If you’re reading this blog post you’re probably a social media convert – like most British adults you’ve probably got a Facebook account to keep up with friends and family, you might even do some tweeting, and as a professional you’ve almost certainly got a LinkedIn profile.

Your activity on these sites creates what’s known as social data – evidence of your hobbies and what you like and dislike, as well as more basic information about you like your name, age, gender, marital status, where you live, what job you have, and so on.

Given the explosion in social media in the last five or six years, it’s not surprising that social data is the area of marketing with the highest growth in investment – the ability to reach people and find out useful information about them is unparalleled. But it’s also the channel marketers struggle most to measure in terms of its impact.

So here are a few simple tips that should hopefully make the world of social data less overwhelming – and more valuable – to your marketing efforts.

1. Relevance is what counts…

Just because you’re able to get hold of data, it doesn’t mean you should. For many businesses, the danger with using social channels is the tendency to collect too much data such as measuring every tweet that someone does. This often contributes to a data headache rather than easing it so it’s vital that businesses take a practical approach to measuring the impact of the data they have.

2. …And size is overrated

Businesses typically and wrongly perceive size, more than relevance, to be the fundamental factor to successfully gathering data through social channels. Unless users are actively engaging with a brand then they’re not delivering value. Driving conversation and engagement is key to measuring social data and in that sense, size becomes irrelevant.

3. Social data is only part of the picture

Data is most powerful when you have the bigger picture. One of the challenges companies typically face is being able to understand social data within the framework of existing customer data. This is particularly important when dealing with crisis communications. If a customer makes a complaint via Twitter for example, it’s very tempting to reply immediately. However, it’s more effective to consider the whole picture and look at the customer’s interaction through other channels. Different behaviours inform different areas and makes managing the customer a much easier process in the long run.

4. It’s not all about sales

Many social networks are being used very skilfully by a number of companies to harbour brand loyalty and associations, and no business would turn its nose up at positive interaction with consumers. The true benefit of utilising Facebook and its peers lies in connecting with people and guiding them one step along the purchasing process rather than trying to rush them to the checkout.

However, to understand the impact that social data has on sales across a business, it must be considered in conjunction with all other measurements– even if the customer doesn’t click straight from social to sale.