Question
How would you measure the ROI in social media?
Answer
You may like this fictional dialogue I wrote on this problem of ROI and measurement...
http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/...
The short skeptical answer is probably that "sure you can measure it, but if that's what you are being forced to do, the person you are trying to convince is stalling or looking for a reason to say No! and you've already lost the battle."
Measurable ROI tends to be the icing on the cake of a battle already won or lost on qualitative/narrative business cases. If you've lost, it buys you some time so your effort doesn't have to die quickly and painfully. If you've already won, it allows you to put up a veneer of due process to avoid tiresome questioning of the narrative business case in the future.
I don't think ANY successful social media program can be built with ROI as the main focus. It can be a supporting sideshow, but the main challenge in social media, especially in creating Enterprise 2.0/social business type change is a narrative-case challenge, not a financial-case one.
http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/...
The short skeptical answer is probably that "sure you can measure it, but if that's what you are being forced to do, the person you are trying to convince is stalling or looking for a reason to say No! and you've already lost the battle."
Measurable ROI tends to be the icing on the cake of a battle already won or lost on qualitative/narrative business cases. If you've lost, it buys you some time so your effort doesn't have to die quickly and painfully. If you've already won, it allows you to put up a veneer of due process to avoid tiresome questioning of the narrative business case in the future.
I don't think ANY successful social media program can be built with ROI as the main focus. It can be a supporting sideshow, but the main challenge in social media, especially in creating Enterprise 2.0/social business type change is a narrative-case challenge, not a financial-case one.