A demo is available at:
http://jpecr.dev.wolf-software.com

This will be on general release from Monday 19th Dec.

http://cookies.dev.wolf-software.com

We have put together a small site for people to be able to see how long they have left before the new law will start to be enforced.

http://countdown.wolf-software.com

We are also working a new plugin which will handle cookies of any kind

Nice to see that Google multi channel funnels is out of beta and free for all. It’s still not ideal e.g. it only allows for a 30 day cookie prior to the sale (hence not ideal for longer sales cycles such as mortgages) however it is certainly a welcome tracking addition.

Have a look at my article on how this will change digital marketing – http://www.searchmuse.com/blog/2011/4/13/google-multi-channel-funnels.html
Alternatively here is my sound bite: Google multi channel funnels will change the way, in particular, small-medium sized business track click value, it will shake up the tracking industry (e.g. impacting the big tracking players and the affiliate marketing channel may move away from predominantly relying on last click attribution) and the majority of businesses should start to value other channels that play a part in the sales funnel e.g. more generic ppc clicks and social media.

I commend your info-graphic in trying to clarify how social analytics might help organisations understand how well they’re doing online, but perhaps it’s a little too simplistic. For example, it might just be interpretted as a linear representation of the popular Plan Do Check Act sequence.

If I was to zoom in on one aspect in particular it would be the row with the three TVs asserting:
> define specific KPIs for social networks
> KPI objectives should be measurable
> Metrics should be in line with business goals.

These three steps raise a number of questions that, from my experience at least, present the trip points over which CMOs and Heads of PR stumble as they go through their “trough of disillusionment” with social media. For example:

1. Why should I define a KPI for a social network before ascertaining whether participation in that social network is good for business?

2. Rather than the metrics being “in line with business goals”, shouldn’t the goals some how inform or even dictate metric selection?

3. How does any KPI at the coal face (eg, number of retweets, friends, likes, +1s) relate to the achievement of my business objectives and the pursuit of the organisation’s vision?

As my fried Katie Delahaye Paine likes to say, ask “So what?” three times when faced with stats such as doubling retweets, tripling friends, quadrupling whatevermejigs. The respondent can usually find an answer to the first “So what?” but very rarely survives three in a row.

And as I like to say, I’ve yet to see a Chairman’s foreword in a company annual report that cites how pleased he/she is with the number of ‘likes’ the company has achieved.

Investment in communications (social media or otherwise) is an investment in an intangible asset. And intangibles only have meaning and value as part of a wider coordinated mix of investments.

I advocate an approach therefore that I call the Influence Scorecard that leans on the popular Balanced Scorecard approach for mapping strategy and optimising investment in an organisation’s human, information and organisational capital.

If anything, measuring the results of your social media strategy requires long-term, diligent and disciplined attention. It’s not simple.

If someone rang up and said I don’t like term 3, would you do them a special deal? No.

So the terms are (for consumer stuff) likely covered by “The Unfair terms in consumer contracts” regulations for the UK at least, which basically say when terms are non-negotiable they have to be reasonable.

Sure it is interesting that Apple track iPhone users, but the mobile phone companies always have tracked location, so probably most folks didn’t think it unusual.