The REAL Social Media ROI – Risk of Ignoring
It seems everyone’s been talking lately about the Return on Investment – ROI – of social media. On the one hand, we have businesses trying to see where they’ll make a profit; on the other we have social media proponents explaining you shouldn’t try to measure social media ROI the same way you would in normal business practices.
But maybe we’re looking at the wrong ROI to start with – instead of return on investment, perhaps we should be more worried about the Risk of Ignoring.
This can work on both levels, personal and business-led, but for the sake of this post, I’m going to stay with businesses.
(If only from the viewpoint that it seems to be businesses more than individuals that are using social media less effectively).
Say the CEO of Company X brings in his sales or marketing director to the boardroom, and tells them he’s heard wonderful things about this “social media craze”. He’s heard that millions of people are using it, and he wants his company to have a bite of the money that these millions of social media users have, just waiting to be spent.
So the sales or marketing director decides to have a look at social media. Perhaps he’s even on Facebook, so he knows what social media is all about. He’s told his CEO not to worry, Company X will soon be rolling in extra cash from all the wonderful sales to be made through social media marketing.
So the director sets up a Twitter account – after all, just look at the conversation going on there. That’s a surefire sales arena if ever there was one! He starts following people left, right and centre and pretty soon he has a sizable following back. Time to start selling Company X to the masses, thinks the director, and starts sending out Tweets and direct messages about how great Company X is and why people should buy from them NOW.
The director has carried out the legwork and now has his message in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Time to sit back and wait for that Holy Grail of ROI to start. Which it will – just not the one that was expected.
This is where the Risk of Ignoring plays its hand.
By ignoring the simple fact that social media is about conversation, the director has completely missed the point. Instead of building up a loyal and quality-led following, all he’s done is build the equivalent of a non-optional email list for a sales pitch.
Now he’s wondering why so many people are un-following him on Twitter. He’s also wondering why no-one has rushed to Company X’s website and bought anything from their online store. Most of all, he’s wondering what he’s going to tell the CEO at the next progress report meeting.
I see this happening all too often with businesses. While originally there may be good intentions for using social media, trying to use traditional sales or marketing tactics will usually backfire. Whereas CEO’s and sales or marketing directors may be used to success with the heavy-handed “shout at everyone” approach, it’s just not going to work when it comes to social media.
You want your business to enjoy success with social media users? Be social with us. Get to know us, and what interests us, and in return I can pretty much guarantee you’ll have the interest you want in you and your product. Because we are actually interested in what you have to say.
Just don’t ignore us.
14 Responses to “The REAL Social Media ROI – Risk of Ignoring”
Nice writing style. I look forward to reading more in the future.
You’ve brought a crucial point front and center here, Danny: people expect the social in social media. Diving into social media and then ignoring participants is probably riskier than not engaging at all.
People just want to be heard. It’s more about the talk than the technology.
Lisa Hoffmann´s last blog post..My education at Generosity U.
Great points. Companies are expecting results without the work. Social Media requires work the same way PR, Marketing, and Advertising do. They are different skill sets in some ways, but you get what you put into it.
Also, way too many people are using the “Twitter = Social Media” equation without considering stepping back and viewing the big picture. Social Media is sooo much more than just Twitter. Twitter is more or less becoming the main back channel. Externally, the uninformed are putting too much blind faith in the “power” of Twitter. It takes investment, but more than anything, echoing Lisa, it takes an understanding of the interaction, the conversation, the actual “social” aspects of the internet in general and how to leverage them to benefit the consumer, not the company. “Offer value” is always my first advice to anyone stepping into the Social Media arena for the first time.
jak´s last blog post..Groundswell, Review and Notes
Well written.
Difficult to believe the ‘shout at everyone’ approach worked so well in the past but it truly did.
Great post, as usual. I’ve seen many examples that prove some people don’t understand this Risk of Ignoring. Some still think social media is all about one-way communication on the next big social media platform. Sign up and spam away! The guy who used the Mumbai hashtag in Twitter to drive traffic to his site comes to mind.
True conversation takes interaction and relationship-building on group and individual levels. Also, most good relationships are mutually beneficial.
@ Jason. I agree completely, and the reason I used these two mediums alone. Until people/businesses realize that social media is multi-facted (just like the best business tools), then it will continue to be used wrong.
@ Lisa. It’s surprising how many people just look at the media aspect and ignore the social one – especially half of “social media” the term is social. Do these same businesses also just broadcast offline as well, then?
@ Jak. What’s really surprising about so many people using Twitter as the social media benchmark, if you like, is that so few people still know about it. There’s a great vidoe doing the rounds on Youtube at the minute where a collection of people worldwide are asked, “Do you Twitter?” and are met with blank stares. Which perhaps makes it easier to understand why businesses that simply dive into Twitter as their social media outlet, without conversing, are missing the point completely.
@ Nate. That example of the Mumbai spammer is a perfect one of how NOT to use any social media tool. How the guy expected anyone to take up his marketing rubbish after abusing a tragic situation like that is anyone’s guess. But, then again, if he didn’t care about the tragedy in the first place, is it any surprise if he doesn’t care about how many people called him out on it?
Thanks for your comments and insights, guys, always appreciated.
Fantastic post. Risk of Ignoring (ROI) needs to be the new standard.
Even more problematic is brands thinking that social media begins and ends with Twitter and Facebook. It’s about the conversation, not the technology that enables it.
Jason Baer´s last blog post..The Power of Truth, Woot-Style