Getting an A in Measurement

My past few blogs I have talked about concepts such as marketing, trust, engagement, etc. All these concepts are measurement tools for organizations to track their progress and excel in the market. There are five steps to make sure an organization is succeeding in measuring what matters and summarizes the best ways to about measurement.

Step one is to identify and prioritize an audience. It’s important to understand the characteristics of various audiences involved. Different demographics have different needs, wants, expectations and desires. An organization must first decide who their audience is and how to listen and talk to them as well as manage their relationship with them. Once an audience is selected, it’s important to understand the relationship an organization is trying to build and agree with leadership teams to get them to prioritize communications with the audience.

Step two is to define objectives and get everyone on the same page. It’s important for an organization to decide on different metrics to understand what they are trying to measure. An organization should also look through their list of benefits good relationships bring and try to make objectives out of those. When thinking about metrics, it’s important to remember that audiences do not only want to hear an organization’s messages. An organization needs to consider what audiences are seeing on media, what they’re exposed to online, what they’re hearing, what they’re taking away, etc.

Step three is establishing a benchmark. This step is self-explanatory and means that goals and objectives need to be made and strived for. Three benchmarks are ideal, anything more than five becomes unwieldy.

Step four is to pick a measurement tool and collect data. Depending on what an organization is measuring, they may need to analyze media coverage, survey an audience, or both. Organizations should measure what media is saying and social media in an academic environment. It is also important to measure what people think to understand how and audience feels about their relationship with an organization. Measuring behavior is the last aspect of step four and is a good way to judge a relationship between an audience and organization.

Last, but not least is step five, which is to analyze data, glean insight, makes changes and measure again. It’s important to gather data and look at trends overtime to best understand what changes should be made or what is working and shouldn’t be changed. When data comes in, organizations must learn from mistakes, make changes and then see results from those changes. It’s important to make sure data is available when needed and is fresh.

Race for the Ribbon 5k

The sorority I’m in, Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA), has hosted an annual 5k for the past 11 years to help raise money for our philanthropy, Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. For the two years I’ve been in ZTA, I’ve always looked forward to the 5k because it always turns out to be an eventful weekend of meeting new people, having something to do and supporting an important cause. I like to be social, I like to stay busy and I love giving back whenever I can so this event is by far one of my favorite.

 In a sorority, you have a big sister and a little sister. Your big also has a big, and their big has a big, so on and so forth. Your big sister’s big is then referred to as you grand big or “g-big.” This creates a sorority family, but not many people know a lot of older women in their “fams” as we call them. I am fortunate enough to know my eight g-big, who is ten years older than me. I have met all except one of my older fam members as of now. I get the chance to meet more of them at events such as the 5k because ZTA alumni are encouraged to come back and help support our philanthropy. When my fam comes into town, it’s an all weekend thing. I get to meet new friends, bond with old ones and have a stress free weekend and a lot of fun. We typically go out to dinner and hang out all night until we all get too tired to keep talking. 

I also  got the chance at the past 5k to spend time with my boyfriend, Aaron, and his family. Aaron’s sister and friends came to the 5k to show their support, along with his golden retriever, Tj.

I didn’t choose to participate in the 5k this year, but rather work the food table. My job was to pick up food and give them to those who participated in the 5k. We usually get some food donated, then buy some as a thank you to those who took the time out of their day to support our event. Next year I am thinking about participating in the 5k so I can walk with my fam members or maybe with Aaron. It would be a great way to spend more time with the people I care about, especially if they’re only in town for a little while.

 I encourage you to consider signing up to participate in events like our Race for the Ribbon 5k in support of good causes, such as Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. Even if you don’t run, there is no harm in registering and showing your support for good causes. I think that goes for any event on a college campus put on by a fraternity or sorority. Most events put on by Greek life support some sort of cause and is worth the time to show up. Walk the 5k if you need to, eat some food or win some raffle baskets to show your support and do the same for other events on campus as well.

