Another year of measuring social media ROI. Because first, we should dispel some myths about measuring social media ROI. I’m an advocate for social media ROI, but before we can measure social media ROI, we have to kick these myths to the curb. Now hear this: social media is not free. Social media requires the planning and respect of your entire company, just as any other marketing and communication initiative. If you hope to measure ROI, you must first have an investment. MORE >>

This is a draft of chapter 10 of Social Marketing to the Business Customer by Paul Gillin and Eric Schwartzman. This chapter focuses on how to calculate ROI of social media and Internet marketing programs in general. I’m particularly interested in your feedback on this chapter because it presents some new ideas I’ve been playing with about how to calculate the ROI of almost anything. We’ve told you about a few companies that have achieved a notable return on investment (ROI) from their social marketing initiatives. Defining ROI. MORE >>

? It’s been one of my biggest angsts I’ve had to deal with ever since I started diving into social media – that new media has yet to prove itself. For any one company to spend the time to learn about social media they need to understand the underlying benefits, in particular, “What is social media going to do for my business?” ” If I spend $X doing social, what do I get back in return? Ahh, Ahh, the dreaded and seemingly yet-to-be-answered question: What is the ROI of Social Media? MORE >>

Measuring the return-on-investment for paid, earned, and owned media is not an easy task. When I started my career, we measured media impressions and advertising equivalency. We know, intuitively, that paid, earned, and owned media increase brand awareness, unaided recall, and loyalty. Forrester has a really simple chart that shows you the media type, definition, examples, the role, benefits, and challenges. I’m not a paid media expert so I’ll leave that segment to those who are. Earned Media. Owned Media. So where did that leave us? MORE >>

Social media is an important community builder, but there may come a time when you have to demonstrate to company leaders how social media efforts impact business objectives, especially revenue. While there are a variety of technologies available to help you accurately tie social media activity to business growth, I recommend three core pieces: web analytics, call tracking and a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Tracking Online Conversions from Social Media. Capture Offline Social Media Conversions. —-. MORE >>