Social Media: It's Time To Drive The ROI

Author:

Jim Wehmann

Source:

Today, through social media, it is possible for businesses to connect with hundreds of millions of customers and prospects around the world. Many businesses have already launched Facebook sites and Twitter accounts, and are actively engaging with their fans and followers. However, the majority of online marketers have no idea what impact these activities have on their brand or sales.
 
It's time to get smart about social media. Social media today is reminiscent of the early days of other online channels or media -- from websites and email to search engines and behavioral targeting -- no one knew quite what success looked like and some of the early experiments were not only un-optimized, they were just plain awful.
 
Eventually, the experimental approach gave way to a more sophisticated, metrics-based approach and, then, CFO's began to notice the healthy ROI's coming from these online channels.
 
Social media is on the same trajectory. Many brands are beginning to set goals around social media engagement, which often include measuring the number of fans, followers, impressions, comments, reviews and other variables.
 
Comparing how you're doing against competitors and market leaders is ...