Almost two weeks ago I had the privilege of getting a sneak preview of the Twitter qualitative Survey carried out by Rheingold. In a pleasant evening SKYPE call Rheingold’s research director Patricia Sauerbrey Colton introduced me to the Study background and detailed findings. The Study was carried out in both the USA and Patricia’s homeland Germany thru some 132 individual explorations.  Its main objective; to assess the cultural differences in the attitude towards and usage of Twitter as one example of social media.

To the Americans “Twitter’s promise provides a perfect fit to American culture. A nation of immigrants, Americans are constantly on the go and always setting the stage for themselves in front of new people. The quick chat here and there reassures them and provides confirmation [or conformation?, PHM] of social acceptance.” Twitter provides the virtual equivalent of realizing one’s American dream: “from dishwasher to follower millionaire [followed by 1 million+ people].” And indeed almost on a daily basis I do keep getting follower notifications of Cross Atlantic tweeps who are well underway to following 50,000+ people. One million, here I come

According to Rheingold’s Study, Germans on the other hand are apprehensive of Twitter representing merely ‘hot air’ [heisse Luft?, PHM]. “Something this easy can’t be anything”.

Marketing is tempted to leverage Twitter’s benefits. Yet whilst American marketers see Twitter as a valuable instrument to help build reputation, awareness and pipeline – their German counterparts do not ‘unbedingt’ jump the Twitter bandwagon. “Twittering is seen critically in Germany” (…) and twittering brands run the risk of being seen as ‘unreal, undecided and unsustainable’. More to come on this Rheingold Study – detailed findings are confidential and allegedly will be disclosed this Spring.

Whilst in Berlin last week, I came across another 2.0 Survey by the Stiftung Warentest. Entitled ‘Caught in the Net’[Gefangen im Netz]. Broad coverage on both German television and the Frankfurter Rundschau highlighted a number of major security flaws and anomalies in most social media networks (Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace coming out worst). Bottomline finding: social networks should improve security, users should be careful in sharing information on the net.

Only last December, Facebook’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed that in his opinion ‘there is no such thing as the private domain’. In other words, all data and information shared are up for grabs. Ironically, Zuckerberg does care about his own privacy. A key cultural difference between Europeans and Americans in this regard concerns data privacy. The Europeans regard this as a universal and individual right. US social media networks like the aforementioned consider it good practice to share user data and information with other 3rd parties ‘inasmuch as new services to our customers and community can be offered’.

I’m wondering what cultural differences across various market segments or verticals as well as between B2B and B2C will appear from the imminent Social Media Marketing ROI Benchmark Study in the Dutch market – and to what extent companies with an Anglosaxon vs Rheinland or continental European background will mirror the findings shown above.

Surveys across the globe at the same time show business decision makers in marketing and beyond firmly believe in the value of ‘going social’. Social marketing budgets are constantly going up, says ’The CMO Survey’.  At the same time, as my observations based on a daily perusal of various blogs, vlogs and other communities over the past several months or so show, businesspeople still do not know where to start their social journey, what good or not so good practices are, and what the actual return on investment looks like.

What would bring really differentiating quality to the field of social media marketing and how could one best assess its ROI?  End of 2009 this inspired me to testing the ‘PhD waters’ at my ‘old’ university, the State University in Groningen, the Netherlands. I was wondering whether one would be supportive of a PhD assignment in which to assess the ROI of social media in B2B. Prof.dr. Peter Verhoef and dr Jelle Bouma confirmed the market potential for a similar venture and applauded my initiative, yet equally stressed its long term nature and the many many hours away from loved ones, hobbies and family. These aspects and perhaps even more the dynamic nature of SMM & web 2.0 vis-à-vis the six or seven years of a PhD trajectory lead me to the belief this would not be my cup of tea – in this lifetime.

