I knew it was coming, I have heard the murmurs, some whispers of concern, and now the real question - will I actually get ROI from “doing Social Media.” Well the correct marketing answer is YES, but the truthful answer is probably. It really does depend on what it is you are measuring.

I googled “Social Media ROI” yesterday and using Google’s witty new Show Options feature searched for Recent Results and found a great blog post by Reshma Kumar on the WebGuild.org

Measuring the ROI of Social Media

“It might also be worth comparing the ROI of using social media marketing to the ROI of not using it. Would the results be the same, better, or worse?!”

There it is … it’s been said. What’s the ROI if you don’t engage in this additional marketing channel? Companies are willing to extend budgets on Traditional Media that only shows where placement occurred, but no tracking mechanism to “the deal”.

Often you can leverage Social Marketing with a smaller budget, more trackable “clicks” but not consider the real ways to justify the spend. Is it a question of perceived value, since it is less expensive is the perception that true results are not fathomable?

Depends…

Social Media, Social Networking, Social Marketing … whatever you choose to call it is truly a marketing conduit with virtually unlimited channels. You still need to think about where the dollars are being spent. You still need to think about your demographic, you need to understand your message, you need to be willing to engage in conversations with customers, clients and prospects.

This is an extension of your existing marketing. It requires thought and planning, just like any other marketing plan. And I challenge you to definitely measure the ROI. You just have to decide what it is that you want to measure.

Do you want to see clicks from the social media placement to your website?

Do you need to check Google Alerts to see how many places your information has been taken with social drift.

Is it measured in the number increased repeat visitors to your website?

Are you looking for new actual buying customers?

Do you want to measure revenue?

Really it is up to you. What you measure you can improve. If you want to know if you are getting Social Media ROI … simply decide the results you want and measure it. And if you need help creating your Social Media Marketing plan … just give me a call or email lets see if there is a fit.