What’s my Return On Investment?
Return on your investment is somewhat difficult to measure in terms of a social media campaign, as it’s not as simple as your typical ROI equation. Businesses and brands must establish a solid social media strategy in order for anything to be measured. Simply tweeting and writing in a blog will not have any positive impact unless it is a focused effort, keeping in mind all of the pieces that come into play when measuring your Social Media ROI.
Social Media is free, right? I don’t have to pay for a Twitter or Facebook account…
True, there are no signup fees for a Twitter account or Facebook page. However, social media is not free. It takes time, people and technology. In many cases, company headcounts are limited and staff members wear more than one hat. Being fully invested in a social media campaign and spending the time to make it successful, each component needs to be well-monitored and understood: blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Google Analytics, technical tools, website traffic, and the list goes on.
Every company wants to be online and in the social media game, but some companies simply don’t know what to do. The first thing is to figure out what you want to accomplish. Gathering hundreds of Twitter followers and not having anything to tweet about to keep the conversation going will not lead to a successful social media campaign. Getting involved in your social media community is what will make you successful online. You need to figure out where you stand now and build out on that. If you don’t have an accurate baseline, you can’t accurately measure your ROI.
Return on Involvement
To be successful online is to be involved. Automated social networking programs to put out information are a useful tool, but they don’t keep the discussion going. If your customers are talking to you on Facebook, you want to talk back. If someone had a bad experience in your restaurant and posted that review on Yelp, you want to take care of that situation. It’s important to have someone with the proper expertise, time and dedication to manage your social media campaign.
