Social Media Club Boston – Measuring ROI of Social Media
Despite battling soul-crushing traffic (first on I-93 South from New Hampshire, then in the various bridges and tunnels of Boston proper, then on the Mass Pike headed towards Watertown), which caused me to show up a full 50 minutes late to the latest Boston Social Media Club event last night, I managed to take in some interesting discussions.
The event sought to uncover best practices for measuring ROI on social media programs. Much of the discussion focused on the need for entirely new metrics–with reference to the popular quote from Shel Israel negating the need to even measure ROI on something as inexpensive as a blog (“is it necessary to measure the ROI of your pants?”). This also relates to the notion that a marketing department can spend thousands, or even million dollars to generate buzz, but will the buzz necessarily equal results?
Katie Paine pointed out the excellent example of “Snakes on a Plane.” The movie enjoyed tremendous pre-release buzz, the marketing campaign was no doubt costly in some respects, but what were the results? The movie grossed only around $34 million domestically, a modest tally for a movie that was all anyone could talk about for months.
The discussion also touched on how to ease PR clients into the social media world–and convince them that the endeavor is worthwhile. This is important to many in the PR industry, it is sometimes hard to remember that most companies are still very wary of pursuing social media as a communications tool, and aren’t as anxious to jump in with both feet as those of use who are fully engaged may wish.
Katie made another crucial point in this discussion, indicating that a lack of innovation can often lead to failure, no matter what your project. It is the innovators who are successful, and making this point to clients is a key step in guiding them into a social media strategy.
For the budget-conscious client, the panel recommended pointing out that if your funds and time are limited, you should just do what your target customers are already doing–engaging them in conversation is the best way to get their attention, and doing so through social media often requires very little investment.
The discussion was decidedly lively, I wish I were going to be in town for the next event, but hopefully someone else from CustomScoop will join in the fun!
Technorati tags: Social Media Club, Boston, Katie Paine, ROI,