Yet the feeling the field of SMM/ social media marketing would benefit from further business-relevant study remained. Inspired by an intensive dialogue with people like Rijn Vogelaar, Frank Sibbel, dr Sonja Gensler and several other marketeers, business people and other 2.0 thinkers the foundation was laid for the first intensive SMM / Social Media Marketing ROI Benchmark Study, set up in close collaboration with Calibrero’s Ewald Jozefzoon.

The Study’s objectives are threefold and include a (proper) assessment of good (and not so good) SMM/ social media marketing practices, the establishment of a baseline per participating company as well as a proper assessment of the actual ROI over time. I will be happy to keep you abreast of relevant developments inasmuch as the participants allow us to publish to a wider audience.

As we expect the number of SMM early adopters per market segment to be relatively low, I  am curious about whether (which of) my personal hypotheses will hold true (and I would kindly like to invite you to add your views as well as add any fresh hypotheses of your own):

-         Despite the allegedly better potential in B2B, the B2C uptake will be biggest
-         Most SMM initiatives have started bottom-up thru the ranks or outside-in thru a 3^rd partner or consulting firm
-         The approach is still relatively operational to tactical with much emphasis on tools and 1.0 publishing and ‘shout-outs’ rather than new listening and proper dialogue based on a SMM strategy, new insights and clear objectives
-         In those companies that have started their SMM roadmap small, with senior management and multi-disciplinary involvement rather than communications or marketing alone, both its sustainability and measurable ROI are bigger
-         Organisations with an Anglo-Saxon culture and background will be swiftest in SMM deployment, quite possibly also in reaping its benefits
-         Those organisations with a long term attitude to 2.0 will be better rewarded by their customers in terms of higher customer satisfaction rates and more (renewal) business
-         Although the Study itself will predominantly take a horizontal approach, it will be interesting to assess or view any vertical differences that may exist. To my mind, there will be no significant differences (yet) or (should I say like-for-like difference) in the kind of best practice that players across several market segments are in the process of deploying. However I do expect there to be clear front-runners per verticals or sector in terms of their approach and tangible ROI.

Time will tell. And hopefully you as well. I look forward to seeing your builds to these thoughts and a fruitful Study over the next several months.

Calibrero distinguishes between SMM (Social Media Marketing) events and SMM responses. In this dichotomy, the first category encompasses all kind of activities undertaken by a social community, triggered by or in (e-)dialogue with a brand such as comments, blogposts, (re)tweets, video messages and so on. However valuable this spin-off may be, it can never be an objective in its own right. The latter category of SMM responses comprises those responses with financial impact, i.e. commercial leads that can be nurtured and converted to contracts, into invoices and subsequently into revenue and cashflow.

Setting the Social Media hype aside for a moment and applying a healthy dosis of down-to-earth thinking to this fascinating topic, I wonder why social media bloggers, 2.0 gurus and the like only too often seem to dismiss the proven lessons of marketing and sales. As Forrester’s easy-to-understand POST approach stipulates, (social media) tools should always preceded by a clear definition of target audience (People), objectives and strategies. Yet some social media strategists prefer to talk the language of ‘number of followers, friends, comments’.

Now have a look at this CMO guide to the social media landscape. Granted, it provides a colourful insight into the relative benefit some of the most well-known social media brings, and therefore provides some indication of the weight the Marketing Director or CMO should place on leveraging these tools. Yet, the matrix fails to refer to real commercial objectives such as increased pipeline, conversion rate and enhanced sales. Social Media Marketing is expected to dominate this year — so much so that 81% of CMOs plan to link their annual revenues to their social media investment, according to a recent survey by The CMO Club and Bazaarvoice. I wonder though whether the CMO him- or herself will want to get down to the tool level in gauging the merits of ‘going social’. Furthermore, with this significant intended shift in budget, resources and commitment to occur, the CMO guide should ideally be leading the way to drive a tangible return or ROI.

