Comments on: It is about the Conversation… Not ROI silly. Huh? http://west17media.com/2009/10/01/it-is-about-the-conversation-not-roi-silly-huh/ Social media marketing is our Business Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:49:28 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: WendyPeters http://west17media.com/2009/10/01/it-is-about-the-conversation-not-roi-silly-huh/comment-page-1/#comment-10 WendyPeters Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:59:45 +0000 http://west17media.com/?p=612#comment-10 To not have goals prior to starting any project or campaign is ridiculous. To not have any way to measure those goals is equally as ridiculous. Of course measurement is important.<br><br>The difficult part is in deciding WHAT to measure. Measuring ROI directly to the bottom line from soft activities, that's next to impossible. But with a little creativity, measuring increased customer satisfaction, positive interactions, increased word of mouth, etc. makes finding an indirect link between online activities and an increase or decrease in a company's sales pretty simple.<br><br>What Dell has done with social media and their online Twitter sales is a great example. I don't think it would be fair to say that Dell made $3M because they started posting deals on Twitter. I do think it is fair to say that sales from the Twitter feed were certainly enhanced because of increased visibility of good customer service. Again, there is no way to measure exactly what that impact is, but there is certainly enough data available to make a strong case for the fact that Dell's online customer service efforts had an impact.<br><br>So, to measure or not to measure? That isn't the question. What to measure? That's a better one. We may never know the direct correlation of our soft activities, but being able to back them up with goals and measurements of success is an invaluable part to evaluating our efforts and moving forward. How does Lionel Menchaca expect to improve Dell's performance and customer service efforts through social media if he has no benchmarking or ways of measuring success? He can't. To not have goals prior to starting any project or campaign is ridiculous. To not have any way to measure those goals is equally as ridiculous. Of course measurement is important.

The difficult part is in deciding WHAT to measure. Measuring ROI directly to the bottom line from soft activities, that's next to impossible. But with a little creativity, measuring increased customer satisfaction, positive interactions, increased word of mouth, etc. makes finding an indirect link between online activities and an increase or decrease in a company's sales pretty simple.

What Dell has done with social media and their online Twitter sales is a great example. I don't think it would be fair to say that Dell made $3M because they started posting deals on Twitter. I do think it is fair to say that sales from the Twitter feed were certainly enhanced because of increased visibility of good customer service. Again, there is no way to measure exactly what that impact is, but there is certainly enough data available to make a strong case for the fact that Dell's online customer service efforts had an impact.

So, to measure or not to measure? That isn't the question. What to measure? That's a better one. We may never know the direct correlation of our soft activities, but being able to back them up with goals and measurements of success is an invaluable part to evaluating our efforts and moving forward. How does Lionel Menchaca expect to improve Dell's performance and customer service efforts through social media if he has no benchmarking or ways of measuring success? He can't.

]]> By: Doug Lacombe http://west17media.com/2009/10/01/it-is-about-the-conversation-not-roi-silly-huh/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Doug Lacombe Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:45:39 +0000 http://west17media.com/?p=612#comment-7 Hear hear! Well said Roger! No business should devote resources to anything without some sense of the why and the payback. While it's not always easy to measure the ROI of things like client dinners or wine and cheese events, we know they help build relationships, so perhaps a wee bit of latitude is in order for the social component of social media. But to forgo measurement and ROI altogether is, as you say, foolhardy. Good post, and lovely Wordpress theme BTW! Hear hear! Well said Roger! No business should devote resources to anything without some sense of the why and the payback. While it's not always easy to measure the ROI of things like client dinners or wine and cheese events, we know they help build relationships, so perhaps a wee bit of latitude is in order for the social component of social media. But to forgo measurement and ROI altogether is, as you say, foolhardy. Good post, and lovely Wordpress theme BTW!

]]>