Comments on: Case Studies in Perspective http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2009/10/case-studies-in-perspective/ Make Things Happen Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:55:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Angela Moore http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2009/10/case-studies-in-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-6605 Angela Moore Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:41:13 +0000 http://altitudebranding.com/?p=785#comment-6605 Amber, great post on this topic. Way too many people assume that case studies are the end-all be-all of whatever topic is currently "hot." But what if you're the first one to try that? Perhaps if everything you do needs to be backed up by a case study, you should evaluate whether or not its time to take a risk. Why let everyone else be a trailblazer and you're always playing catch up? Amber, great post on this topic. Way too many people assume that case studies are the end-all be-all of whatever topic is currently “hot.” But what if you’re the first one to try that? Perhaps if everything you do needs to be backed up by a case study, you should evaluate whether or not its time to take a risk. Why let everyone else be a trailblazer and you’re always playing catch up?

]]> By: Angela Moore http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2009/10/case-studies-in-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-22164 Angela Moore Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:41:00 +0000 http://altitudebranding.com/?p=785#comment-22164 Amber, great post on this topic. Way too many people assume that case studies are the end-all be-all of whatever topic is currently "hot." But what if you're the first one to try that? Perhaps if everything you do needs to be backed up by a case study, you should evaluate whether or not its time to take a risk. Why let everyone else be a trailblazer and you're always playing catch up? Amber, great post on this topic. Way too many people assume that case studies are the end-all be-all of whatever topic is currently “hot.” But what if you’re the first one to try that? Perhaps if everything you do needs to be backed up by a case study, you should evaluate whether or not its time to take a risk. Why let everyone else be a trailblazer and you’re always playing catch up?

]]> By: Dan McCarthy http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2009/10/case-studies-in-perspective/comment-page-1/#comment-6598 Dan McCarthy Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:03:50 +0000 http://altitudebranding.com/?p=785#comment-6598 I agree that case studies often lose something when they're strictly promotional. However, like a lot of media, the practical value of case studies shouldn't be judged solely on the worse-case applications of them. There's definitely a need for case studies on social media - not to promote it as a panacea, or as a cookie-cutter formula. And certainly not as a testimonial. Instead, case studies should provide a template for best practices, as measured by what delivered demonstrably measurable results. Also, rather than offering answers applicable to only one company, a good social media case study should illustrate the strategic questions that the company asked going in. It should illustrate how to approach the task of applying social media, not just the benefits. So, I think there's room for Teresa's suggestion: look at what approaches failed and what fixes were applied to achieve success. Let's face it, there are no formulas for building or leveraging a community, because business goals and the community itself changes from case to case. Which leads me to Olivier's point: You can't validate what you can't measure. He's 100% right. For any case study about social media to be legitimate, it has to explain up front the metric by which success was measured. If anything, social media analytics need case studies most of all. I agree that case studies often lose something when they’re strictly promotional. However, like a lot of media, the practical value of case studies shouldn’t be judged solely on the worse-case applications of them.

There’s definitely a need for case studies on social media – not to promote it as a panacea, or as a cookie-cutter formula. And certainly not as a testimonial. Instead, case studies should provide a template for best practices, as measured by what delivered demonstrably measurable results.

Also, rather than offering answers applicable to only one company, a good social media case study should illustrate the strategic questions that the company asked going in. It should illustrate how to approach the task of applying social media, not just the benefits.

So, I think there’s room for Teresa’s suggestion: look at what approaches failed and what fixes were applied to achieve success. Let’s face it, there are no formulas for building or leveraging a community, because business goals and the community itself changes from case to case.

Which leads me to Olivier’s point: You can’t validate what you can’t measure. He’s 100% right. For any case study about social media to be legitimate, it has to explain up front the metric by which success was measured. If anything, social media analytics need case studies most of all.

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