Stop The Social Media Metric Madness!

by Ron Shevlin

Oh, those social media fanatics are good! They’ll twist any number they can get their hands on to make social media look good, won’t they?

According to a  Social Media Today article titled Can Financial Services and Social Media Co-Exist and Succeed?:

“Securian Financial Group, a Minnesota-based insurance and financial services company forged ahead with a social media pilot program that generated some compelling results.”

According to the company’s communications manager, “We picked a topic, ‘Long-term goals need a long-term partner,’ that was representative of our brand and comfortable for our compliance department. We hired a small crew, walked to a local park and conducted spontaneous interviews.”

The interviews became a series of four videos which were posted on Securian’s YouTube channel, and promoted on the corporate Facebook and Twitter pages.

According to the article, the campaign strove to: 1) Increase Facebook “Likes” by 25%; 2) Increase Twitter followers by 15%; 3) Build brand recognition for Securian; and 4) Promote Securian’s commitment to helping people reach their long-term financial goals.

The company’s Facebook page likes rose 27% to 571 and Twitter followers increased by 19% to 191.

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