Perhaps this explains why there’s still little awareness or understanding by senior executives as to the real benefits of Social Media Marketing. As my recent, non-academic and by no means representative (with a modest n= 22) LinkedIn poll suggests, none of the 55 & older respondents expect to benefit from social media this year yet. The B2B poll also suggests there is a relationship between company size and perceived social media benefit. Large companies apparently are represented by the 55+ segment, indicating they see no benefit yet. Mid-sized players expect to gain from social media deployment in terms of better knowledge management and innovation whilst smaller companies place their bets on lead generation thru the power of 2.0. Food for further social media thought.

You are a B2B company or professional. You firmly believe in outstanding quality and customer intimacy. Thereby staying ahead of the pack. Your glass tends to be half full. At least.

Yet you are apprehensive about your commercial or recruitment pipeline, your ability to innovate or the unconnectedness between marketing & sales or marketing & HR. Equally, you realize that for long term success, profit alone does not suffice. Your customers, employees and other partners are increasingly selective about who they want to connect to. And through their (online) networks will tell the world what companies they admire and befriend (or unfriend). Also, they won’t let you get away with greenwashing – you need to build green credibility too.

At the same time, deep down inside of you ‘going social and green’ to you still resonates very much like non-profit, incompetence and grey-woollen socks. As research by Wharton University’ professor of marketing Cassie Mogilner et al shows, customers typically stereotype Non-Profit and For-Profit firms. They generally see For-Profit organisations as competent and business-savvy and on-Profits as warm and caring. The Wharton research shows that decisions in the end are primarily made based on perceived competence. The researchers conclude there is room for For-Profit organisations to build their social and sustainable reputation, just as much as Non-Profit organisations would greatly benefit from adding more ’Biz’ to their repertoire.  Time therefore to see the value and connectedness of Social | Green | Biz  in your market too.

Social?
I know. You don’t vote social. Or perhaps you do. Either way, do spend 30 seconds to read on. Tomorrow’s corporate survival, success and impact increasingly depend on today’s insights, ideas, inspiration and innovation. Companies need a social strategy for social innovation as these enablers are all driven by people. People who more and more live and work in their communities of choice. Virtually, these communities are developing as web 2.0, social media networks. In order to connect, organisations therefore need to engage not just offline but in these social media hubs as well. Building better social businesses starts small, within and between teams and between people. Social media can also be leveraged to better listen to customers and prospects out there and (re)connect. Besides a clear social media strategy, you and other executives want to get the best possible insight in the business case & ROI of Social Media Marketing.

Green?
The green revolution is all around. Customer advocacy is more and more dependent on a business’ ability to deliver sustainable products and services. Legislation and public sector appetite also propel the market to go green. Also, as a matter of speech, taking a fresh, ‘greenfield’ approach to business is imperative to guard off new entrants into your marketplace. Green therefore applies just as much to sustainability of products, processes and services as it does to fresh ideas, market innovation and staying ahead of the grey pack. For ‘going green’ to succeed, a better insight in ROI of going Green to the business is imperative. Green marketing needs both tried-and-tested business practices to effectively shape and deliver a market proposition, just as much as the benefits ‘2.0’ brings. The power of social media marketing can help better and more rapidly connect a business to a global (niche) audience.

Biz!
Going social and green therefore increasingly equals doing good to your workforce, the environment and your reputation just as much as it benefits your P&L. Social | Green | Biz more and more are inextricably linked.

Marketing mix 2.0
Various #es20 speakers including SAP’s Sean MacNiven and Ellen Petry Leanse (Google) referred to Forrester’s obvious yet valid POST approach for leveraging social media. Starting off any social media initiative should not only be kept modest in size, but should build on a definition of the ‘who’ (what is the target audience, or People), the ‘why’ (Objectives), the ‘how’ (Strategies) and finally on the ‘what’; with what instruments should one execute the social media strategy (Tools)? KODAK’s Kees Mulder and Nokia’s Jussi Pekka Erkkola for instance propagated moving from the good old 4 P’s (products, place, price, promotion) to the new (?!) 4 E’s in the marketing mix , i.e.:

• engage,
• educate,
• excite,
• evangelize.

