most bloggers love a good cup of fair-trade organic coffee in the morning (courtesy of Don Ball), I ended up thanking Arik and Missy  for the one-way street to a bunch of new friends and a chance to be a part of the MN Blogger Conference!

The Big List of Lessons Learned from the MN Blogger Conference

My head is still spinning from Saturday's event. I'm not sure there was a definitive theme, but there were countless perspectives, tactics and points of view that no doubt left everyone with a lot to think about. Let's come up with a list of all the lessons we learned. I'll start with this list of 20!

(I was only in 1/4 of the sessions so I'm going to need your help with this list. Make sure to leave any blogging tidbits of knowledge that you gained down in the comments.)

1. Blogging is about "unbridled narcissism," according to James Lileks. This joke got a huge laugh from the crowd in the opening keynote panel featuring popular Minnesota bloggers. What's that old saying about there being some truth in the best humor?
2. Clockwork President Nancy Lyons suggested that bloggers must think carefully about how much personal information they want to share because "the Internet is forever." Just exactly how much information is that? See #10.
3. Nancy also highlighted your blog's ability to help you establish credibility, regardless of how saturated your market may be.
4. It's practically a given that people will blog on Wordpress, which I think is a crying shame. Wordpress is a great for some, but there are many excellent blogging platforms out there. For example, I'm a user of and evangelist for Squarespace. I was particularly encouraged by Julio Ojeda-Zapata's breakout session, which featured a live Skype session with Leo Laporte (tech pundit/legend and advocate of Squarespace). If you're sick of Wordpress or still haven't picked your platform, make sure you consider Squarespace (You can hit me up with questions if you have them.).Julio Ojeda-Zapata talking about Squarespace!
5. Julio also pointed out the importance of being consistent with your personal brand. Use the same avatar/image and username across platforms/channels.
6. There are incredible deals on hand bags on the internet. James Lileks, you crack me up.
7. Bloggers are writers. There is no way around it. And writing isn't an ability, but rather a journey towards finding your voice and creating something that makes you proud. This point is thanks to my new friend and prolific blogger, Patrick Rhone. (I ordered On Writing by Stephen King this morning. Thanks for the tip and inspiration!).
8. And on that note, anyone can write. Teresa Boardman said it and she has a serious learning disability. Matt Logelin said it and he is a single dad, widower and self-admittedly types like a third grader. Anyone can write. Especially you.
9. Tony Saucier gave us this great quote to think about: "The next big thing in social media is journalism."
10. Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make extra money as a blogger, but it's important to consider moral and legal responsibilities when doing so. Each blogger is probably a little different in how they choose to participate and disclaim their involvement. For example, I chose not to embed an affiliate link to the book reference above because I haven't read it yet and can't recommend it. That's my stance on linking to products on Big Picture Web.
11. Jen Emmert added that she always asks for a giveaway for her readership if she's offered a product to review. I thought that was a great way to give back to your audience while still making a little extra on the side.
    A packed room at CoCo as the panel discusses compensation for blogging.
12. Heather King of The Extraordinary Ordinary suggested that you should share as much as you would tell your sister on your blog. 
13. Heather also suggested to listen to your heart's gut to know what to share and to how find your voice as a blogger.
14. The best blogging is a balance between niche and personality.
15. Bloggers are craving information on Google Analytics. Aaron Landry's session on the free web analytics platform attracted a ton of the conference attendees, all of whom were taking notes furiously as Landry spoke. (As it just so happens, friends, I also write about Google Analytics. Hit me with your questions and I'd be glad to help you out.)
16. 20% of conference attendees are building on rented land. According to the list of conference attendees put together by Ian Schwartz, 15 of the 72 unique blogs on the list are on a sub-domain instead of their own domain (e.g., <name>.blogspot.com instead of <name>.com). I can't think of a good reason not to be on  your own domain. Just saying.
17. Diane Kulseth will probably never need a resume or Careerbuilder.com. Diane's still in college and yet has a social media internship, blogs and attends industry events like the MN Blogger Conference. I wish I would have had the sense to do all these things ten years ago. If you're not engaged with your professional community, you're missing out... big time
18. Conferences are a great place to meet your online friends. After months of trading tweets and blog comments with the likes of David Erickson, Rick Mahn, Adam Singer, Joel Carlson, etc., etc., etc., I finally got a chance to meet these fine folks. Social media is great, but nothing beats a handshake, a good laugh and a great,synchronous conversation.
19. The human struggle is universal and you are never alone on the Internet. Thanks to Heather King and Matt Logelin for that point.
20. Volunteering is an underrated. Being a volunteer for the MN Blogger Conference felt like having a back-stage pass for the simple price of moving some chairs around and helping folks out throughout the day. Consider me signed up to volunteer at the next one too. Dibs on brewing the coffee. The coffee setup at CoCo on 4th St. in Saint Paul.

