Enough with Social Media ROI, Already

Breaking news: ROI may well not matter for your social media program.

That is, according to Dave Fleet of Social Media Today. It's a financial term, with a set definition that carries a hefty weight in companies.  However, that doesn't mean you can always relate your programs directly to it. 

For the ROI formula to work, you must be able to measure the cost and benefits of your in dollar amounts.  The problem is the cost is easy to assess, but the gain can be difficult to attribute. For instance, what is the $ gain of improving customer service, increased employee engagement, or relationship-building?  

Taking these situations into consideration, ROI may not be the right measurement for you.

It doesn't mean your program isn't valuable or your program isn't worth measuring.  It means you need to find appropriate ways to tie your measurements back to your objectives. Everything should lead back to your objectives.  This allows you to make adjustments to your program to perform to your (or your client's) needs.

"The fact that you're not measuring ROI doesn't mean you're not measuring success or impact. In fact, it may just mean you're measuring the right thing."

This has definitely hit home for us at REACTOR.  Our first goal for our Great Social Media Experiment was to measure the true value of social networks to increase ROI for service-based business.  As the weeks have progressed, we have begun to question the ability of social media to increase ROI.  After reading this article, I think it's time to change our measurements, like Fleet suggests, to tie back to our objectives: to make the REACTOR name and concept more widely known among businesses. 

See the entire article here.

(via @paulbarron)

Weekly Stats: Week 7

(As always, click on chart for larger image)

This experiment is proving to be more difficult than we have imagined.  As you can see from the charts above, our numbers are either beginning to plateau or slip.  

The funny thing is, there are all these social media "believers" out there, but is anyone really making any money and affecting ROI simply by utilizing Twitter, blogs, and Facebook? 

We've read article after article about successfully using and increasing business through social media, most articles being very vague.  Only a few had mentioned exactly what they had done, and those businesses happened to have a very general public.  Unfortunately, our public is not so large.  

I think what we're starting to prove here is for a service-based business, utilizing social media is not worth the time and money spent on it.  Sure we get fans and followers, but it seems to be more for an entertainment crowd, rather than a business audience.  

Seeing Plaid in Kansas City

Plaid Nation is rolling around town today.  It's a creative design company, on tour through the midwest on a rolling celebration of creativity and a demonstration of social media in action.  It's a Plaid Ford Flex driving through the country meeting creative, marketing, brand and internet workers, and celebrating their innovations.

We're excited to see their experience in working with the latest social media tools available, especially since we are conducting a similar experiment.  We're curious to see/hear what they've been up to.

If you keep an eye out, you might just see the Plaid Nation van drive through your neighborhood.

Be sure to check out their website and their cool bobble heads.

Social Networks Not Much of a Marketplace

This morning, Jack Loechner of mediapost.com blogged about "Social Networks Not Much of a Marketplace" in which he cited a study released by Workplace Media, outlining some of the hurdles major brands face as they attempt to create a consumer impact on social media networks. WorkPlace Media is a national media company that focuses solely on helping marketers reach the working consumer, with over 20 years experience.

In his blog, he goes on to give statistics provided by the company regarding time spent on social network sites at work, social networking impact on brand perception, and product/brand recommendations from social networking sites.

The statistics are interesting, but the comments are where the meat of the story really lies.

Time Spent on Social Networking Sites at Work (% of Respondents)
Time Spent	% of Respondents
Less than 30 minutes	78%
30 minutes	13
1 hour	5
Open all day	4
Source: WorkPlaceMedia, May 2009

Social Networking Impact on Brand Perception (% of Respondents)
Activity	Yes	No
Follow a brand's social network account	11%	89%
Opinion changes if brand has no presence on social media site	4%	96%
Opinion changes if brand has significant presence on social media site	12%	88%
Source: WorkPlaceMedia, May 2009

Product or Brand Recommendations From Social Networking Site (% of Respondents
Activity	Yes	No
Recommended business/product via social network site	25%	75%
Received a business/product recommendation via social network site	33	67
Acted upon business/product recommendation from social network site	18	82
Source: WorkPlaceMedia, May 2009

I'd personally like to know if this report was based solely on one social networking site or on the use of the major sites. I say this because Loechner also cites a recent Harris poll showing that word of mouth is a much stronger influence than social networking.When a group of adults were asked about their information-gathering process for the most recent purchase they made,

• 21% of Harris poll respondents cited "face-to-face with a person not associated with the company, such as a family member, business colleague or friend."
• 12% cited a phone call with someone similar
• 4% mentioned using "public online social-networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace"
• 4% mentioned "private social networking sites, such as customer communities"

Word of mouth is a social networking tool and is predominately used in Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. In fact, I would venture to say that Twitter is 90 percent word of mouth.

The problem is that branding companies have yet to figure out how to successfully connect with consumers without pushing products. "If your product, service or conversation isn't relevant, authentic, and valuable then all marketing efforts will work equally well - which is to say, not at all. Marry that with [the] (correct) assertion that word of mouth is social media and you've got a recipe for success: great product/service = social discussions = consumer buy-in," points out Trevin Bensko-Wecks.

"The 'social media' part of the equation as defined by this study is a relatively trivial outpouring of the meaningful activity that's happening below the surface. So, while this study successfully determines that a 'surface' social media presence is inadequate and ineffective, it only further proves the need for deeper and more meaningful engagement with consumers, and reaffirms the role of differentiated and authentic brand positioning and voice," says Alex Morrison, the first to comment on the blog.

Speaking of comments, it seems the actual meat of the information lies in the comments, not the article itself. It only touched the surface of social media instead of diving in and really figuring out what is going on and how to fix the problems.

To read the entire blog and comments, click here.