To my mind however, these 4 E’s were essentially of similar weight in the 1.0 era. Whether in B2B or B2C (or in B2G | Business to Government for that matter), hasn’t the marketeer’s challenge not always been to properly raise awareness, boost customer’s interest and desire, thereby resulting in a profitable transaction and preferably a relationship? An enduring relationship in turn, that ideally renders fans and (super-)promoters of your brand, products and services. The difference in Enterprise Social 2.0 primarily is all about the speed and intensity with which this process now takes place. Also it entails a revised competitive landscape and ‘level’  playing field as web 2.0 acts as yet another of Thomas Friedman’s flattening forces. More players with their own unique service or product now have access to the same global e-market. The same flattening effect goes for branding. As Ellen Petry Leanse phrased it: “your brand is now public property. Just because you have a vested interest, doesn’t necessarily make you into a trusted source”. Petry Leanse (Google’s Head of Enterprise Marketing & Communications) continued to stress that marketing 2.0 moves beyond mere branding and building awareness to “building a movement”. To some, this may sound almost a bit Marxist or at least politically flavoured. I do feel over 1 billion people (and counting!) involved in some social media network, building a movement of committed followers (possibly in a niche) is simply becoming sound business practice.

All in all – I’d argue the new 2.0 marketing mix adds 4 new P’s: psychology, personality, people and participation.

1. Psychology
As a 1^st year university student of management science back at Groningen (Netherlands) & Warwick (UK) in the 80s, this was one of my favorite topics. Nobody would deny that success in eg sales, marketing or general management to a considerable extent depends on the ability to touch a customer’s or prospect’s deeper sentiments, wants, needs and fears. Yet the public eye seems to perceive the art of psychology as pertaining to the domain of shrinks, medics and alpha ‘grey-wool-sock’ scientists. Wrong. For organisations to successfully engage on the global 2.0 playing field, they should first of all excel at self-reflection. Who do we really want to be, for whom? What’s our passion, why are we in business in the first place? Subsequently, in reaching out to selected communities or crowds, the days of Shout & Send are over. In comes the era of listening and truly showing empathy for your customer- & fanbase. Listening to relevant conversations and when engaging, being prepared to go deep, both require psychological know-how and skill.    

2. Personality.
In addition, social media and web 2.0 provides a viable platform for personal branding as eg Dan Schwabel eloquently and tirelessly points out. It also paves the way for leveraging corporate personality. Of which Zappos.com constitutes a fine example on Twitter. As Philips’ tandem 2.0 presenters Hugo Raaijmakers and Marco Roncaglio quite candidly pointed out, “Philips has no automatic presence of its own and needs to humanize itself”. The Roger Smith Hotel’s case shows that the company personality is built by various people of the hotel’s team, not just the general manager or the Head of New Media Marketing, Adam Wallace (also speaker at #es20). “Our employees realize they are on stage too and have come to see that every visitor should be treated and considered a possible New York Times reporter.”    

3. People
Some folks would argue that people have already long been an element in the marketing mix especially when you are in the services business. I would not disagree. Yet I do see the need for a different perspective here. Every single employee or customer now has the might to influence a company’s reputation and brand. That’s why for a social media strategy to work, one should treat one’s employees all as possible ambassadors. This applies normally just as much as in times of handling a crisis as the panel discussion moderated by Jennifer Gehrt reflected on. And that’s why companies like Vodafone are starting to measure the social conversation with customers in terms of for instance social authority (who’s talking about me), social conversation (to whom do they talk), social sentiment (how do they talk), and social network valuation (churn & promoter scores).

4. Participation
It’s imperative for senior management to take part in the intra-company dialogue through wiki’s, fora and blogs as companies like SAP, Airbus and SIEMENS stressed. Externally taking part in social communities is of equal importance. Some might say that listening alone suffices. Why not tap into the millions of conversations going on there and use social media insights to keep a realtime finger on the pulse of the competition or customer trends. As Joel Comm points out in his book Twitter Power, “from a business point of view there is much to be gained from simply listening, without the intention of ever participating”. Generally, having moved external in one’s 2.0 approach,  I believe  there are few organisations that keep a stealth, low-profile approach as there’s bound to be some form of participation.

