October 13th, 2009
Most brands in the social media space want to be able to define Social Media Return On Investment (smROI) and for good reason. They’re putting in money to the medium so they should be getting more money out of it ideally. In this respect there is NO difference between traditional and social media measurement. Here’s why:
In both mediums there are intangibles such as word of mouth and message internalization. These two factors are the strongest influencers that your customer will encounter. Generally speaking brands don’t measure the effects of these factors with the exception of the NetPromoter Score .
So why are people freaking out about measuring social media’s effectiveness? One word: money.
Let’s relate smROI back to traditional ROI in advertising. Companies advertise in magazines, newspapers, commercials and all other sorts of media outlets yet there isn’t a particular outlet that will tell them that someone bought their product or service based on advertising. Sure there’s a targeted audience there based on subscribers and media consumer demographics but unless you’re polling people at point of purchase on exactly why they bought your product then you can’t actively tie outreach to purchases. So why do companies invest money into these channels? Because there’s an audience there.
The problem with social media is that the audience isn’t built in like traditional media. You have to build up a following all on your own. Your message is competing for attention along with tons of others. That’s no different than traditional where there are many channels, magazines, newspapers and ads.
What HAS changed are the channels of communication. Instead of big media corporations dictating what the consumer consumes now the power is in the hands of the consumer. Whereas before consumers were able to choose anything within a limited confines now they have almost an unlimited pool to choose from online.
For you as a brand nothing has changed except the venue. Think of your customers as the new big media corporation. They’re deciding the programming, they’re cancelling shows, they’re greenlighting the content and syndicating your show into perpetual prosperity.
In part 2 I’ll go into the different types of measurement you can do in social media to further define smROI for your brand.
Tags: advertising companies, advice, audience, business, channels of communication, commercials, communicating, confines, consumer, consumer demographics, consumers, core values, good reason, influencers, intangibles, interactions, knowledge, marketing, media corporations, media measurement, media outlets, media space, mediums, message internalization, mindshare, NetPromoter, NetPromoter Score, outreach, point of purchase, return on investment, selling, smROI, social media, social media return on investment, social media ROI, Value, venue, word of mouth
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September 13th, 2009
A great successful brand has a plan for various uses of their identity. No possibility is too small or too out there to be considered. Implementation of branding at every level is key to closing the sale when you can’t be there for the hard sale. The sale is in the details and if you’re not there too then you’re losing out.
In today’s increasingly cluttered landscape consumers are vigilantly filtering out their attention. In order to grab a hold of their subconscious and conciousness minds your brand needs to be subtly placed. All the better if you do it a self-referential ironic or unforeseen way. Bonus points for collaboration.
I’m on the train. I’m listening to music. I’m reading a book. I’m playing with my multimedia phone. I’m writing something. I’m doing ALL of this at once. I’m doing all this to block out outside influences on my way to wherever I’m going in my one last area of zen in the outside world. Your advertising and constant bombardment has forced me to put up my defenses. So how do you as a successful brand break through that barrier?
Any type of countermeasure must be done with the most delicate of hands. I’m already guarding against the big in-your-face branded gestures. By the time a sneak attack is realized it’s already too late. My defenses are down and I’m thinking about your brand in a different light.
By taking the time to invest in the details I realize that you’ve taken the time and money to invest in me. As a savvy consumer I know that every little bit of branding costs money. I appreciate it especially when you do so with a fine brush rather than a spraygun.
Even when I’m not conscious of these small details, on some level I’m registering it. That’s the most important part of this whole journey- the soft sell, the long tail, buying a customer’s mindshare. If your brand is interesting enough in a way that I can’t get you out of my head long after your ingenious piece of branding is gone then ultimately you’ve won.
It could be something as simple as having your brand colors be represented on something as trivial as a straw. Regardless of what it is for you just realize that there IS something there for you. If you don’t do it be sure that someone will do it and is probably already doing it.
Tags: advertisers, advice, benefit, bombardment, bonus points, collaboration, communicating, communication, communications, consumers, core values, costs money, different light, feelings, gestures, goals, ingenious piece, interaction, interactions, journey, knowledge, landscape, life, little bit, mindshare, network, networked, networking, personalities, personality, productivity, savvy consumer, sneak attack, social, taking the time, time and money, Value, zen
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