Hey guys, nice of you to RTMB (return to my blog)! ☺
This week #LVCC406 has really got me thinking about returns. I'm not talking about the returns made when you have buyers remorse. Nope. We're going to be discussing ROI -- return on investment.
Chapter 10 of Socialnomics stresses the importance of understanding social medias positive correlation with ROI.
Qualman poses many valid arguments throughout the chapter. His first argument being that because social media has become so prevalent, its not necessarily about making the choice of whether or not you "do" social media, its more so about how well you do it. He emphasizes the importance of embracing and adapting to cultural change. This "cultural change" he is referring to is social media.
He uses the example of the Social Media Escalator. This idea essentially exemplifies that in order to achieve any type of success, you must first constantly practice the four steps to the theory; listening, interacting, reacting, and selling. The most important step to embrace would be listening. As a company or brand, you must pay attention to the conversations being held about your brand as well as pay attention to your customer and audience. Then comes interaction; a company must join the conversation. And in order to join the conversation, you must know how to appropriately use the tools - in this case social media. Reacting is just as important because as the brand you're able to adjust your product or service based on the feedback you are receiving. If you practice the first three steps, the fourth step comes naturally.
The Social Media Escalator is basically proof that social media is a must. You must join the conversations. So how does ROI come into play? It is said that when going into the C-Suite, they like to look at hard facts. Evidence. Data. Analytics. They need proof as a justification for reasoning. So it makes sense as to why they would stress the question; what is the ROI of social media?
Thanks to applications like google analytics, it makes it easier for companies to actually track "ROI" of social media; chapter 10 if filled with examples and statistics. But the question that should be asked isn't "what is the ROI of social media?"; the question that the C-suite should ask is, "what is the ROR of social media?"
ROR - Return on Relationship
Think about it. Return on investment, you think money. Return on relationship, you think people. The biggest takeaway from this chapter is that building relationships (listening, interacting, reacting) is rewarding. You gain a sense of social insurance. You create emotional connections with your consumers which can help create advocacy. This can create conversations about your brand or company, which can then result in recommendations of your brand. ROR supplies you with something more rewarding than money and monetary values. It provides you with trust and loyalty.
So if you're a communication professional, and for whatever reason the brand or company you work hasn't adapted or embraced the usage of social media; I encourage you to go in that C-suite, or go to your boss/higher up -- whoever it may be-- and explain how social media can build trust and loyalty (two words smart companies want to hear) and how it can have a positive correlation on lifetime value of customers, average order value, and frequency of purchase. I guarantee you they'll want to hear more!
Tune in next week to see what #LVCC406 has to offer your brain.
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