That’s my big question for Olivier Blanchard. When we talk social media ROI, is engagement enough? I think it’s easy for us as association executives to say, “Yes, it’s enough. That’s why we exist.” But at the end of the day, every association has specific, measurable business goals. Is the money and time you’re investing in social media advancing those business goals, or are those resources best used elsewhere?
My friend and colleague, Andy Steggles, frequently speaks and writes about “Return on Engagement,” and the argument is compelling, especially in light of the research that shows that engagement is the key to member retention. But when budgets tighten and you need to justify the money you’re putting into your online community, ROE is not much of a safety net in my opinion. We can do better. We can figure out how to measure and prove true ROI if we focus on it now, while we still have the leeway to experiment.
I guess that’s the takeaway here. Olivier is going to show us how to think in terms of ROI. It’s not a natural way of thinking for most community managers. And for the association leaders who already think in terms of ROI, Olivier will show us how to communicate with the folks managing your social media programs to align their work with your business goals. If you haven’t registered yet, here’s the link. If you can’t make it on August 18, send a colleague–it’s worth it.
Did you miss one of the breakfasts? Good thing we did video recordings of all three sessions.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments }
I couldn’t agree more, and I’m a big engagement person! It’s the same argument I would make about websites…traffic is not an absolute measure of a websites success. I can’t help but think that one reason for the “cop out” is that most of us didn’t establish goals before we jumped in (or were led in by members) the big SocMed pool. You can’t have metrics wihtout goals and it’s really hard to determine success without metrics.
A) I can’t WAIT for Olivier’s session!
B) That said, I have to say the whole ROI question sort of baffles me in the context of associations because there are so many associations doing so many OTHER things badly for which they aren’t questioning the ROI–why only do it for social media? Yes, I get it–it’s new. You have to build a business case for it. Etc. But what about stuff you built a business case for once upon a time but has outlived its usefulness yet nobody questions it and it continues–”it” being either staff positions, products, services, membership categories–you name it? And what’s the cost of NOT doing stuff that has become mainstream to the point where people expect it?
Maybe Olivier will be able to enlighten me and help me stop hating!
In many ways the quest for a measurable ROI for social media is not unlike that for chapters and they both feel like a quest for the Holy Grail. We’ve punted on the ROI for chapters (we couldn’t even get enough interested associations to sponsor the “decision to … connect locally” to begin to answer this. Why? Not sure except that I’m nearly convinced that associations don’t want to know if their efforts on building communities is successful because if the answer is no, it means dealing with that.
Hope that Olivier will spur an interest in ROI that spills over to community-building in a larger pix.
Great social media draws a crowd. But are you drawing one that fuels both your mission and bottom line?
That’s where ROI starts, even the mushy I-know-it-when-I-see-it kind.