This document summarizes a presentation about measuring social media return on investment (ROI). It notes that businesses currently capture only a fraction of the necessary data to accurately measure social media ROI. It identifies several challenges around measuring social media ROI, including the qualitative nature of social media interactions, lack of standards, and volume of data. It also provides insights for C-suite executives around distilling useful insights from social media data and the need for powerful analytics platforms and skilled personnel to analyze growing amounts of data from multiple sources.

1. C-Suite Insights 4Social Media ROI Marshall Sponder Socialize 2011 NYC – April 1, 2011 SocialMediaAnalyticsBook.com

2. Situation Today: Businesses are capturing a fraction of the data needed to measure SM-ROI.The missing information is “ultraviolet” but can be captured using more deliberate analytics tracking mechanisms For more information goto : http://tinyurl.com/ROIsocial

3. 1) Social Media is about beginning and deepening relationships over time. Friends, Likes, Shares, Tweets, ReTweets are qualitative ; value is “soft” and can be estimated, but not known precisely. ?? 3) Formulas for ROI are immature and need further research by standards organizations such as the IAB, WAA and CIPR SMM group. 2) “soft” values are difficult to plug into return on investment equations such as Altimeter Group proposed last year.

4. Reporting often focuses on “diagnostic” information instead of the insight derived from it ..and much of the data is “ultraviolet” or unusable

5. 9 Areas of Concern for C-Suite with SM-ROI Confusion on what measure, how to price social media efforts Difficulty distinguishing signal from noise, hype from reality; finding the right platform(s) (medium) to collect and analyze messages (social media, search, web analytics, internal house data, etc, etc). Sheer volume of data to be analyzed and understood doubling every few months No Standards yet (IAB, WAA, CIPR, etc, etc) – still the Wild, Wild West Vendors and Agencies obscuring the message in order to keep business; difficult to compare and evaluate platforms Finding, retaining the right people and empowering them Realistic Timelines and Budgets Immature formulas for measuring SM-ROI – ROI needs to be redefined for Social media Data Integrity – not enough attention paid to the accuracy of the information culled from Social Media Listening Systems.

6. 5 C-Suite insights about the Data Distilling signal from noise in social media (and anything else) is expensive, highly manual and usually customized for each business case, department, industry, etc. The sheer amount of data to be analyzed requires very powerful and intelligent analytics platforms, skilled personnel and mushrooming storage capacity (the Cloud?), but also brings up privacy and speed issues. Overlaying data from multiple sources (select paid tools) provides the right context and insight which is missing most free tools and platforms, but these are difficult to plan for, evaluate and properly manage. Consensus within organizations is difficult to manage, change control, clear roles and unambiguous ownership are needed Level of Certainty information is correct and actionable is what businesses are paying a premium for (for example: Klout vs. TRAACKR or mPACT on influencer identification)

7. The Medium is the Message -McLuhan Social Media altered how communications are perceived Analytics altered how Social Media is valued Data and Insights is the message the C-Suite really wants and needs

8. PR vs. Marketing vs. Analytics. Who Wins? Paul Holmes vs. Marshall Sponder in Davos at On The Top - Feb 2011 Hint – read next slide

9. holmesreport.com - Does Your Agency Need A Chief Analytics Officerposted by Paul Holmes I am on my way home after a debate at the Communication on Top Forum in Davos on the subject of “The New PR vs. The New Marketing.” Given that the audience consisted primarily of PR people, I figured the odds were stacked heavily in my favor, and maybe my original opponent felt the same way, since he withdrew at the last moment. As it turned out, he was replaced by Marshall Sponder, a Brooklynite, author of the upcoming book Social Media Analytics and an expert in the same subject. Marshall and I certainly didn’t agree on anything, and I certainly don’t think we’re going to witness a wholesale takeover of the PR field (or the marketing field) by analytics folks (although you could make the case that Mark Penn at Burson-Marsteller is in the vanguard of just such an invasion). But I do think Marshall is right that PR people need to understand analytics better, and make analytics a much more robust element in both planning and evaluation. So I’ll meet him half way. Two or three years from now, every public relations firm that wants to be taken seriously in the C-suite and/or a lead marketing role with have someone like Marshall in its senior leadership ranks, a chief analytics officer responsible for ensuring that account leaders think more deeply about analytics and that the firm works with the best available outside suppliers to integrate analytics appropriately.

10. Getting our Business and Measurement Metrics goals / tactics aligned

11. For more information: Marshall Sponder www.Webmetricsguru.com SocialMediaAnalyticsbook.com Now.seo@gmail.com @webmetricsguru