[twitter]There is much debate over the value of social media as its halo starts to rise on the advertising landscape. Yes, there are many evangelists preaching similar messages of engagement, conversation, listening and embracement – but “What is the return on that investment?” is what they hear in return.
When analyzing ROI for social media, it can be summed up by a simple choice: would you rather be in Times Square or on Twitter?
Here’s another way to think of it:
Traditional advertising media counts impressions.
Social media *makes/changes/affects* impressions.
Here's how the San Francisco Zoo measures Twitter success
Really interesting perspective. In essence, it seems you are saying that it's not simply about the number of impressions but of the quality of those impressions (i.e. level of engagement). I couldn't agree more…
Really interesting perspective. In essence, it seems you are saying that it’s not simply about the number of impressions but of the quality of those impressions (i.e. level of engagement). I couldn’t agree more…
Really interesting perspective. In essence, it seems you are saying that it’s not simply about the number of impressions but of the quality of those impressions (i.e. level of engagement). I couldn’t agree more…
Really interesting perspective. In essence, it seems you are saying that it’s not simply about the number of impressions but of the quality of those impressions (i.e. level of engagement). I couldn’t agree more…
Really interesting perspective. In essence, it seems you are saying that it’s not simply about the number of impressions but of the quality of those impressions (i.e. level of engagement). I couldn’t agree more…
Really interesting perspective. In essence, it seems you are saying that it’s not simply about the number of impressions but of the quality of those impressions (i.e. level of engagement). I couldn’t agree more…
[…] and you’ll go farther than shouting the loudest. It’s something I tackled in Times Square or Twitter. Make one solid personal connection and you’ll experience the multiplication of […]
[…] have long been trying to find a way to calculate the ROI on social media. It’s easy to calculate the affect it has on ads, impressions and clicks are easy to count […]
It would be easy enough to make those ads trackable by adding a call to action and a trackable link. You could then calculate a conversion rate for eyeballs to clicks. The fact that no one does this is a testament to the more money than brains theory many companies (even struggling ones like Chrysler) employ.
Would I replace that $3M with Twitter alone? Never. 5 years ago you would have invested all your dollars into Myspace? AOL ads? Geocities? What happens when the shift away from Twitter and Facebook happens? And historically speaking, it will. You can’t count on any third party platforms to run your business on.
Consider the fact that Times Square alone gets more eyeballs per year currently than Twitter has users. Also consider that only 30% of Twitter users are active users. The ratio is not great.
I am an avid Twitter user and absolutely love it. It’s my favourite platform and i’m on all day long. I love brands that get Twitter and use it well but I don’t see Twitter as a cure all. If anything, I see the halo of social media starting to tarnish. More brands are abandoning social media due to lack of results than are jumping on board. The shiny new object is losing its shine. It happens. It happens every time. Until history stops repeating itself, i’m prone to believing it will happen again.