The great examples from eg KODAK (thru crowdsourcing 28,000 suggestions were submittted for a new name for the Zi8 digital camera), the RogerSmith Hotel in NY (improved brand awareness and customer advocacy), Dell as well as JetBlue (improved customer service and boost in sales thru Twitter promotions) and LEGO (huge community of enthusiasts sharing videos, innovation and product ideas amongst each other – 275,000 LEGO movies on YouTube. Top 5 have 47m views!) reflect the huge external market potential that’s only just being discovered.

Perspiration (!) might be an additional 5th P to the new social media marketing mix, as various speakers and participants stressed that for social media this mainly takes time, commitment, passion and dedication.

The two days brought tons of insights, ideas and great encounters that I will be covering in 2 consecutive blogposts, this being the first one.

Mobile & ubiquitous
“Nothing is closer to my heart than my iPhone”, l’Oreal’s VP monsieur Dias stressed. Therefore, business should embrace going mobile to more closely connect to their customers. The world’s distances, boundaries and differences are becoming smaller thanks to social media. Earlier this week the first tweet from outer space was sent. Britain’s ocean rower Roz Savage even leverages her virtual network in mid-ocean asking for advice and suggestions to fix a broken waterpump. As people’s nature is social, social media are being taken up in the western hemisphere just as much as in places like Brasil or India, where the rikshaw driver puts the picture just taken of him and the US tourists he carried on Facebook. By large, listed companies, the public sector as well as the Boston café that’s put out a sign “we have Twitter”. And unlike popular thought this is happening not just in B2C but in B2B as well. With B2B customer decisions based on peer reviews and word-of-mouth in 93% of all cases (82% B2C), this is a no-brainer.

ROI
Most speakers and participants in #es20 agreed there is no one way to properly or honestly measure the ROI/ return on investment in a business going social. I’d suggest we perhaps should start spelling ROI as ROi as the financial investment is relatively low and key investment is all about time and ongoing commitment. As there’s no social currency or common denominator yet, a 2010 priority to Vodafone is to find a suitable KPI. Enterprises should be starting their 2.0 journey small and gradually reaping the benefits of social media. When it comes to measuring the benefits, more traditional metrics don’t always fully suffice as eg HITS nowadays equals How Idiots Track Success according to SWIFT’s Matteo Rizzi. The ratio of conversations & comments per blogpost or the relative share of voice or conversation might make more sense. Rizzi from SWIFT just like the Philips 2.0 duo (no that doesn’t make 4) on stage stressed social media benefits to their business are being realized in terms of efficiency gains primarily. Perhaps most powerfully, Kees Mulder of KODAK referred to ROI as Risk of Ignoring. With 1 billion people on social communities (and counting), how can any sensible business ignore these masses as possible customers, partners or employees?! Finally, the inspiring SIEMENS’ Michael Heiss presentation almost took a scuba-diver’s approach to social media. To him, it’s Rip4ROI; or stop, think and rest before you act and reap the benefits. Benefits that are made up of a host of factors as shown in this driver tree below.

Listening
Social marketing and media are shifting the world from Megaphone & Shout mode to Connect & Listen mode. The power of listening as well as the sheer need for it are being rediscovered. Besides personal extra ‘ears’ like Tweetdeck (I begin to prefer Hootsuite btw) or Seesmic, there’s solutions including Radian6.com, Social.Arc.com, Buzzmetrics.com, Alterian.com and the pleasantly sounding Cymfony.com to enable the Enterprise Social 2.0 to do just that.

