Let's go back a few years. I would go to work everyday and the first thing I did was boot up my PC and run reports. Massive, immense reports that tracked every single click and impression that worked on behalf of Orbitz' eMarketing campaigns. From affiliate marketing to email campaigns to our banner buys, every activity was filtered down into reports. These metrics dictated what optimization activities I would conduct that morning. I lived in URL tracking parameters, A/B tests, DFA tags and measuring the amount of time it took to purchase a plane ticket over a set amount of days.  It was one of the most rewarding parts of my job - I KNEW what happened as a result of that media buy I approved or the tracking tags that I sent over to our partners at Big Search Giant, Large Sports Network, Big Ad Network, etc.

It was addicting. I realized that I'm still addicted to numbers.

Fast forward to present day. I know that media planners and eMarketing teams continue to run these same numbers daily, proving the value of their digital strategies. Why can't these same principles be applied to social media?

Yes, I know tracking the ROI of social media isn't as simple as tracking a paid banner buy, but I'm on a quest to bring back the tracking accountability that made the web what it is today. For example, it is possible to track the amount of time someone visited your site, selected an action (say 'Become a Fan'), lingered on that link and then visited your Facebook page. From there, couldn't we then track the conversion rate of that same person becoming a fan? Take things a step further and track the activities of your fans, by segments (I love segments), to see what Fan Perks whet their digital palettes.

Another example. Tie in the paid and non paid keywords that bring folks to your site and line those up with the social media actions you want people to take. Do they match up? If they didn't match up, what do you need to optimize the landing pages of your site to ensure that folks follow you on Twitter or hand over their email address?

Addicting, isn't it?:)