Roi

35 social media KPIs to help measure engagement [Econsultancy] Social media measurement is something that I think should be undertaken with a sense of perspective, by standing back and looking at the big picture.

A widescreen approach to social media measurement ultimately looks at the things that really matter: sales, profits, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Besides, honing in on the detail might not be the best use of your time, given the obvious difficulties that arise, particularly with attribution. But standing back and looking at the bigger picture is not going to be enough for your data-mad boss, is it? It’s a bit too soft focus, right? He or she is going to want to see proof that all this social optimisation is actually working. If that’s the case, then don’t worry: there are lots of things you can measure... It’s all about engagement. Social Networking Media ROI Calculator. ROI (Results on Insights) of Online Communities.

Flickr Photo by Cursed Thing Last year at this time, I was in Austin, TX doing a keynote workshop for Legal Services Corporation on the ROI of Nonprofit Technology.

I interviewed technology practitioners from the poverty law community about how they approach ROI and significant technology systems investments like client databases, document assembly systems, or video conference systems. I also contributed a chapter on the topic to NTEN's Managing Your Technology To Meet Your Mission due out by Wiley I covered the building blocks of a classic ROI process, but translated to a nonprofit context.

The basics include: benefits, value, metrics, and financial calculations. However, even with harsh economic times, there is the temptation to look at numbers only and immediately dismiss social media. Jeremiah Owyang has an excellent post for Online Community Managers about demonstrating ROI so their departments, jobs, or communities won't be cut from the budget. Do you agree? Calculating the ROI of blogs – it’s not about the math. One of the most frequently asked questions I get about blogs is how to justify them on a ROI basis.

In many ways, blogs are like PR – you know there is a benefit but it can be tricky to quantify it. Unfortunately, all too many businesses won’t move forward until they “know the ROI of blogs”. I tried to address this question recently in a speech at the New Communications Forum where I said my blog could be associated with $1 million of revenue at Forrester. I shouldn’t have said that – I shouldn’t have tried to attach a number to my blog’s ROI because in the end, it’s a highly subjective, qualitative measure that’s hard to measure.

This is because a blog’s ROI is built around building a closer relationship with your blog’s readers, be it your most ardent customers or your employees. In my case, I believe that I can associate my blog with increased business and marketing value to Forrester because I write about certain topics only on my blog.