Marketeer’s paradox
To me as marketer, one of the key take-aways of the conference was phrased by all 3 German companies present: SAP, Siemens and Airbus. For social media to be effective, one should start small, building incremental steps internally (eg in knowledge management or internal feedback platforms using fora, blogs and wiki’s) with top management commitment first. This helps answering the question “who do we in essence want to be to whom” – in search of corporate DNA. And helps changing a culture into one that’s receptive to the paradigm shift that 2.0 entails. One can’t change a company’s identity with a bit of make-up on the outside, or doing one-off campaigns sporting a 2.0 image. Customers, employees and other partners increasingly expect companies to show ‘a human face’ based on a culture of openness, trust, transparency and dialogue. With management are often apprehensive of losing control, employees often feel restrained to provide open feedback. With people across the organisation have learned how to better connect, listen and learn internally, this will surely bear fruit when seeking better relationships outside the organisation.

 B2B networking the 2.0 way
My dutch friends, family and colleagues regularly question the value of social media in business, especially in B2B. They argue that building a relationship is done offline, face to face and not in the digital darkroom of Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Nearly all B2B players of some size have recognized the need for BI and CRM. Yet social media still is being frowned upon as the latest fad from Silicon Valley, that is best left to facebook-loving teenagers or Hyves-exploring IT geeks. Others do intend to include social media in their marketing and communications plan for 2010, but quite often seem more inclined to policing their employees in saying and doing the right things on social media. Or merely want to leverage social media to shout more loudly to a wide audience.

Enriching business dialogue by going social
Here is where to my mind the social media paradox lies. In a world that’s drowning in information and data, a sustainable competitive edge increasingly relies on rich content stemming from as rich as possible a customer dialogue which in turn produces enriching relationships. Of course nothing beats good old-fashioned 1-to-1 conversation to really understand a customer’s actual motivation, wants and needs. Yet social media can help to mutually (!) find relevant insights, ideas and new contacts that in turn can be shaped into a valuable business conversation, qualified lead or otherwise. Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management will significantly benefit from the realtime, social insights generated by relevant communities. Furthermore, customers increasingly expect responsiveness by their business partners, off- and online. The reward for a quick and adequate response to customer queries and complaints will often be positive customer advocacy and customer loyalty, the biggest B2B pearl to cherish. As the 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study which included 2,384 participants shows,  US-based B2B companies are also even more likely to use brand awareness, prospect lead quality and prospect lead volume as social media success metrics than are B2C companies. I look forward to seeing social media further mature and take shape, especially on this side of the pond. In my next blog I hope to present you some initial findings of my B2B social media poll and would appreciate your input as well.

By now, 2009 is history in several time zones east of ours, the Central European Timezone/ CET. Time to briefly reminisce on the past year that’s brought great new insights, people, fun stuff and ideas within (my) reach – often thanks to the power of social media.

On the threshold of the launch into a new decade, we have the tendency to look in the mirror and reflect. At the same time, we look ahead at what great things the new decade has in store. Equally, our planet, economy and society face challenges that require us to be(come) more and more inventive. Leveraging the capabilities of the community, social media can act as a powerful mirror. A mirror to look ourselves in the eye. Who are we as professional, organization, community or nation? Is this really who we aspire to be? What is the perception of relevant stakeholders around us? In a world of ever-increasing complexity social media enable us to shed light and more transparency into the demands, needs and profiles of demand and supply; whether it’s professionals offering their services or businesses in demand of skilled people or offering their services and products to a global or national audience. And as if holding up a mirror to the sun, social media can also contribute to standing out from the crowd and being seen as differentiating or innovative.

Mirroring in psychology refers to 2 people mirroring each other’s gesture and body language thereby implicitly reflecting their positive attitude and empathy towards one another. The book Mirroring People by Iacaboni describes ‘The New Science of How We Connect with Others’ – isn’t this exactly what social media is all about?! I look forward to joint new reflections coming up in 2010 thanks to the power of the community, your comments and insights – best wishes to all of you!

