GITOMER: Measuring social media ROI? LOL!
I got an (unsolicited) email offering a webinar to teach me about how to measure, and the importance of measuring, the return on investment (ROI) of social media.
TOTAL JOKE. And a bad one at that.
Social media, business social media, is running wild – with or without you. Your customers and prospective customers are posting on Facebook whether you have a presence there or not.
And I am not just talking to companies. I am talking to YOU, the individual.
CONSIDER THIS: Of all the grass-roots revolutions that have occurred on social media, none of them were started by companies or governments. They were all started by people – people who were excited, people who were afraid, people who were pissed, and people who wanted change and spoke up. They spoke over CEOs, media, newspapers, government, lobbyists and politicians.
HERE’S WHAT THEY SHOULD MEASURE: LRI otherwise known as Lost Revenue (and good will and customer loyalty) of Idiots.
While Macy’s and most other department stores are/were measuring ROI, Zappos.com is cleaning their clock, delivering value, connecting with and responding to customers one on one, and building a billion-dollar empire in less time than it took Macy’s to expand to a second store 100 years ago.
Webinars on the subject of the ROI of social media are likely run by the same people who thought Amazon.com wouldn’t make it. If Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had measured the ROI of this business during the first five years, he would have quit. He accomplished domination while Barnes & Noble was measuring ROI and Borders was going broke.
Amazon now has total market dominance based on leadership, vision, and technological excellence. Same with Apple. Microsoft used to laugh at them; now its employees all have iPads and iPods at home.
Measure? No, INVEST RESOURCES IN SOCIAL MEDIA WITHOUT MEASURING. NOW!
It’s way too soon to measure.
MAJOR POINT OF UNDERSTANDING: If they had measured the ROI of TV, or the computer, or the automobile, or the telephone, or the Internet after five years, NOBODY would have gotten involved, and we’d be in a technological bog – sinking.
Wake up and smell the opportunity!
People guarding nickels have no idea of the power or the value of business social media, much less social media. They have no idea of the lost opportunity, or the lost revenue. They have no idea of the perception and participation of customers.
My bet is people who measure the ROI of social media HAVE NEVER TWEETED. Wanna take that bet?
I define these people as the ones who still have a small rubber circle in the middle of their keyboard – completely out of touch with what’s new, and trying to prevent the unstoppable force of progress, and customers.
Wanna know who else “measured” financial return?
Blockbuster measured online movie services.
BlackBerry measured smartphones.
Microsoft measured music players.
Billion-dollar MIS-MEASUREMENT: Bank of America DIDN’T measure or understand the power of Facebook. They were greedily measuring increased revenue from debit card customers. Their billion-dollar loss paled in comparison to their complete loss of good will. I doubt they will recover in a decade.
All of those companies are/were foolish.
There’s one company you want to take its time, measure nickels, rely on lawyers and stick its big toe in the water before getting involved. That one company is your biggest competitor.