Social Media Strategy: Introduction to Measuring ROI

Social Media ROI? Luckily we webby people can measure everything - but should we? I just commented http://bit.ly/fSxZiy via @acuras_webless than a minute ago via TweetDeckMark Mapstone
markmapstone




OK, this is interesting to me. Because I don't use any link builder tools, the most I use is hooking up my Bit.ly account to twitter.

The reason why I don't measure that way, is because I don't sell social media participation that way. As soon as you tell a client, 'we can measure that'. They want it for everything and measure the success or failure of (perhaps) the service they bought from you/me/us.

However if I remind a client, how do they measure the ROI of a billboard poster, leaflets, TV advert, mobile phone usage, networking events?... in fact How do they measure the ROI of anything not directly related to a sales call, enquiry & conversion... people struggle.

Obviously I'm aware of unique urls and all the rest of it. But, E.g.: if I look at a poster... then walk away, go home. Think of it again and call up that company. There is no direct provable relationship between what I saw and what I did.

That is why I am reluctant to go the route of telling clients 'I can measure that'. Of course we can. But that's not what social media is about. Social Media is just conversation around content. Conversation: word of mouth. And we both know that Word of Mouth is the holy grail of marketing - and that isn't measurable either!

I prefer to focus on taking that word of mouth about a brand, completely under the radar... make it seep into social spaces gentle and effectively, by encouraging clients to develop relationships. To build trusted relationships that extend into our personal lives. Real loyalty that means the recipient will stand by the brand right from the start. Sure it building on quality not quantity, but I also promote the longevity of building relationships that way. The companies we (MediaSnackers) work with want to and plan to be around in 10 years time. So why would we promote short (shaky)cuts to them?

Doesn't make sense to me. A client has never disputed this approach, once we've explained it to them.

Plus they are smart too. They know that anything can be twisted with numbers.

So, that's my take on it. Obviously it works for you in your business, so we may have to agree to differ.

But anyways... good post. It got me thinking :)

mark

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