Comments on: Social Media ROI: Preach the Intangibles

By: Matt Cheuvront

Matt Cheuvront — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 23:19:52 +0000

There are going to be some ‘intangible’ factors when it comes to presenting Social Media ROI – but there are also a lot of tools out there to measure. The web, as a whole, is probably the most measurable marketing medium out there (with adwords, analytics, etc) but social media is still one of those somewhat un-measurable ‘relationship building’ tools.

Men, a much sought-after target in the online space, are twice as likely as women to interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media (33% to 17%, respectively).

An interesting point in the article you shared – I would have figured that women still made up the vast majority of social media users – there are clearly some huge opportunities for businesses to take advantage of in the world of social media.

By: Noah Weiner

Noah Weiner — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:53:15 +0000

“Don’t make people think that you care, actually care!” A truer statement need not be spoken. That sums it up nicely. Of course, the numbers don’t hurt. I’ve helped businesses commit to social networking through sharing some stats about the expectations of the public to “see” companies have a web presence in social media (good Cone Business study here: http://www.coneinc.com/content1182).

Thanks for the useful post.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:32:07 +0000

@Rikin. Haha, well thank you for slapping the ‘dork’ label on me. But who am I kidding, you guys had already pinned me with that – I embrace the dorkiness. And you make a good point – just because many of the benefits are somewhat intangible and difficult to measure doesn’t mean they’re not worth it. The challenge is convincing companies that the time invested will lead to positive results – it’s overcoming that ‘it won’t happen in a day’ hesitation that many skeptics have. It takes time to build and grow an online community around your brand (either personal or professional).

By: rikin

rikin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:21:23 +0000

Love the tip about dating someone whose not a web-junkie, my girlfriend reminds me of the real world all the time and it actually makes me better at what I do.

Professionally, I’m chief preacher of social media at a semi-important media company yet often proving the value with metrics and tangibles becomes difficult. Most of social media’s value does lie in the intangible but there are a few tactical things you can do to show its worth. Regardless, my point is that the things that move you in life are often intangible but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth it. Love your points in this post, now I’m going to make my girlfriend read it to prove I’m not the only dork around.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:41:25 +0000

You make a great point. There are a number of tools out there to measure the success rate of our online marketing efforts – the ability to pinpoint and streamline a marketing campaign directly toward a target demographic is a huge benefit of the online medium. As you said, content is key. Without quality content, people will see right through you. I think this is the toughest selling point to someone who is not yet involved in the world of social media – it’s a real time investment to develop, nurture, and grow an online community around your brand. But once you have it, once the quality time has been put in, the payoff can be huge.