How Do You Measure Social Media Return on Investment ROI?
A couple things recently came up about social media return on investment (ROI). First, I was asked to submit a piece on return on investment for a social media book coming out. When I saw the example the author had on the subject, I was taken aback. It had no mention on the firm’s investment and no real data about their return on said investment.
Then I was asked whether I was interested in doing a social media return on investment presentation for AEC firms. My initial thought was I would only want to do it to keep people from getting bad information. I decided against it because I have not done enough work in the social media ROI area. It would be a bit hypocritical of me at this juncture to claim to be an expert in this area.
But I did come across a presentation that would knock the socks off anything I would do (see embedded presentation below). For your subscribed folks, here is the link
http://www.slideshare.net/thebrandbuilder/olivier-blanchard-basics-of-social-media-roi
The short version is this. The only return on your investment in social media is revenue or increased efficiency (which reduces operating costs). That’s it. Therefore, you have to prove that your “social media” activities are doing one of those two things.
You can’t measure ROI with retweets, website visitors, “brand recognition,” or any of that. That is just foolishness.
A lot of people may claim that tracking revenue or increased efficiency from social media is impossible. My philosophy/belief is that every dollar you make can be tracked back to something. It’s not impossible.
This presentation goes into much more detail about how to measure your social media return on investment. I hope you find value in it. I know I did.
