Disqus - Latest Comments for social_smart

Re: HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI

social_smart — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:19:27 -0000

It is interesting that some of the large corporations like Dell and Best Buy don't seem to be worried about measuring ROI - see http://socialsmart.wordpres.... They seem to see social media more as a customer service tool rather than a marketing tool. I guess it depends on what you are trying to achieve with your social media as to how important ROI is. Or is it just that the big boys don't need to worry so much about the costs involved? It is an interesting and ever evolving discussion. Some useful tool suggestion though.

Re: Online communities provide measurable ROI

social_smart — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:09:33 -0000

There is a lot of interesting debate over the ROI question - it is a question we looked at ourselves recently - http://socialsmart.wordpres... It was interesting to find that companies like Dell, for example, don't even think about measuring the ROI of their social media programs. Social media seems to be increasingly seen as a customer service tool rather than as purely a marketing tool, though it is certainly measurable as long as you define your parameters in advance. I agree with Stuart (below), in his model of a 'balanced business approach'.

Re: STATS: 84% of Social Media Programs Don’t Measure ROI

social_smart — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:16:33 -0000

We also discussed this topic on our blog recently. Our angle was "The Question is Not Can You Measure Social Media ROI? It is Should You?" - http://socialsmart.wordpres... If you look at the example of Dell, they are not concerned with ROI. They consider it as a service to their customers. Social media is trending towards being a CRM tool rather than a marketing/sales tool. However, I agree with the commentors who say that ROI can be measured if so desired. The key is to understand what you are measuring and to build measurement into goals and objectives before you start. The problem for a lot of companies is that they start their social media before they have a goal in mind. Objective measurement is then highly problematic.

Re: The Building Blocks of Social Media for Business

social_smart — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:44:50 -0000

Nice to see email marketing mentioned in a list of the key 'building blocks of social media for business', especially in terms of customizing that outreach. It is precisely why we made 'interest-tagging' one of the key features of the email functionality in our Social-smart dashboard - http://socialsmart.wordpres... - The emails of individual customers can be keyword tagged with their particular areas of interest and then retrieved from a tag-cloud list of those interests/keywords. This allows you to generate an email list specifically targeted to a particular group of customers with a particular area of interest. Information and/or offers can be sent via email or e-newsletter to people that are interested in that subject matter, making it much more likely that they will read it and respond to it. And all this is integrated with your search and social media channels within a single dashboard that can be accessed by multiple moderators.

And as Chris says, integrating mobile messaging with social media is the next big thing, especially as Near Field Communication technologies hit the streets next year. Mobile integration will also soon be become the next feature of the Social-smart dashboard.

Re: Legitimizing the Corporate Blog (and Ghost-Blogger)

social_smart — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:55:34 -0000

At the BlogWell San Francisco Case Study Presentation - http://www.socialmedia.org/... - Dell's Digital Media Manager Lionel Menchaca gave some important insights into the ongoing development of Dell's social communities. (http://vimeo.com/5484057). One thing he noted was that "their customers are not interested in talking to the CEO, they want to talk to the developers." The key for a company blog is that it should be focusing on the aspects that the customer is interested in, whether it be B2B or B2C, and that it should be the personnel involved with those aspects that should be doing the blogging - whether that be for a product or service based operation. That is not to say that such a blog cannot be ghost-written, but I would expect that the writer would necessarily have to physically visit the department and personnel concerned, at least once a week, to really get an understanding of the issues involved. I don't think the job can be done effectively without a high level of trust and personal interaction with the staff concerned. As such, I think it would be an expensive option but it could be done - as long as it is made clear to the audience the basis on which it is being done.

Re: Bing Goes The Internet: The Creepiest Jingle Ever

social_smart — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:28:14 -0000

Ah, but you have all missed a very big point about Jonathan Mann - he has already received a lot of attention for his song about MSNBC's '1600 Pennsylvania Avenue' show with David Schuster - http://www.youtube.com/watc... Because of that coverage, Jonathan has become to song-writing what Matt Harding is to dancing, so Microsoft is getting something far bigger than this one jingle - no doubt there will be others to come. But creepy? Really? You need to get out more, Ben.

Re: William Shatner Recites Sarah Palin’s Tweets as Poetry [Conan Video]

social_smart — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:21:53 -0000

Did you see the Steven Colbert version of how Sarah Palin writes her speeches?
http://www.colbertnation.co... - very funny!

Re: Identifying a social media workflow

social_smart — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:42:04 -0000

Nice article, Morgan. I think a lot of companies looking at social media engagement find the subject overwhelming. With plenty of scare stories around about companies that have got into trouble with social media, and with little knowledge to go on, it can seem daunting. I think your article will be very reassuring in that respect, and I shall certainly share it with my LinkedIn groups. In terms of efficiency in managing multi-channel campaigns, http://social-smart.com would be worth a look.