Social Media: How to Make it NOT Useless

Many companies have been adopting Social Media and Enterprise 2.0... some of them because it sounds cool, some because they have money to burn, and others because they actually have a strategy. But eventually, the big boss will come around and ask, "What are we really getting out of all this time and energy? Let's calculate the ROI!"

At this point, you might want to brace yourself for disappointment...

I'm not saying this because most Social Media strategies I've seen are useless... just that they would be hard to justify if you break it down into black an white ROI. According to a recent report by Forrester research, the ROI calculations are fine, but they provide an incomplete picture.

For example, some online retailers found that if a product has online comments, that reduces the return-rate. Whether the comments are good or bad, it doesn't matter. People buy more of the good ones, and avoid the bad ones, which overall improves margins.

However, there are other things that are more difficult to quantify... like has you brand improved among your audien

• Has having a presence on Facebook and LinkedIn helped us recruit better candidates more quickly?
• Has having a presence on Twitter enabled us to enhance our brand, and improve Google rank?
• Has having a Blog enabled us to genuinely connect with our audience, helping us whether the publicity is good or bad?
• Has our social media presence enhanced brand awareness and/or loyalty?

If you only use metrics that measure hard current ROI, then you might be neglecting the value of reducing future negative ROI.

(hat tip Mike Melanson)