By John Chan, ISM Software Lab Director
Attendee Polling Questions Show Most Companies Don’t Measure Business Value of Social Media Programs
On June 5, 2012, Barton Goldenberg, president of ISM, presented a Webinar titled “Analyzing the Business Value of Social Media and Social CRM”. Highlights follow:
ISM defines Social Media as: A set of highly interactive technology tools that leverage the fundamental human desire to interact with others. It is a new way for organizations to communicate with and relate to employees, customers/consumers, partners and other stakeholders in a two-way dialogue.
Barton recommends a Social Media strategy based on a “Hub and Spoke” model in which an organization uses social media networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to the organization’s website. The website is the best tool for driving traffic to a private social media community. The information gathered from the community participants, whether biographical, buying habits or “sentiments”, can then be integrated into the organization’s CRM system for more knowledgeable interaction with customers, sales operations, partners, etc.
Barton provided numerous Social Media ROI case studies ranging from AAA, IBM, Dell, Autodesk to Verizon, all showing that members who were participating in Social Media communities were spending significantly more than non-members on the company’s products/services and simultaneously bringing value to the company from their Social Media participation.
During the Webinar, participants answered three polling questions. Results are:
1. Does your organization currently analyze the business value of Social Media and/or Social CRM?
Yes – 17%; Kind Of – 44%; Not at this time: 39%
2. What type of metrics are you using for your Social Media/Social CRM efforts?
Visibility (# of impressions, click-throughs, etc.) – 36%
Activity (following, friending, etc.) – 45%
Engaging (registering, entering a contest, downloading info) – 36%
Increased revenue and/or cost avoidance – 5%
Not using metrics yet – 32%
3. What are your organization’s top two business challenges in creating a Social Media Community and/or Social CRM initiative?
Don’t know where to start – 32%
Initiative is not yet high enough on our ‘to-do’ list – 37%
Internal [mgmt] skepticism regarding the business value – 47%
Interested, but haven’t yet created our plan of action – 11%
Already created Social Media community or Social CRM initiative – 26%
“It is surprising that so few companies establish the business value of a social media program, which must support your business strategy, or set success metrics; it is difficult to know if your investment is wise if you can’t measure it,” says Goldenberg.
Barton’s key takeaways concerning Social Media communities are:
- Yes, you can really make money from a successful Social Media community or from a Social CRM initiative.
- Public Social Media communities are valuable to build your brand and to distribute content.
- Private Social Media communities and Social CRM are valuable to enhance the business value of your customers & drive advocacy.
- Business value must be identified and metrics set from the outset of your Social Media/Social CRM initiative; it cannot be an afterthought.
- Because search engines now monitor social media sites, this is a critical link you need to get right.
If any readers would like to comment on Barton’s key takeaways concerning Social Media communities, please feel free to post your comments on the ISM Blog.
To access an archived recording of ISM’s, click here and scroll down to the Analyzing the Business Value of Social Media and Social CRM Webinar listing.
