Don’t Be in the Dark About Your Social Media ROI

Social Media: Where’s the Strategy?

While corporate participation in social media is increasing, many companies still do not have a strategic plan for its use.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay, and with it comes a certain amount of risk, as our own Kachina Shaw wrote recently. But with that risk comes reward, and when done correctly, social media “can help a company position itself more competitively,” as Ovum analyst Margaret Goldberg was quoted as saying in Shaw’s post.

But success in social media is more than the number of followers you have; it’s about your influence over those followers. In her book, “Renegades Write the Rules,” author Amy Jo Martin shares her insight into tapping the value of social media. In an excerpt from Chapter 7, “There’s a New ROI in Town,” available here in the IT Downloads library, she explains the difference between impressions and influence. She also details how to correctly measure revenue per follower so that you don’t have to be in the dark about your returns.

In addition to Martin’s excerpt, the IT Downloads library has a ton of social media-related tools. Below are just a few to help you mitigate risk and to help your employees maximize the value of their social media activity and build your brand.

Guidelines for Social Media: Social media networks like Facebook and Twitter can be great platforms for building your brand, but only if your team members are adding real value via these outlets. These guidelines will help your business get the most from social media.

Colorado State University Twitter Best Practices: Twitter is a great tool for communicating with students, staff, faculty and alumni, but only when used in a professional manner. Use these guidelines to educate users on proper Twitter usage.

Employee Social Influence Marketing Guidelines: Trying to stifle your employees’ social media activity is a losing proposition from the outset. These sample guidelines will help you enhance their activity by stressing how valuable social media can be from a marketing perspective.