I could probably keep rattling off takeaways, but I'd like to hear your thoughts too. What was your favorite moment of the conference? What are you most happy to have learned/experienced? Also, how can Big Picture Web help you with future blog posts about Squarespace, Google Analytics or SEO? Leave a comment below and keep the excitement alive from the MN Blogger Conference.

10 Ways to Find Your Social Traffic Sources

If you've got a blog or website, you're probably trying to connect with new visitors using multiple social media channels. And when your content does go hot on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, you want to find the people that helped and shake their hand. Today we'll examine 5 easy tools used to find the people that are helping to make you popular in social media.

Social traffic is getting to be a hot topic in the industry right now. In fact, finding your social media traffic sources was an important takeaway from SES San Fransisco.

But to say it's important is one thing. How do you actually find your biggest senders of social traffic? Take a gander at some of the tools on this list and you'll find your most terrific tweeters and fantastic fans in no time.

10 Tools to Find Your Social Traffic Sources

1. Google Alerts - By now almost everyone has at least heard of Google Alerts. You may have them emailed to you or maybe you subscribe to them as an RSS feeder in your Google Reader browser. Either way is fine, but at this point, you should be using them to monitor your brand in some fashion.
2. Mentions - This is simple. Be sure to review your "mentions" stream for every social channel on a regular basis. Yes it's obvious, but it's easy to forget the basics in a world with scores of apps/services, each with infinite options for customizing how information is presented to you.
3. Backtweets.com - Did someone tweet or retweet a link to your website, sending a spike in unexpected traffic? Find out who by using Backtweets.com. Just enter the URL of the popular page and see a recent history of the people tweeting your content.
4. Google Analytics - That's right folks. Good old fashioned web analytics can tell you a lot about your social media traffic sources. Just look into the Referring Sites traffic sources on your reports.
5. SEO Site Tools - Want to use Backtweets.com and save a bunch of steps? Download the SEO Site Tools Chrome extension to automatically embed social research tools like Backtweets.com into your Google Analytics content reports. 
6. Topsy.com - Using Twitter Search or Backtweets can be frustrating with Twitter's limited search history. Topsy.com to the rescue! Topsy built their own database of tweets, making the task of examining historic tweets a bit easier.
7. Klout.com - Let's say you're a little more popular and want a macro view of your biggest social media advocates. Klout provides this and many other Twitter profile tidbits in its robust tool set.
8. Advanced Twitter Search - Never underestimate the power of using Twitter's advanced search to dig through large amount of tweets and re-tweets.
9. Google Realtime - Just recently announced, Google Realtime is Google's new way to search through the social web. Do a search for your name, brand or content and see what comes up.
10. Social Monitoring Tools - Of course, if you're a bit more sophisticated and have a budget, there are a ton of social media monitoring tools, Radian6 and Trackur to name a few, in the market right now that will deliver up-to-the minute reports on what's being said about you.

What are You Using?

Are you using any special tools or techniques to find your social traffic sources? Have you found ways to thank and promote them in a special way? Share them here in the comments below! Also, I realize that my list is a little biased towards Twitter and web searches. Can you share additional insights about finding your traffic sources on other social networks (e.g., Facebook, Linkedin, or Youtube)?

Online Listener Basics: 10 Tools to Help You "Hear" Online

Are you good online listener? As an online listener, you value knowing the needs of your audience and will strain your digital ears to find them. You embrace strategy, perhaps a process or two and an array of online listening tools to truly hear your niche. Just what kind of tools, you say? Today Big Picture Web has assembled a list of 10 online listening tools to help the noble online listener.

What Makes a Good Online Listener?

What makes a good online listener? I've been thinking about that question a lot lately. It first came up after reading a pair of blog posts from Tim Bursch, a fellow blogger here in the Twin Cities. Tim pointed out the importance of listening/hearing online and then asked his community what online listening tools they used to hear in social media. 

