Simplifying Social Business–The Focus Series Recap

Woo hoo! Dr. Natalie and I just finished the last roundtable episode in our Simplifying Social Business series on Focus. If you missed any of the episodes, you can catch up on the flip flop by following the link. You’ll see a recap of all the episodes as well as links to catch the replays.

Both Natalie and I want to thank Focus for sponsoring our in-depth series. We had a great time sharing our social business thought leadership and engaging with attendees.

We based the roundtable series on our Simplifying Social Business ebook series. If you want an even deeper penetration then what Natalie and I could give each week, check out our ebooks. We’ll soon be releasing our Social Customer Service ROI Playbook and then a social marketing ROI book will follow.

 

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Collaborate or Risk Social Media Failure

There’s substantial ROI of social media, whether it for PR, Marketing, Customer Service. But if leaders don't understand the business relevance of social media, they may be doing their organization harm.

If you missed out on yesterday’s Focus roundtable, then you missed out hearing Dr. Natalie and I talk on the importance of collaborating across functional departments and what happens to brands that don't.

Among our topics, we covered:

  1. Mixed messages that have a longer life due to social. – iRobot case study
  2. Not getting the full benefit of ROI. – Dell case study
  3. Dangers of poor leadership that can cause internal weakening due to political infighting. – Aliased case study (name hidden to protect the fightees).

Catch up, though, via the replay.

 

Now It’s Time to Show Social Marketing & PR ROI

Last week, Dr. Natalie and I opened our kimonos and showed Focus roundtable listeners how to determine a social customer service ROI. We moved beyond just talking about metrics to discuss how calculate the ROI by merging information from:

  1. Traditional operational activities and metrics.
  2. Social analytics.
  3. Business results when social media is applied.

We connected the dots to show the interrelatedness and dependencies across the different types of insights and how that translated into monetary savings for a client. And we compared those gains to the costs of the social program.

This week, Dr. Natalie and I going to do the same with showing how to calculate a social marketing and PR ROI on Focus. Join us tomorrow, on November 9 at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET!

**** If you missed the live event, catch the replay!

 

How to Calculate Social Customer Service ROI

Customer Service executives and managers have the responsibility for caring for customers and delivering experiences that ultimately result in customers deciding whether to stay loyal to a company.

That decision affects the bottom-line by either increasing or decreasing costs and revenue.

Social Media represents a new dynamic in customer experiences where the company, its products, services, reputation and the way it treats customers is front and center of millions of people.

Comments, reviews, ratings and the dissatisfaction is permanently “inked-in” in the online world for millions of others to view -- forever. And while Marketing and PR may spend hundreds, or sometimes millions of dollars creating a brand image, a short message, like a Tweet or Facebook post, can activate the destruction of a brand’s reputation. In effect, Customer Service is the new PR and Marketing for a brand.

Don’t fall into the trap of “Social media ROI cannot be calculated because there are too many unknowns.” To the nay-sayers, I say baloney!

Check out this video on How to Calculate Social Customer Service ROI, originally part of a Focus.com roundtable hosted with Dr. Natalie Petouhoff. For the new and improved video format, I added a bunch of new slides.

Dr. Natalie and I are also within weeks of releasing our Kindle and Nook versions of a Social Customer Service ROI ebook as part of our Simplifying Social Business  ebook series. We’re a little behind due to work commitments.

Wrong-headed Hoopla About Social ROI

Too many social media pundits hold the view that a social Return on Investment (ROI) can’t be determined. You’ll hear all kinds of reasons like too many unknowns. And there’s my personal favorite, “Don’t worry about the ROI, just get a strategy and start doing something.”

Well, I agree with part of the above statement. You do a need a social strategy to before you can even begin to determine the social ROI (smROI). But the rest? They’re mythtaken.

Social ROI can be determined. So why do the myths around ROI persist? Here are a few reasons:

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Objectives & Strategy–Social Business Starting Points

There’s so much talk about social ROI but the focus seems to be on the endpoint (ROI). As important as determining the ROI can be, it’s the caboose on the business case train.

The starting point is objectives, followed by strategy design, KPI definition, and then lastly, the determination of the ROI. Let's talk turkey.

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VOTE YES - 5 Steps to Humanize A Brand & Get Social Media ROI

The social business model is fundamentally changing the business landscape because it supports how real people relate and do business with each other.

Social companies understand that a certain amount of process is necessary to remain effective and efficient. However, these companies also know success in a social media world means going beyond adding a human touch to business. It means being human. 

The social customer wants their questions answered and their problems solved. They want to have confidence in their buying decisions. And they don’t want to worry about your processes, departmental siloes or other activities they view as impediments to getting what they need.

How then, does a company learn how to implement social business strategies that get results?

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Talking around the town - At WSJ - PR metrics & value

Carl Bialik, a WSJ reporter, wrote two related articles in the last few days on the topic of determing the value of PR.  One was an article for the WSJ and other for his blog.  I commented on both, taking the pro side of the need for PR valuation -- and as one of the few voices mentioning that value can be determined.

 

Note:  You may need to be a subscriber for at least the article.

Publicists Pump Up Value of Buzz; Don't Believe the Hype (article)

How Much Is This Blog Post Worth? (blog)