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Social Media's Value

As DJ Francis pointed out in his THINKing guest posting,
many marketers are having a hard time coming to grips with what - if
any - ROI comes from social media involvement. PR people, as our sister site points out, understand that it’s all about dialogue.

Listening to - and interacting with -
your customer is a good thing for a company to do. Because, guess
what? Everyone else is listening online and asking questions about your
brand. Word-of-mouth as an influencing factor ranks highest in every
marketing-oriented survey I’ve ever seen. When I worked on the NC Tourism
account, all of our research pointed out the power of personal
referrals to get family and friends to visit our beautiful state. The
internet and social media have amplified that power and have made it
searchable.

A recent report says that affluent
audiences in particular are “listening” very closely to what others
have to say online about a company’s customer service. According to MediaPost,

As
social media usage becomes more ubiquitous, says the summary report,
affluent consumers are using social media channels to share their
personal customer service experiences and learn about others’ care
experiences when making purchase decisions.

If your organization is going to
survive, it must be actively involved in building and monitoring
community online. Says Lynda Kate Smith, vice president, Care Business,
Nuance Enterprise Division,

“With
consumers increasingly using social media to share feedback on their
care experiences, it has become increasingly difficult for businesses
to ignore or hide from bad experiences.”

There’s your ROI.