Measuring Engagement: What Does It Mean?

Lots of people in digital marketing are promoting the concept of tracking engagement -- instead of giving credit to the last ad clicked on a Web site.

But what exactly does "engagement" mean? That question was posed to a panel at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' digital conference today in New York City.

And, if David Smith, chief executive of MediaSmith, had his way, he'd head back to the drawing board -- or Webster's.

Keep in mind, it's been three years since Advertising Research Foundation first promoted the concept of measuring "engagement." And Microsoft backs it in a big way, calling its approach, "engagement mapping."

Trouble is, Smith said: "Engagement is more of a concept. It's such a common word. We use it everyday to describe what a campaign is doing -- when we are not talking about a metric at all."