Prove your value, social media

As companies continue to experiment with social media as part of their marketing mix, the obvious question that arises will be “how do I measure this?”.  In the past few years, metrics have been playing an increasing role in most companies’ marketing programs – and I don’t expect social media to be an exception.

1.  In a blog post last week, my friend Mike Frichol discusses how companies see value in social media, but he illustrates many reasons why they fear it.  Mike cites research that says 81% of executives think social media can enhance customer relationships and build a company’s brand.  But the downside might be reach – since so many companies block social media access for their employees, or see productivity declines.  That’s one measurement that’s pretty scary to B2B social media advocates in particular.

2.  A post by my friend Tom Pick mentions three challenges B2B marketers have in measuring their social media ROI, including: 1) it’s more PR than direct response; 2) last-click attribution; and 3) it’s more about influencing people who can influence buying decisions.

3.  A MediaPost column from yesterday lists 100 ways to measure social media.  It’s a long and impressive list of metrics which many marketers might find helpful.  These metrics at least provide a place to start when you need to gauge the effectiveness of a social media campaign.  But many of these are tough to quantify, and most don’t provide the elusive ROI numbers that Tom Pick wrote about in point 2 above.

Takeaway:  There’s no doubt metrics will play a huge role in social media’s success (or failure) at getting senior executive buy-in.  Before most companies truly embrace social media and start to shift large amounts of dollars and resources to it, the execs will need to see some solid proof that social media provides a solid return on investment.

Photo by chefranden