The true ROI of the Social Media
The true ROI of the Social Media
A fierce debate has been taking place in the blogosphere for quite some time regarding the ROI (return on investment) value of the social media and how to measure it and present it in credible ways to ‘Generation X’ (and older) hard-nosed marketing directors. In the heat of the argument, all kinds of ingenious proposals have been put forward, ranging from the dismissal of ROI as a valid concept when applied to the social media to its substitution by more appropriate acronyms like ROA (return on attention), ROE (return on engagement) and the like.
Luckily for us – embattled client-facing online strategists and account managers of all guises – the visual genius of Mark Smiciklas from Intersection Consulting has come to the rescue with a simple yet brilliant graphic (based on Shane Gibson’s Social ROI model) that encapsulates the multifacted nature of Social Media ROI.
As we can see, the ROI of the Social Media goes well beyond hard and fast sales and affects intangibles such as reputation, client retention, client education or the building of trust that are simply crucial to the long-term success of any business.
Just as the old-fashioned accounting conventions were not taking into account environmental impact and/or the losses that the environment was incurring as a result of business operations, ROI as traditionally understood and applied in marketing fails to do justice to the social media boon businesses of all kinds can enjoy if they implement sensible and strategically sound social media marketing plans.
I very much hope that this revealing graphic will help to present social media ROI in all its depth and breadth to organizations willing to invest into the social web.
Oscar Del Santo is an online strategist, publicist and trailblazing reputation manager. He helps individuals and organizations achieve their online goals through the implementation of tailor-made online strategies with strong social web and ORM components. He is a sought-after ‘de-mistifying’ trainer, key speaker and trusted & confidential advisor in online reputation crises scenarios .
¿Cuánto valen 3000 fans en Facebook? 7:54 am on October 9, 2009 Permalink |
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Verónica Aimar 1:33 pm on October 15, 2009 Permalink |
A wide range of variables to work on, once having them incorporated as part of managing the Social Media effects/consequences. Thank you for this clarifying graphic.