A few weeks later, I saw Brian Solis imply that the moment people stop listening to you is when you stop adding value in this interview.

And most recently, I read SEO expert and MyBlogGuest.com founder Ann Smarty's post about some of her favorite tools for collecting feedback from her "silent" blog followers.

Ok. Listening is important. We get it. So let's take a look at some tools already to make us better online listeners.

10 Tools for Online Listeners

1. Search.Twitter.com - Use Twitter to listen by using the power of search. Feeling confident? Master these 10 advanced Twitter search tips. Feeling dangerous? Master the Twitter listening station.
2. 4Q - Put a simple survey on your blog/website to see why people visited you, whether they accomplished their objective and how satisfied they were with their visit. People will tell you amazing things when it's anonymous.(4Q's Task Completion Trending for Big Picture Web. Yay!)
3. BetterMe - Speaking of anonymity, BetterMe is an excellent way to receive feedback anonymously. Visitors can click on a simple image link on your site and leave their thoughts. These can be very helpful indeed. You can use BetterMe to send a thank-you to your feedback providers without revealing their identity, which is a neat feature to close the loop.
4. Blog Comments - Visitors who leave comments on your blog are some of the best friends you can have. Respond to them and acknowledge their contribution. Mitch Joel recently started responding within his comments a lot more because he sees value in it. Avinash Kaushik receives dozens of comments, yet replies to everyone within his blog's comments and via email. I'm pretty sure Avinash has done the analysis necessary to prove that these are his BFFs. And he treats his commenting visitors as such. (Side note: As a Squarespace developer, I'm so happy their new iPhone app allows for easy comment moderation.)
5. (Click on the "Feedback" tab on the right to see this form.)Get Satisfaction - Another wonderful web tool for gathering feedback, Get Satisfaction is a full-on customer service add-on for your website. See that "Feedback" tab on the right side of this blog? Click it. Fill something out. Then start thinking about how you could use Get Satisfaction on your own blog or website.
6. Google Analytics - You don't need to be a Web Analyst to use a web analytics platform. You don't even have to work in online marketing. Google Analytics (or what-have-you) is for everyone attached to the business. So accept it already and dip your toes in the water. Try Arik Hanson's Google Analytics blogger basics post for starters. Then go to the Analysis Ninja for a thorough education.
7. Clicky Web Analytics - These guys just plain don't get enough credit. Clicky is a super-affordable paid web analytics platform with some really great features Google Analytics just doesn't offer. Their real-time monitoring "Spy" feature is incredible for watching visitors' activity on your site as it happens. Watching content go viral with Clicky is better than seeing a double rainbow.(A portion of Clicky's Spy interface.)
8. Quantcast - Quantcast is an online media tool that allows you to learn more about your audience and show key aggregate website stats to your potential advertisers. Finding out the basic demographics of my visitors was an amazing piece of information. Incidentally, Big Picture Web would like to take this opportunity to say hello to our educated, affluent Asian visitors. Welcome!(Aggregate basic demographics for Big Picture Web visitors.)
9. Google Insights - Find out where the conversations are headed by using Google Insights. Use keyword popularity trends to understand what the next big topic is going to be. Proactive online listeners can often create content that supports a topic from multiple angles just as it becomes really popular by paying attention to rising and breakout terms.
10. iGoogle - One of the best ways to listen online is to read what others are saying. I use iGoogle to keep track of all the blogs I follow. Each week I try to cover as much as I can on what's happening in the areas of Internet marketing, SEO and web analytics. I also like to interact with Twin Cities bloggers to keep up on important regional ideas, news and opportunities. You can use these links to seed your iGoogle page if you're not sure what to read.

What Tools Do You Use?

So, back to the original question... Are you a good online listener? What success have you had with the tools above? Is there an online listening tool that you've used that's not listed here? Leave a comment below to share your experience with the Big Picture Web community. 

You can be sure I'll be listening.

The Squarespace Twitter / Facebook Button Tutorial Post

Most people that have been to Big Picture Web in the past know that I'm a Squarespace blogger. I enjoy their beautiful design interface, thoughtful technical decisions and their ever-growing momentum as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) web publishing platform. This week they announced a series of updates, including the integration of HTML snippets. Today's post shows how easy it is to integrate your online Twitter, Squarespace and Facebook efforts using one of Squarespace's awesome new features.

