The problem with communication and relationships, which are both the hallmarks of social media, is that their effects are often a challenge to quantify. Most people don’t know how to connect online efforts to bottom-line sales, amount of funds raised or other business results, or even to softer measures like improved relationships and competitive advantage. Because of this, companies and organizations tend to measure the easy stuff in social media – following counts, blog traffic, rankings, and if they are really sophisticated, engagement measures like number of comments on Facebook or a blog, ReTweets and mentions on Twitter, links to read more...