Last week, Andrew Spoeth of Marketo was kind enough to guest host #TechChat with us. Andrew is also co-moderator of #B2BChat, and he was previously director of Marketing at B2B search firm Enquiro. We were thrilled to have him join us!

Andrew and I chatted with attendees about social media measurement (transcript available here). And within 10 minutes, it was clear: Many marketers aren't measuring social media. However, even though social media measurement is relatively new territory, our savvy attendees and guest host brought many golden nuggets of wisdom to the chat. From last week's #TechChat, here are my 3 favorite social media measurement tips:

1. The first step in social media measurement is to define why you want to measure something. (via @AndrewSpoeth)
While it may seem obvious, you must decide why you want to measure something. And then if you don't know or have a good answer, don't waste time measuring it. Because measurement for measurement's sake is a waste of time.

2. Track reach but identify insights and understand quality of the connection or engagement. (via @robpetersen)
Tracking reach is important, but as Rob pointed out, quality is important too. Are the people you're engaging with influencers? Or are they bots that auto-follow?

3. Making friends with the "cool kids" isn't the shortest distance. Build your own base to become a "cool kid." (via @RLMadMan)
Always the wise attendee, Marjorie pointed out that just wooing the "cool" kids isn't enough. As a marketer, you must build your own band of followers. Sure, they may not have 20,000 followers and a Technorati Top 100 blog, but their loyalty will can snowball into a tribe that's bigger than just two or three cool kids.

Thanks again to Andrew, Rob, Marjorie, and the rest of the #TechChat attendees for your insights. Join us again tonight at 8 p.m. (Eastern time) to chat with B2B marketing expert and SocialTech speaker Chris Koch about using social media to develop and promote thought leadership.

And then join us October 26 for SocialTech 2010. SocialTech is our new conference about social media for the high-tech industry, featuring three keynotes, 14 sessions, and more than 30 B2B social media experts. You can attend live in San Jose or from the comfort of your own computer. See you!