Comments on: Social Media, Who is Responsible for the ROI?

By: Jesse Torres

Jesse Torres — Sun, 03 May 2009 08:13:41 +0000

Bill,
I’m a little late to the party here but I thought I’d leave my thoughts.

I agree that the sales group is best situated to pick up and carry the conversations. From a practical perspective, Sales has the experience to address specific questions, complaints or comments that arise.

Having said that, it is Marketing that creates the conversations through its broader efforts to reach out. And as such, they need to have a seat at the table and shoulder some of the responsibility for creating the conversations that Sales nutures and converts to sales.

Also at the table, however, should be IT and legal/risk management. IT needs to create the methods for monitoring the conversations that were created by Marketing and that Sales is treating as “leads.” Additionally, legal/risk management needs to be involved directly or indirectly (by referral) to monitor potential harm to the brand or compliance within tightly regulated industries (e.g., most recent Domino’s episode). How well these two groups do their job will have a direct effect on the ROI, regardless of how it is measured.

As such, ROI responsibility is not a simple as saying give it to Sales. The nature of social media makes the question of ROI measurement and accountability quite complex and far from a no-brainer.

Great question.

@jstorres

By: Audience Development on Twitter

Audience Development on Twitter — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:42:37 +0000

[...] Kitano (@pkitano) connected our discussion on social media ROI to his “How the Social Media Converges with Mass Media 10 Steps to Attract Twitterers You [...]

By: CJ Brasiel

CJ Brasiel — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:38:25 +0000

Great discussion. Social Media must be a core part of both the sales and marketing strategy. The responsibility is shared. From a marketing point is about brand education and exposure. The ROI is there if the marketeer knows how to interpret any on-line advertising. From a sales perspective it is about relationship building which leads to company/product loyalty. The ROI can be tracked through lost leader analysis and on-line activity involving customer interaction. (Do customers see you as a resource? Do they comment on your information as valuable? etc.) Much like the decision of yesterday regarding TV verses Radio, where, how, and why to use a particular medium depends on a myriad of customer components and more importantly how that continually changes via technology.

By: Bill Rice

Bill Rice — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:50:36 +0000

@CJbrasiel,

What a fact. Social media is still an emerging marketing and sales medium. We are still feeling our way around. Most will tell you it is premature to tack on a ROI responsibility. But, surely it will need to be a more collaborative sales and marketing relationship.

By: Bill Rice

Bill Rice — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:47:55 +0000

@KoryeLogan,

I like the analogy. I think you are right “ownership” does put a wrong focus on the topic. However, I think it has been captured in the big marketing paradigm and good companies get their reputations dinged because of it.

To your point on conversations. I always preach that number of closed deals are directly correlated to good conversations.

By: Korye Logan

Korye Logan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:27:02 +0000

The concept of ownership is counter to the inherent open nature of social media. The idea of various departments or company roles wanting to “own” social is akin to how the “white man” views land ownership compared to the views of Native Americans – that the land belongs to the Earth.

“Social” is the natural digital extension of conversations. Customers hold the most power in this domain, while customer service holds a critical role in communicating with the customer. Only in support of these two can (and should) sales, marketing, etc. participate and support the social conversations online.

In direct relation to sales, when you are keenly focused on the customer = “social” is part of the relationship.

By: Buenos Aires Real Estate

Buenos Aires Real Estate — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:15:15 +0000

I agree with the comment of Mark J. when he said that Social media belongs in the companies that are willing to try something new, probably with a longer sales cycle and that are complaining the traditional marketing (ads, etc) and sales tactics aren’t working.

By: Justin McHood

Justin McHood — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:59:53 +0000

I agree with @Shailesh.

I think social media belongs with anybody in sales who wants to interact with potential customers. I can’t for a second imagine how someone would “build a brand” or “enhance a brand” with the normal social media tools.

However; I do see (on a regular basis) the opportunity for someone who is in sales to monitor a group of peers and “pounce” on a sales opportunity.

Or at least… that is what I use social media for.

By: Michael Hafner

Michael Hafner — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 20:45:42 +0000

I like the broad perspective on ROI – we need to get the discussion out of the marketing-only jungle….

By: Bill Rice

Bill Rice — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:07:15 +0000

@ Tom and @Michael,

I can’t understand how marketing can be really effective at social media. It is so much about direct conversation and engagement–a sales skill. Marketing is trained to talk to and invoke actions from large audiences. I am not sure social media can effectively be deployed this way. Therein lies my theory–social media ROI belongs in sales.

Thanks for the comments!

Bill