The Value of Social Media

Lot's of companies like to measure the Return on Investment or ROI on everything they do.

The radio stations I work for do this as an exercise in ROI with the I being a Time Investment.

And we have changed some of our priorities as we look at the amount of time it takes and the financial reward, then we decide who should do it.

I look at it this way:

If a business wants to remain hidden, they better stay off the internet, never print business cards, don't put a sign on your door, window, or building, and forbid the employees to tell anyone what they do or who they do it for.

Sounds silly.

Flip it over.

If a business wants to get exposure to people who might become paying customers, then do the opposite, including social media.

Our radio stations have Facebook accounts which is a start. Several of the employees also have Facebook accounts and some of us are also active on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other sites.

But for those people who still think Social Media is a waste of time, check out this post from Chris Brogan's Blog:

They Will Never Understand

Posted: 02 Dec 2010 01:30 AM PST

People who ask what the ROI of using social media is will never understand the value (not the ROI) of things like Facebook and Twitter. I asked my gang of friends and colleagues and contacts and potential customers and clients (because in my world, they are all mixed together) a question on Facebook. Here’s what I got back:

And Look at THIS from Peter:

Peter’s advice actually goes further than I can screen capture (because I’m not smart at using Skitch enough to do so, at least).

People who ask you about ROI won’t ever see that there’s a huge value in my being able to know all this about Berlin before I show up. That is, unless you tell them about human business, and about how building relationships matters, and what you’re working on is much bigger than just straightforward sales.

Am I wrong?