In last week’s post, I laid down a serious challenge: show me a study that illustrates an ROI based on use of social media and I’ll give you a web services package plus cash valued at $500. The flurry of conversation about this challenge has been both stimulating and disappointing, as it has confirmed my suspicions about a certain segment of my audience: zombies who evangelize technology at the expense of sensible business practices.
These profit-eating monsters can appear anywhere, when you least expect it, ready to condemn you for not drinking their kool-aid and walking lock-step off the cliff of business viability. In the 1990s, I saw a hundred of my colleagues take this leap, creating wacky web sites that had no revenue or business model whatsoever. Compensation was often paid in stock options that never materialized, based on a work ethic that worshipped technological sophistication without reference to social usefulness. It’s simply not sustainable. None of those businesses are around today.
|
I warned my clients then and I’m doing it again, although wasting a little time with social media is less serious than massive investment in a non-sustainable business venture bubble. But that is why I am concerned and issued this challenge. I assure you that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media services are engaged in this research right now, because they know that if they don’t address ROI, they won’t be around for the long haul.
Still, there are those who feel I’m a heretic for questioning the value of these media and a traitor to my kind. I get a kick out of this criticism. Take this message from a respondent who insisted on remaining anonymous:
“I feel that ABC retailer and XYZ professional service person have a lot to learn from people who have already drunk the kool-aid, and are thriving…Our environment can no longer tolerate the energy it takes to create wasteful marketing material. Unwanted/unseen snail mail, paper based collateral (postcards), billboards, giveaways are all material things that we need to consciously stop producing, especially if there are more sustainable alternatives.”
Seems like this person thinks that web sites and social media are ready to take the place of traditional media. Who wouldn’t love that (besides the traditional media)? It’s naive to think that this is possible today, and the only way it ever will happen is if those young social media show their grandparents, TV, radio, newspapers, direct mail and billboards, that they can play the game better. In other words: “Return on Investment.”
Smart advertising executives are on the hunt for this. In response to my post, Greg Falken of Web Dancers brought my attention to an article on Adweek’s web site that references the type of study I’m looking for. It’s not the “ROI on Social Media” study, but it does address the marketing value of messages delivered through these media. The report is downloadable for free here.
Another commenter wisely pointed out, “Social media (usually) doesn’t directly result in money – the monetization of a site does. More often, social media is used to drive traffic to a site that has been monetized and is meant to convert visitors into a revenue source.” This is true, and more clearly states what I am trying to get at with my challenge.
My anonymous detractor however missed that point and instead chose to relate this platitude: “Our local businesses need smarter, more efficient ways to connect and engage; to develop outstanding products, service and customer experience; to develop strategies and plans based on their specific issues/culture and a global “triple bottom line”. I would hope that influencers such as yourself would embrace this need and work collaboratively, intelligently, creatively and with an open mind to achieve it.”
To which I respond an emphatic: YES! We SHOULD stay skeptical, even with our minds OPEN, and make the media prove their case. Let’s insist that everything we do for our business earn its keep. There’s never a good time to be wasteful in business, but especially not in this economy. Especially not in this community.
I’m grateful for your time reading this. Stay tuned for next week’s post, in which I’ll begin to describe step-by-step how you can setup the automated blog/twitter/newsletter/facebook posting that I am implementing to help my clients do social media “lite” until the jury comes back with a verdict on the ROI thing.
