We need to keep in mind two things:

1. “There is not such thing as Social Media ROI”; and,
2. “We should be asking ‘What is the big-picture goal and how do we appropriately measure this when using social media as a platform?’”

Indeed, talking about the “Social Media ROI” is like asking “What is the ROI of being in Newsweek?” The answer is: “Well that depends.” Are you placing an ad with a coupon for Lead Generation? Or perhaps doing a Branding-focused Ad? Is the CEO being interviewed in by Newsweek to address customer service issues? Or perhaps its a thought-leadership piece the President of your company has penned about the environment and your industry?

As a lazy marketer, I’ll choose to “stand on the shoulder of giants” and point you to three fantastic pieces that addresses how to really view the “ROI of Social Media” issue: 1) The Right Metrics for the Right Channels/Marketing; 2) Understanding the Right Metrics by understanding the Right Stakeholders; and 3) Remembering how the social media activity fits into the Customer Lifecycle.

1. Social Media Stakeholders
   Laura Lippay, Director of Technical Marketing at Yahoo!
2. Social Media Analytics
   Coremetrics Whitepaper
3. Beyond Monitoring: Managing Social Media Engagements
   Chris Kenton, CEO of SocialRep

See more below:

1. “Social Media Stakeholders” by Laura Lippay (PDF Link: http://bit.ly/1zhEtO)

Laura Lippay resets the “You need to do Social Media” mantra that many are following and instead reminds us the following: 1) Remember what you’re using social media for (Customer Service, Branding etc); and 2) Do you have the right stakeholders in place to strategize, plan, and execute?

Her outline of the goals and stakeholders involved is not only a greater outline of understanding who needs to be invovled in what to succeed, but a great reminder that how you measure your Branding-based Social Media activity or your Lead-Gen focused Social Media Activity is dependent on who your stakeholders are.

All in all, it is a great piece and surprising that according to Bit.ly it has less than 30 clicks.

2. “Social Media Analytics” Whitepaper by CoreMetrics (Link)
Coremetrics’s whitepaper on Social Media Analytics goes into detail on how each type of social media activity (by channel) should be tracked on the tactical level.

3. “Beyond Monitoring: Managing Social Media Engagements” by SocialRep (Webinar)

Chris Kenton, CEO of SocialRep, gives a great webinar on reminding digital marketers to look beyond the tool and the platform to focus on remembering what it is the appropriate channels – not only for the audience – but also for what part of the lifecycle.

See EM's coverage: Click on the graph above

Closing Summary

As we continue to figure out how to measure Social Media and where it fits in Advertising, Marketing and Customer Relationships, it is important to go back to understanding the Customer Lifecycle and figuring out: 1) The Social Media activity impacts what part of the cycle; 2) Who are the typical stakeholders in the particular parts of the cycle; and 3) How do you translate what the stakeholders need to measure to what you can measure in the Social Media activity?

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To be sure, Director of Marketing Services is an interesting and little used (but AAAA defined) title. Searching on LinkedIn, I’ve only encountered a handful of agencies that have someone with the same title (Hi “Didier Ackermans” of Aegis Media!). For e-storm, the title means that I’ll be involved in supporting, growing and integrating the various marketing service teams – PPC to Analytics to Social Media – at e-storm.

On the day-to-day level, this means I’ll be the common contact between all marketing services lines and in charge of helping them coordinate their activities with each other and the client services team. On the higher level, it means I’ll be thinking about the Customer Lifecycle a lot and see how e-storm can align the multi-channel customer with our clients’ multi-channel marketing activities.

From SocialRep (Click on image for link)

To be sure, e-storm has always sought to integrate our services (as do many of the other leading digital agencies). But as media fragments from TV, Print and Radio to dozens-upon-dozens of media platforms, there is a need to actively and constantly seek an “ever closer union” (to borrow an American political phrase) among all media channels and platforms.

And for this blog, it means a change in focus from being about “How Search and Social Media” interacts to always asking “How does this all fit together?”

So in my career and in this blog…Exciting changes all around!

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Last week, I decided to review the number of followers an official agency twitter account had versus some of their high-profile employees. For most Social Media Practitioners, the results I found were not surprising: More people followed the individual behind the Agency name, rather than the official Agency presence themselves.

But rather this data go to waste, I figure I share some of it with you…

A look at 360i, iCrossing, and SEOmoz and their high-profile team members.

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How Does This Apply To Your Company?

If you have a consumer facing company (B2C) or are focusing on Twitter for customer support (like ComcastCares), a strong twitter-based brand is needed on Twitter for instant recognizability by current/potential customers on Twitter. But, if you’re looking at thought leadership and building B2B connections, you need to have strong people communicating and engaging with your industry colleagues on Twitter.

There will be companies that will be reluctant to throw their weight on thought-leaders representing the brand versus an official brand twitter account. What happens when the person says something inappropriate? Do they have to clear everything with legal? What if the person leaves?

It is all a matter of priorities and appropriateness. If you want your agency to be seen as a thought leader and build relationships with others, this is best communicated through the brightest and energetic minds at your company. If your agency values consistency of a message over creative energy, then stick with your Twitter.com/CompanyX account.

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