If Squarespace's big $38.5M VC deal with Index Ventures and Accel Partners somehow failed to grab your attention last month, perhaps features from their one-two combo update this week to their iPhone and blogging platform will persuade you to check them out:

• HTML snippets that allow bloggers to add features to Squarespace like Twitter's Tweet and Facebook's Like buttons to their blogs
• An iPhone update that enables a smoother cross-platform blogging experience. The fluid comment moderation interface alone (with push notifications!) is pretty remarkable.
• Now you can subscribe to comments, facilitating more thorough community engagement between visitors of your blog (Thank you, @Markb and @Squaregirl if you had something to do with this!)
• A stats page redesign that is shiny, but still probably nothing more than eye candy to those with a web analytics tool like Google Analytics

What are HTML Snippets?

Squarespace allows for up to three HTML snippets in your blog header or footer. An HTML snippet is simply a small chunk of (usually) HTML and/or JavaScript that enable enhanced functionality (e.g., the Like button) within a blog or website. Squarespace's new HTML snippets are a way to easily add features like the Twitter Tweet and Facebook Like buttons across all your blog posts from one spot in the in admin interface. Follow the steps listed in the sections below to add the Facebook Like and Twitter Tweet buttons to your Squarespace blog.

(Now, before you decide that a post including HTML is not for you, realize that what follows requires, for the most part, only basic copy/paste skills. And it's pretty harmless. Also, while I describe the specific methods for adding Twitter and Facebook buttons to Squarespace, be sure to check out the Squarespace Manual if you're having any difficulties.)

Add the Twitter Tweet Button to Squarespace

Follow these simple steps to add the Twitter Tweet button to your Squarespace blog:

1. Enter the Structure Editing Layer from the Squarespace administrative interface
2. Select the configure this page option from your blog home page
3. Navigate to the Post Display Configuration section of the Configuration tab
4. Drag one of the new HTML snippets to the header or footer of your blog layout
5. Click on your new snippet to edit. Paste the following code and then select Hide and Save:

<a href="http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="%PERMALINK%" data-count="horizontal" data-via="YOUR TWITTER USERNAME">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Toggle the HTML Snippets in the Post Display Configuration interface.

Squarespace HTML Snippet for a Twitter Tweet button

• Note 1: Make sure you make use of Squarespace's "%PERMALINK%" URL substitute in place of any specific URLs on your blog.
• Note 2: Replace "YOUR TWITTER USERNAME" with, you guessed it, your Twitter username. This will include a mention to you when someone tweets your article.
• Note 3: Choose or create your own Twitter Tweet button for Squarespace here (just be sure to use the %PERMALINK% URL plug).

Add a Facebook Like Button to Your Squarespace Blog

Follow these simple steps to add the Facebook button to your Squarespace blog:

1. Enter the Structure Editing Layer from the Squarespace administrative interface
2. Select the configure this page option from your blog home page
3. Navigate to the Post Display Configuration section of the Configuration tab
4. Drag one of the new HTML snippets to the header or footer of your blog layout
5. Click on your new snippet to edit. Paste the following code and select Hide and Save:

 <iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=%PERMALINK%&layout=standard&show_faces=true&width=310&action=like&colorscheme=light&height=23" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none; overflow:hidden; width:310px; height:23px;"   allowTransparency="true"></iframe>

Squarespace HTML Snippet for a Facebook Like Button

• Note 1: Make sure you make use of Squarespace's "%PERMALINK%" URL substitute in place of any specific URLs on your blog.
• Note 2: You can adjust the size of the Like button's container by adjusting the number of pixels in the width and height properties of the HTML

Displaying Squarespace HTML Snippets Inline

By default, each HTML snippet displays on its own line on the web page. But if you want to display them side-by-side, read Squarespace user Si Lunt' tip on how to display your Squarepace HTML snippets inline on the Squarespace developer forum. As a part-time Squarespace developer, I appreciate people like Si Lunt for sharing knowledge with the community.

What is your opinion of Squarespace? Have you heard of them as a blogging platform? Do resources like the Squarespace Twitter / Facebook Button Tutorial Post make you more likely to want to check them out? What reservations do you have? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. And check out this information if you're looking for more on Squarespace.