Before you rush into creating a blog, or a Facebook widget, or any of the other creative ways to express yourself through social media, take a look around. Learn the environment, and listen before you start to talk. In this session, we'll talk about different ways of listening to online conversations, what you can learn, and how what you learn influences what you do next.

Topics of discussion

• Why we talk about listening
• Monitoring vs. measurement
• Measuring audience behavior vs. online content
• Common content metrics
• Tools--free and commercial

Conversation leader

Nathan Gilliatt is principal of Social Target LLC, a research and advisory firm specializing in tools and practices for social media listening and engagement. Nathan blogs at The Net-Savvy Executive.

Resources

• Listen means more than you may think, Nathan Gilliatt
• Sorting out social media measurement, Nathan Gilliatt
• Examples of social media metrics, Rachel Happe
• Social media measurement on TheNewPR Wiki
• Introduction to social media analysis, Nathan Gilliatt
• The word on the web: 7 keyword trending tools, Dan Taylor
• Monitoring social media before you have a budget, Nathan Gilliatt