Roi in Social Media: A Look at the Arguments
Practitioner Article
ROI in social media: A look at the arguments
Received (in revised form): 16th June 2009
Tia Fisher has worked in on and offline marketing for over ten years, and in 1997 joined the New Business Development Team at eModeration (www.emoderation.com), a leading international moderation and social media management company that lists many Fortune 500 companies among its clients.
ABSTRACT Return on Investment (ROI) has become the Holy Grail of social media. Marketers are being squeezed between admonishments to participate in the vast new online communications available to them and demands to justify the cost using conventional advertising metrics. New ‘ROI calculators’ are being created almost as fast as new social networking sites – then just as quickly being dismissed as being unworkable. In this article, Tia Fisher of eModeration takes a long view of the current state of ROI in social media, and examines the arguments for and against attempting to use any kind of metric to justify involvement in a social media program. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management (2009) 16, 189–195. doi:10.1057/dbm.2009.16 Keywords: ROI; social media; marketing; marketing budgets
INTRODUCTION
With the publication last month of the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) ‘Social Media Ad Metrics Definitions,’1 it seemed a good moment to have a look at some of the controversy around the measurement of ROI in social media. Examination of the IAB’s publication will follow later, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at the background into which it appeared. The ROI within social media has long been a bone of contention, and seems likely to become ever more so, with the equally lightning spread of both social media use and savage budget cuts. In a tightening economy, businesses need to make sure that they’re getting a return on their marketing investment. Are they in the right places? Doing the right things? With the right people? And how can
ROI in social media: A look at the arguments
Received (in revised form): 16th June 2009
Tia Fisher has worked in on and offline marketing for over ten years, and in 1997 joined the New Business Development Team at eModeration (www.emoderation.com), a leading international moderation and social media management company that lists many Fortune 500 companies among its clients.
ABSTRACT Return on Investment (ROI) has become the Holy Grail of social media. Marketers are being squeezed between admonishments to participate in the vast new online communications available to them and demands to justify the cost using conventional advertising metrics. New ‘ROI calculators’ are being created almost as fast as new social networking sites – then just as quickly being dismissed as being unworkable. In this article, Tia Fisher of eModeration takes a long view of the current state of ROI in social media, and examines the arguments for and against attempting to use any kind of metric to justify involvement in a social media program. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management (2009) 16, 189–195. doi:10.1057/dbm.2009.16 Keywords: ROI; social media; marketing; marketing budgets
INTRODUCTION
With the publication last month of the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) ‘Social Media Ad Metrics Definitions,’1 it seemed a good moment to have a look at some of the controversy around the measurement of ROI in social media. Examination of the IAB’s publication will follow later, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at the background into which it appeared. The ROI within social media has long been a bone of contention, and seems likely to become ever more so, with the equally lightning spread of both social media use and savage budget cuts. In a tightening economy, businesses need to make sure that they’re getting a return on their marketing investment. Are they in the right places? Doing the right things? With the right people? And how can