(LSJ) How to get best ROI from Social Media?

(LSJ, Editor in Chief, @lsj2030), Social media is based on Customer Relations Management  (CRM) principles. To measure Return of Investment (ROI) for Social Media is a calculus of marketing mix costs invested in to Social Media Launches and Projects, and the following  sales operations Profits and growing Brand Value of its brand mix.

When a company decides to invest in to social media it needs long-term strategy and commitment. Social Media is important tool for modern Marketing Management Strategy. How does this work?

1. Social Media opens and strengthens the FLOW between your Customers and your PRODUCTS, BUSINESS, and PEOPLE. The Social Media Ecosystems sustain the brand value.

It results in improved Customer Satisfaction, improved Acceptance Rate for your new  and old PRODUCTS and strengthens your BRAND Promise and later  BRAND Value. 

YES, Social Media will finally improve your Sales and raise ROI. Finally. But there is more.

Social Media marketing differs somewhat from Direct Marketing (DM). It is based on relations built to your customers, competitors, partners, and friends, brands, signs, products, ideas, communities, bands, etc.

Mass Marketing and Direct Marketing is  fundamentally more aggressive based on pushing the message to the prospect buyer. Customer Relations Marketing is more indirect, more friendly activity, where customer retention of your updates reflect and builds the relationship. with your Social Media Promise and the customer. Ofcourse Social Media services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.com, Google Buzz offer good tools for selected messages to be sent segmented audience, which can be used alike of Direct Marketing.

ACTION ITEM 1: -> Start Social Media Project today, starting with one of the best brands in your company.

2. Learn from the Feedback of the Customer

When your first project is and running, The Customer up gives to your company the Feedback to change and to improve your activities and operations. It is your social media partner/operations excellence to get really rich feedback through competitions, events, games, challenges, questions, direct messaging. i.e The Social Media marketing Mix. It is up to your business to pivot those changes to your products and operations.

ACTION ITEM 2: -> Start changing your Business from what you learn daily from your customers.

3. Personal Social Media Road-Map

As a beginning with Social Media activities, you end up hunting all new friends and services. This is important phase to learn and to understand the possibilities of Social Media. Expect as SME that this takes one to two to three years minimum. Spend all the time you have building connections. Second alternative is hire someone that has gone through three to five years already.

After good time spent with FB and Twitter, and adding all of those 66k contacts ( thanks @crhissvoss for the example), You need to open one-to-one discussions, debating, finding joint possibilities, sales, projects, meetings, etc. Try not to look arrogant (thanks for tip by @guykawasaki). Try to listen, even if you are an Engineer like me, whose first life time went in the Computer Room checking green lights, not with the people.

4. Delivering Mind Share before Market Share. Social media is the tool to give your PRODUCT and your COMPANY better visibility, a Mind Share if you will. Only Old Tool-Tim sells the TOOL with Market Share in mind.

I see many times see consultants that pretend to advice me Social Media as the PRODUCT. How many of us sells Facebook services successfully? Or Twitter promoted tweets? OK, I see hands raising, but my point is it is easier to concentrate to products of your customer, and create a solutions for those, instead of the selling only the tool. Mind share vs. market share.

5. Social media is long-term Partnership, a true Lifetime friend.

Use it wisely, and it will make you connect with the people you deserve. I have found that 9 out of 10 people in what ever social media I want to contact with have a friendly face for me. That does not say, that they immediately want to invest to my companies. But, overall social media does what it promises. It connects you and ecosystems. And that is a lot altogether.

“Listen carefully, I will say this only once”

“The best way of building relationship marketing with social media is to listen carefully and answer questions, emails, and commenting blogs”@blogtheristo @foursquare Risto P