Media Post is asking if we need a new metric for social media, and they talked about CPSA, Cost Per Social Action. I think this idea illustrates the danger of group think in a bubble. Marketing departments are responsible for brand goodwill and helping generate sales, a social action isn’t inherently valuable. Advertising paying for impressions isn’t new with the Internet, and paying for leads and sales is a form of commission sales. The unique element of CPC is the new addition for the Web as an intermediate metric, but is no different than crediting a television campaign for each person that enters the showroom, even if sales fails to close the deal.
I find it unlikely that we will develop some intermediate metric related to something nebulous like “social action, but rather a new intermediate metric related to generating sales or retaining customers.