Comments on: Social Media Measurement: Yes, ROI Matters

By: The ROI of Social Media: Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck | claremunn.com

The ROI of Social Media: Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck | claremunn.com — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:00:28 +0000

[...] “What is the ROI for Social Media?” which recently spurred a follow-up post by Paul May, “Social Media Measurement: Yes, ROI Matters.” Both are good [...]

By: Social Marketing ROI: Ignore At Your Own Peril « The Engaged Consumer

Social Marketing ROI: Ignore At Your Own Peril « The Engaged Consumer — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:49:19 +0000

[...] endeavors without a demonstrable return on their investment. What spurred the conversation was Paul’s recent blog post inspired by friend and fellow blogger, Jason Falls, similarly focused [...]

By: Paul May

Paul May — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 08:32:55 +0000

@Britton – thanks for joining in. I can see how bundling it into a broader package of activities might reduce some of the pressure, but I’m not sure it solves the core problem that many people are facing in their dealings with large companies. Specifically, large companies look at it as an issue of opportunity cost. I.e., they’re trying to decide whether the return is worth the required effort, given that they’re weighing it against traditional marketing tactics. Given this, the options for the social media marketer are to either face the ROI question head on or try to move the C-level audience toward a different set of metrics (which I think is going to be a tough row to hoe).

There’s a really good comment discussion about this in the Peter Kim post that I linked to above.

By: Britton Manasco

Britton Manasco — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:02:25 +0000

Paul,

Bravo! You’ve generated quite a vibrant discussion. I’m with you on the necessity of measuring ROI. I just wonder whether social media interactions should be the locus of our metrics or we should simply bundle our activities into larger endeavors that lend themselves more easily to measurement. I guess that’s not so helpful for a “pure play” social media service provider, but I’m thinking it’s best — in many cases — if social media activities are an embedded input in, say, a lead generation program (justified by the production of sales-ready leads) or a more conventional PR program (with conventional PR awareness metrics) rather than a vulnerable line item that stands alone and must be actively defended.

Best,

Britton Manasco
Illuminating the Future

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 04:59:46 +0000

Very Informative. I’ll come back.

By: Lawrence Liu (Telligent)

Lawrence Liu (Telligent) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:51:05 +0000

@Webconomist, excellent points! Social media and online community can benefit every phase of the product lifecycle. As for metrics, we’re investing heavily in measuring, analyzing, and correlating the “social interactions” around social media. A bit more info on my blog: http://communityzenmaster.com/blogs/lliu/archive/2008/10/29/do-social-media-and-online-community-metrics-really-matter.aspx.

By: Webconomist

Webconomist — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:09:31 +0000

@Paul May, in response to your Q about retention vs. acquisition…I’ve used Social Media for retention measurement in terms of customer service in the following ways: reduced inbound calls to a Help Desk, reduced email costs and reduction in bums in seats at inbound centres. For SMB’s they can use Social Media tools to move the customer service to the customers (loyal customers answering questions via Blogs or Wiki’s as an example.)

I think we look at “marketing” too narrowly. In it’s truer sense (as per Drucker) marketing is every outward facing activity of the “business” as a whole. Every point of contact with prospective employees, media, customers and suppliers (all the stakeholders) is “marketing” since it lends to building the Whole Business. This is a more holistic approach.

For the first time ever a business can truly market itself in all aspects. If a business is not marketing itself, it is not a business.

By: Twitter encouraging spammers or highlight trends? Analysis using ‘TweetDeck’

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:01:54 +0000

[...] Random Thoughts about Social Media Measurement and ROI [...]

By: Paul May

Paul May — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:24:57 +0000

@Webconomist –
Great addition to the conversation. I’d be interested in understanding why you view retention as the ROI sweet spot, rather than acquisition. This seems to be a pretty common meme, so it would be good to better understand what you mean. First, what types of companies are you referring to – established brands or SMBs? For this group, what is it about retention that makes it easier to demonstrate ROI than acquisition?

@Marc Meyer –
Interesting to view the distinction as one of ROE versus ROI. Captures the distinction between putting a dollar in and expecting X dollars out as opposed to expecting a return from equity built over time.

I still think the importance of this distinction really depends on the goals (per Peter’s comments) and the size of the company. The smaller the company and the more the goals look like traditional lead gen or direct marketing goals, it seems to me that the less problematic measurement is (even though social media is not transactional).

@Tom – On my way to take a look at your analysis and post.

@Jeanne – glad you found us and thanks for your comment. We’ll try to keep it coming!

By: Jeanne O'Keefe

Jeanne O'Keefe — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:51:47 +0000

Fantastic blog-> Found you through Twitter- content rich and well written! I’ll look forward to reading your updates to follow as our Real Estate Team in Columbus, OH is keenly interested in all aspects of the social media world. Also, just a quick note to say that we DO use social media venues to keep up with old/current friends and clients and make new friends on the web. Why else would we invest so much time and energy?
Best~Jeanne