What is the ROI of social media?
In this blog I will review a question that came from  a group session where I was a panellist today, the question was "what is the ROI of social media?"
It was actually brought up twice today and It pains me to hear that we are still having this conversation. But based on other speakers talks at the event it makes me realise where small business owners are in regards to their digital journeys. I wont lie, it scares me how far behind people are.
I have this same realisation at least once a year when I attend these kinds of events. I get both excited at the amount of opportunity and sad at the where most companies are actually at.
None of this stuff social,email, analytics's, content marketing, blogging is likely to work unless it is understood and driven from the top down.
So to the question, what is the ROI of social media? Typing it makes me wince, but an understandable questions still.
For some this is still new and spending on time on something with the word social in it is right to be questioned,
In order to answer this question we first have to understand that social media is just a tool nothing else. It will do nothing for you at all if you don't use it. Gary Vaynerchuk answers this brilliantly in his most recent blog post you can find here when he compares the ROI of a piano. The ROI of the piano to him is very little if anything but to Elton John its worth millions. Its not the platform you measure but what you do or don't do with it.
As discussed today you need to start with your strategy and how it all ties into your business objectives. Just because a new channel emerges or a friend is having success on another channel does not mean that you need to be jumping on board.
How much time to spend on social media is directly related to the amount of value you get from it. If you enjoy engaging in conversations and more importantly adding value to the conversations then you will find yourself spending more time in and out of the the various platforms. My fear is that business owners will end up seeing social media as another box to tick. Sent 3 tweets all done! No No No!
Think about what your customers and prospects go to the platform for? Meet those needs as well as your own but put your audience first. The more value you provide the more success you will get from any social media platform.
To summarise, social media is a tool nothing more, but in the right hands and used correctly they can be anything you want it to be. When I see a piano I see ivory sticks when others see one they see music. When I first saw twitter I saw an opportunity to connect, learn and teach. What do you see?
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Author- Speaker - Consultant. Passionate about all things digital.