DISQUS

Let's be honest - if you're going to invest large funds on behalf of an advertiser in social media, you're going to have to come up with some explanation as to how the funds are going to make a difference.

There are many ways to estimate (note I don't use the misleading term measure) the effectiveness of most media channels. Online appears the most accountable yet in reality it suffers from many of the same issues as other channels.

Social media activity has to find a way of justifying itself. Remember that all these companies running social sites have huge values placed on them precisely because of the value they offer to advertisers. If advertisers can't "see" the value then they're not going to invest - certainly not at levels which would value companies at $bns. In short, Social Media is going to have to come up with something meaningful.

You ask "How can you determine the ROI on a TV commercial?" - in truth you can estimate the impact of ads at a broad level relatively easily. New opportunities presented by Google and others will improve this situation further (see http://marketing-works.blogspot.com/2007/10/who...), Measures of engagement and interest will only be of use once the case is proved that they increase shareholder value more efficiently than other channels.

This is a sweet idea. I hope that you get more lines of wisdom.
John

Sometimes it bothers me too - especially when i watch the start of a great new campaign then get disappointed when i work out what it's for!

See latest Vodafone campaign - beautiful idea but no idea what it really has to add to the brand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX4U1u7EZF8