* Market | Customer | Competitive intelligence
* Branding
* Product development & innovation
* Customer support services
* (Open) innovation
* Lead / Demand generation
* Employee related benefits such as enhanced project collaboration and knowledge sharing, employee motivation, (management) development & retention

For political, lobby-intensive or CSR-related organisations social media additionally might bring value in terms of Return on Impact. Social impact therefore in terms of mobilizing citizens’ voice by organisations that target both other businesses as well as consumers such as @350, @WWF, @changents and others. But let’s focus now on businesses that need to satisfy their shareholders.

Speed, transparency & efficiency key benefits
Almost 1700 executives from around the globe took part in a longitudinal 3 year study by McKinsey on social media entitled ‘how companies are benefiting from web 2.0’. 69 percent of respondents report that their companies have gained measurable business benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues.

Scanning diagonally thru its key results, it seems that bigger speed & transparency as well as reduced (travel & communications) costs are seen as most significant business benefits. Increasing revenue is mentioned by some, yet this is the lowest percentage. Whereas ‘measurable gains’ were reported, the McKinsey researchers unfortunately did not explicitly state whether and in how many cases there actually was a positive ROI in financial terms – dollars, euros, rupiah, sterling or yen.

Me, myself and my community
The McKinsey research distinguishes between the deployment of social media internally to employees and externally to partners, suppliers and customers. Judging by the relative number of respondents as well as the relative biggest gains reported, internal at present seems to be the most popular category. The survey does highlight the relative usage of SM across verticals – not surprisingly high tech and professional services frontrunners – and reports a 35% gain in employee motivation.

With the relative loose connection in most western companies between organisation and employee, this is a significant gain that merits further study. Whilst in many cases the increasing individualization and economic downturn may cause low levels of employee-employer commitment, which in turn results in suboptimal retention – the need to build a powerful corporate community is as strong as ever.

The massive uptake of Facebook, Hyves and other social, friend communities reflects the need for human beings to belong and connect. Why therefore would a corporate environment not try to build a successful, happy community of (professional) employees? To my opinion, this should definitely enhance a firm’s capacity not just to attract, but also to attach the right workers to the right place at the right time. A ‘happiness factory’ – perhaps.  

As new, promising kid on the marketing block, social media need to be accompanied by tangible ROI to be taken seriously by senior decision makers. As Calibrero’s Ewald Jozefzoon illustrates, sometimes ROI in social media seems to be replaced by eg ROE. Return on Engagement is defined as “the measurement of involvement in social media based on online interactions and relationships.”

Hard or soft ROI
It’s better, ‘cause it’s new. Isn’t that almost how some fast movers promote their new toothpastes, washing powders and detergents? As new element in the marketingmix, web 2.0 or social media are receiving an ever-widening audience and bigger attention. And a lively discussion is emerging as to how to measure their actual business benefits. 

Tech Crunchies take the softer ROE stance, emphasizing the need for social media engagement and relative lack in control of who one reaches, when. In a recent blogpost they do include a handy overview of ‘All Social Media statistics and Facts’ that, quite consistently, largely falls in the ROE segment as well.

Even @equalman | Erik Qualman, emphasizes the value of Socialnomics predominantly in terms of means or inputs rather than business and monetary ends. He thereby confirms that social media in essence embody a new, highly successful channel, intelligence and communications instrument with a phenomenonal penetration speed.  

Value of social media
Don’t get me wrong. I love social media as – depending on the time of day – the digital 2.0 equivalent of an inspiring newspaper or an Irish pub. I equally welcome trials and experiments in social media to separate best from worst practices and to refine its discipline. From that perspective, I’m inclined to supporting the notion by @MktgROIorDIE that “many of the activities of creating soft ROI are often stepping stones in achieving hard ROI.”

Over the next months and moving into 2010 I will be trying to uncover best practices in B2B, resulting in a tangible, measurable financially-sound ROI. I will also be keen to jointly discovering new insights to properly/ best (re)defining the return of social media. This might refer to either improving a company’s bottomline by leveraging cost efficiencies or its top line growth. And, with the relatively smaller customer base in B2B, what tangible contribution is the adoption of social media bringing to enhancing customer lifetime value? Your feedback, suggestions and experiences are highly appreciated!