Social Networks Part 4: Quantitative ROI

October 6, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter 

RedShift Social Media-Network Model for Business

RedShift Social Media-Network Model for Business

Businesses across all industries are paying more attention to social networks which are predicted to explode worldwide. Although clearly there’s tremendous opportunity and potential it can be overwhelming to grasp the rapid disruption happening and the voluminous information getting pushed out.

Decision makers need help discerning what’s valuable from what’s hype and in taking a direction that makes sense for them. My goal is to help them do that with a unique 4-stage map that is more strategy than tactics and more visual than wordy.

My posts on stages 1-3 are:

The purpose integral to my model is that businesses of all size increase their natural natural influence by using social networks to expand their social capital, brand awareness and sense response skills and abilities.

The quantifiable return in my model is the sum of actionable metrics that follow the qualitative experiential learning of the earlier phase. Its nearly impossible to assign a dollar figure to every social media action. Its more reasonable to present ROI as a story of the benefits of your social media initiative. What’s most important in the very organic world of social networks, is patiently directing the movement, or progression from one stage to the next and not losing commitment to authentic community relationship-building in the quest for ROI.

I developed this model to support a practical approach to social media with recommendations including:

  • Determine if and how social networks can help you grow your business and/or improve profitability.

  • Accept the disruption resulting from a shift from seller to buyer power.

  • Involve people in the decision making process who will challenge assumptions and habitual responses to change and disruption.

  • Understand that it will take two years to measure returns on integrating social networks, whether external, internal (behind the firewall), or both.

  • Model natural and authentic communications both offline and online and give incentives for participation.

  • Don’t wait, over-plan, over-control, micro-manage or over-analyze. Adopt a test and learn approach to social networks.

  • Be open-minded and creative about results and metrics you choose to track, knowing that you could get an unexpected equivalent result, or something even better.

  • If the above don’t convince you, consider the cost to your business of doing nothing.

Filed under: authenticity, culture, direction, disruption, emergence, enterprise initiatives, expansion, global microbrand, integral, micro-business, networks, personal brand, relationship, social capital, social media, social networks, tribal wisdom
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