(via mediapost.com) (via @DennisMuse on Twitter)

Weekly Stats: Week 6

(click on the graph for a larger image)

As the weeks go on, the numbers continue to go up, but at a very slow pace.  The question now becomes, Can we expect to experience a spike in our numbers at any point in time, or is it just a continuous, slow ascension that requires a bit more patience to get to our goal? We're hoping for the spike, but I guess we'll see what happens. 

Weekly Stats: Week 5

At only five weeks into our experiment, we feel like we obviously haven't had long enough to really pull any useful data. But, from a quick glance, the money we have put into it in "man hours" isn't getting enough ROI to justify what we are doing.

We do still see a value in utilizing social media though. Online media outlets can demonstrate a business' priority in keeping an updated visible profile. Keeping active accounts with blogs and tweets shows the dedication a business has to getting and keeping it's name "out there." If you have a blog or twitter account and don't publish on a regular basis, it can be seen as stale.

---------------------------

While the number of website hits is down, the rest of our stats are up, but not by any incredible number. At this rate we will not reach our goal by the end of the experiment.

This brings us to a few questions...

• Are the number of followers/friends really important to the success of the experiment that's sole purpose is to increase the ROI of a service-based business?
• Are blog readers really potential clients, or are we fishing in the wrong pond?
• To a business, is the time and money spent on utilizing social networking sites really worth doing all this?

Maybe we need to be a little more personal in our posts to get a better glimpse into inner walls of our company. Starting this week, we'll start to inject a little more of our personality and will see where that takes us in comparison to what we have been doing.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Ad Agencies Social Media Success Stories

Agencies are obtaining new business by leading conversations with social media and being able to demonstrate their credibility within that arena, according to Michael Gass, New Business Consultant to Advertising and PR Agencies utilizing social media of Michael Gass Consulting.

He received word from Jaci Russo and The Russo Group that they had received their 12th new client of the year, CC's Community Coffee House. For those of you who don't know, CC's has over 30 locations in the state of Louisiana.

The reason for The Russo Groups' success is their ability to demonstrate the benefits of social media by how it has benefited their agency. They actually use the tools they recommend their clients to use and practice what they preach.

They've learned to lead conversations with their social media expertise that has opened up doors for this agency nationwide. Ninety-eight percent of their new business now comes from outside their market. That's pretty good for a small- to mid-size ad agency. (And since we're a small firm, this definitely caught our eye.)

The Russo Group isn't the only firm generating new business through social media. A few other agencies are also using Twitter, blogs and other networks to build awareness and gain new business opportunities.

The question we have is "Is this new business strictly social media work, and if so, is it merely being used as 'getting your foot in the door' for future advertising and designing business?"

To read the full article, visit fuelingnewsbusiness.com

(http://is.gd/1bRjh via @scottbait, @triveragirl, @michaelgass)

Learning Twitter? Don't Take Cues from These Agencies

Thinking of Tweeting?  There's no silver bullet when it comes to Twitter, but here is some common-sense logic agencies should apply to their strategies.

Don't over-promote. Of course you want to use Twitter to build your agency's brand, but don't hit people over the head with a litany of press releases. Be human. Attach a personality -- a name, a photo -- to your Twitter feed and balance promoting your brand with some personal updates so followers can get a sense of your company culture. Remember, Twitter is public! A client probably won't appreciate your tweeting "Ouch, got a nasty hangover" when you're late to the meeting. Keep clients looped. Be sure to share your agency's Twitter strategy with your clients. Get permission if you want to mention one by name, and don't forget that a lot of your work is proprietary. Don't let a careless misstep to cost you the relationship. Listen. Know what people are saying about you on Twitter. Use search.twitter.com or an application such as TweetDeck to monitor the chatter. Respond. The point of being on Twitter is to engage with people who know your agency, as well as those who don't and want to learn more about you. If followers comment on your feed or send you direct messages, get back to them promptly. Remember, it's a conversation. Keep expectations in check. A Twitter strategy does not make your agency "social." Try out tools internally to share knowledge, exchange ideas and -- best yet -- encourage learning that you can pass along to clients. Identify impersonators. Accounts purporting to be someone or something they're not violate Twitter's terms of service. So if someone's got their paws on yours,let Twitter know . -- Rupal Parekh

Some tweet deftly, while others lag clients.  As Twitter moves into the business mainstream, it's increasingly clear that one community has yet to fully embrace the social-networking tool du jour: agencies.

The irony is that the same people clients hire to erect communications and social-media strategies often appear uncomfortable using Twitter themselves. 

Other users are misrepresenting their usernames (often corporations) publishing tweets that have nothing to do with the company's business or image. Whatever the case may be, save for a few shining examples of shops that "get it," agencies need to catch up with their clients, and fast.

To read the entire article, visit mobile.adage.com

(via @BURNadvertising)

Weekly Stats: Week 4

The following graphs represent the statistics during June 22 through July 6.  Our updated graphs will continue to show our progress over a 3 week period.  To see the master graph, click on the Overall Stats tab.

(click on graph for larger image)

If you notice, there is a drop in website and blog hits over the past week.  While we are not 100% certain of the actual cause, we believe the holiday/vacation week may have had something to do with it.  On the up side, we are still maintaining our increase of Twitter followers and Facebook friends.  

Weekly Stats: Weeks 1-3

To kick off the Social Media Experiment, we've posted a chart showing the pertinent information that will be updated weekly. This information will be used to compare our weekly results with our beginning results to determine the efficiency of our social networking efforts. 

These charts show this week's statistics - June 29, 2009 - compared to the previous two weeks.
(Click on the graph to enlarge the image.)

If you look, you will notice our website traffic shot up dramatically.  We made some minor modifications to our website and blogged and tweeted about it, asking people to visit the site. The spike is a result of our social media efforts.

To view the overall progress of our efforts, visit Overall Statistics.