Forget Social Media ROI
Heidi Cohen | June 27, 2011 | 22 Comments inShare427 Five other social media metrics that matter. Are you tracking social media ROI? While social media ROI attracts a lot of discussion and stands for fancy names like return on interaction, the reality is that only one out of three companies tracks social media ROI after three years! Problems Measuring Social Media ROI Here are three reasons that explain the difficulty in tracking and calculating social media ROI. Social media starts as a small test on the side. Given these internal challenges for tracking social media ROI, it makes sense to use other metrics to monitor your social media campaign's performance. 5 Social Media Metrics That Matter From a business perspective, what's important, at least in the short term, is showing that your social media marketing is effective at achieving your business goals. Reach. What are your views on social media ROI and which other social media metrics matter for your business?
Dramatic Difference in Approach to Social Media Metrics
Marketers appear to be inching closer to answering the question of social media ROI—or at least making a serious effort—as the stakes get higher. eMarketer estimates four out of five US businesses with at least 100 employees will be marketing on social media this year, and US ad spending on social networks is expected to reach over $3 billion. And according to research from Bazaarvoice and The CMO Club, marketers are planning to change the way they measure the effectiveness of those dollars. Site traffic, which was the top metric for social marketing success in 2010, will still be on top this year. Asked about social media activities with the highest ROI based on older metrics with less of a focus on the bottom line, CMOs were most likely to say they did not know the return from any channel other than their company’s online community. Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Check out today’s other article, “Big Opportunities Behind Online Health Research.”
Business Models for Virtual Currency and Virtual Goods
What is the business model for use of virtual currency and virtual goods in social networks?This is the third in a four-part series on virtual currency and virtual goods. The first covers definitions and potential revenues from virtual goods. Benefits for Owners of Social Networks In his excellent video on Virtual Currency in One Hour, Tom Hale of Second Life describes three advantages of virtual goods for website owners: Direct Monetization. Profitability. Engagement. Similarly, in Beyond Facebook Gifts: Virtual Payments, Anu Shukla described user activities associated with virtual goods and shows how they benefit the social network owner: Inviting other people to the property, which encourages viral success and growthLogging in every day, which helps increase stickiness and loyaltyCompleting certain tasks or quests, which helps to build engagement and activityCompleting ad offers, which advertisers like Business Models for Virtual Goods Hale also lays out three business models: Comments?
John Lovett's Blog at Web Analytics Demystified
10 Measures of Social Media ROI for Your Brand
It’s essential that companies clarify success metrics before launching their social media marketing and advertising initiatives. Social media success requires brands to reconsider their definitions of ROI. That does not mean, however, that the tried and true measures should be summarily tossed in the trash to make room for new benchmarks. Nor does it mean brands should attenuate their expectations because “social media is so new and changing so rapidly” or “the metrics you need are difficult to obtain.” You can’t excel if you aim low. I have seen a number of brands default their success assessment and — oh, horror! Malarkey. That a parameter is available does not mean it is always relevant any more than if a parameter is difficult to measure it is not worth pursuing. Here are ten measures of social media marketing ROI. #1 Convert customers to brand advocates — This is the Holy Grail of social media marketing and is the most difficult for brands to attain. #8 Raise awareness of products
How To Start A Social Network — Business models, revenues, engagement
HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI
Olivier Blanchard Basics Of Social Media Roi Defining Clear Goals As a standard formula, ROI is pretty basic, ROI = (X - Y) / Y, where X is your final value and Y is your starting value. In other words, if you invest $5 and get back $20, your ROI is (20 - 5) / 5 = 3 times your initial investment. Having concrete goals and concrete baselines is crucial to calculating your return on investment. Once you have your goals defined, you need to gauge the baseline for your levels before starting or changing your social media strategy. Metrics Tools Although ROI ≠ metrics, traditional web metrics like traffic counts, number of comments, Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc. are an important component when calculating your ROI. The trick is to not rely solely on the numbers, but on what the numbers end up leading to. Back in January, we did a round-up of 50+ Tools for Measuring Web Traffic. Sentiment Analysis Social Media Product Suites Making the Data Usable This is the hard part. What do you think?
HOW TO: Calculate the ROI of Your Social Media Campaign
Jamie Turner is the chief content officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response. He is also the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” now available at fine bookstores (and a few not-so-fine bookstores) everywhere. First the bad news: If you’re going to calculate the ROI of your social media campaign, you’re going to have to know math. That may come as a disappointment to people who thought social media was only about accumulating Twitter followers or monitoring Facebook “Likes,” but it’s true. The problem is that most companies aren’t doing an effective job of measuring the value of their social media campaigns. If you’re one of the people who isn't measuring your social media campaigns on an ROI basis, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Understand the Value of Your Social Media Campaign But what if you’re new to social media or new to the world of direct response metrics and don't have that data or experience? Fear not.