Spotify Over Everything

If you’ve been keeping up with my blogs, you know that I typically write about my favorite applications I use. Why should this week be any different? Spotify is hands down probably the most used application I have on my phone. I love music, but I especially love unlimited music for just $5 a month. No music is free anymore unless you are listening on the radio. Whether it’s iTunes, Pandora, iHeartRadio or Spotify, you’re going to have to either pay for some music or suffer through advertisements. I’ve used other types of music platforms before and they all are nice for different reasons, but once I discovered Spotify I fell in love and became a loyal user

Creating an account is easy and similar to every other social media platform. You have a username and password, a profile picture, followers, etc. If you choose not to purchase a Spotify premium account, you don’t have a say in all what music plays. You can save songs to your library, but have limited skips just as you do on Pandora. If you do choose to purchase a premium account though, you are not limited to any music, skips or anything. You are free to listen to whatever song, whenever you want.

Spotify and Hulu recently paired up to create an irresistible offer. A Spotify premium account and a Hulu account for only $5 a month. This makes both a Spotify account and Hulu account cheaper than they were originally. This is also cheaper than paying for several songs on iTunes or paying for a premium account on another music platform. This allows gives you access to a cheaper entertainment platform because now Hulu is cheaper than its competitors.

Apple music decided to take a page out of Spotify’s book and now offer unlimited music for $10 a month. While Apple music is more expensive than the Spotify and Hulu deal, consumers who are loyal to Apple or do not want to download a separate application will choose Apple music over Spotify. I am not one of those people. I would rather save money with a separate application than spend more money.

I use my Spotify account every day, several times a day. I love having unlimited music whenever and wherever. I can search for moods, genres, decades, etc. I am able to make my own playlists or search for different ones, which gives me options for whatever mood I’m in. I am a loyal Spotify user and I don’t foresee that changing at any time. 10/10 recommend he Spotify premium and Hulu $5 deal.

What is Trust?

One characteristic is constant in any type of relationship: trust. If you can’t trust your significant other, friends, family or even the brand you’re purchasing from as a consumer, then that relationship won’t last. Trust is a widely studied concept both by itself and as a component of the quality of relationships. Research has shown that trust is one of six independently measurable components of a relationship. Regardless of the type of relationship, trust is an essential part and there are three dimensions that are measurable and holds many characteristics. I will be looking specifically at the trust between a business and consumer relationship.

Competence is the belief that someone has the ability to do something. If an organization falls through on delivering what they promised or are unable to complete a task at hand, consumers will stray to a competitor that may be more competent. Competence proves that a brand can compete and survive in the marketplace. Integrity is the belief that something is fair and just. It is important for an organization to have integrity so that consumers can respect the brand. Dependability can also be known as reliability and is the belief that someone will do what they say they will do an acts consistently on it. Competence, integrity and dependability/reliability are three dimensions of trust that are measurable.

There are many more characteristics of trust than there are dimensions. Characteristics cannot be measured as easily, but are still important in building relationships. A few of these characteristics are multilevel, dynamic and culturally rooted. Trust results from positive interactions. For this reason, it’s important to have a wide network in your organization and publics. When doing so, you hold the multilevel characteristic of trust. Having dynamic is important because trust is constantly changing because it cycles through phases of building and destabilizing. Having dynamic is important to be able to measure trust. Lastly, trust is closely tied to the norms, values and beliefs of culture. Therefore, it is crucial to understand self-image as a company and be culturally rooted.

Trust seems like a simple concept. Don’t lie and always be honest. I’ve learned there are several aspects to trust and how it can be measured. Trust is not only critical for relationships involving significant others and friends, but also for companies and their consumers. Trust is measured for marketing purposes for organizations. Business cannot succeed if they don’t have consumers that trust their brand and their culture. Trust may be a simple concept in light, but there is a lot that goes into it and how it keeps relationships of all sorts thriving.