Comments on: Social Media Metrics: Easier Than That First Metric System

By: Urs E. Gattiker

Urs E. Gattiker — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 11:54:47 +0000

James

Thanks so much for linking to our ComMetrics.com ROI post.

I have gotten to the point where I feel ROI is for the birds since it is a financial outcome that you can rarely if ever measure.
Similar to not measuring the ROI of air conditioning, it seems to make little sense to measure ROI of information security or social media.

Nevertheless, this does not mean we cannot measure the cost-benefit from social media in one way or the other. Using social media means transaction as well as opportunity costs that we must take into consideration. After accounting for those we come to the core of the matter…

Thereafter, it becomes a more qualitative assessment.
In my latest post about Twitter I wonder about benefits we get from tweeting as @ComMetrics — our clients, etc.

James, I appreciate your review of this material and I am honored that you thought our post about ROI was worth joining the great group of citations/links you used to support your points and insights. Thank you.

Respectfully
Urs

By: James Ball

James Ball — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:09:20 +0000

Andrew, thanks for stopping by today, I’m a fan of your http://wordpost.org/ blog! I do think that customer relations across social channels could use much attention. Depending on things like context, I believe that the metrics that WILL be associated with CRM roles will unlock many mysteries. Nurturing a social relationship into a “customer” isn’t easy, nor is it well defined/documented as a “best practice” with accompanying metrics so far, but I see effort and progress happening! I really appreciate your comment. Stop by again soon Andrew.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:51:26 +0000

James,

I think that you were exactly right when you said, "You can count the 1000 or engage and enable the one." Determining returns is not about numbers alone.

That said though, even though determining social media's black-and-white ROI (simply, "this is how much it costs us to be active on the social web, this is the revenue it generates") is difficult, it is essential.

Sure it's nice be be influential, but what good is influence if it can't help you raise sales, bolster donations, etc?

Perhaps the answer to the question of bottom-line impact lies within social CRM, but more than just influence, I think revenue measurement should be our ultimate goal.

Thanks for thoughts and the great post.

-Andrew