Attend any corporate meeting on social media initiatives and it’s likely that you’ll hear a question or two along the lines of “how is this selling us more product” or “what’s the ROI on these activities”? Unfortunately, many social media strategists get caught up in the numbers that relate specifically to social media and they forget about the numbers that are meaningful to their business.
Obviously, each business or organization will have different Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that determine the success of social media activities, but many organizations can benefit from using some, or all, of what I call the K.I.S.S. method. No, it’s not “keep it simple, stupid”, with respect to social media, KISS stands for the following:
K is for Knowledge management – For the last 10 years, the nebulous term “knowledge management” has been used to try to identify ways to capture the knowledge stored in employees heads and turn it into meaningful information that organizations can use. The dangers of ignoring knowledge management is that employees who leave your organization take their “tribal knowledge” with them, resulting in loss of access to the information and increased training costs for the persons’ replacement. The loss of this knowledge can ultimately impact your customer satisfaction if the tribal knowledge was never captured in any organizational knowledge base.
To avoid the loss of employee knowledge, you can leverage social media by creating an internal platform where your subject matter experts can share their knowledge, thus preserving it for organizational use. Wikis, idea networks, blogs, and social Intranets are a great tools that can be used to encourage employees to share what they know.
Keep in mind that you may need to provide employees with incentive to participate. Explore whether it would be beneficial to offer monthly incentives to those employees that contribute the most valuable content using internal social media tools. A $50 restaurant gift card that saves you thousands in training costs and keeps customers happy is usually a good investment.
I is for Intelligence – Think of social media as a direct pipeline into information about your products/services, your customers, and your competitors. If your customers don’t like your products or services, they will share their displeasure via reviews, tweets, and posts. The same holds true for your competitors products/services. Additionally, if you listen closely, your customer and potential customers will tell you what they want from you with respect to new products/services. Take that one step further and engage with the community that makes up your customer and prospects, and you can identify new ideas that might not have been developed by your R&D department.
S stands for Sales – Social media can be a great way to connect with your existing customers and empower them to become your brand advocates. Customers are great if they continue to use your product, but they’re even better when they share their experiences with others and encourage their friends and family to try your product. This isn’t a new concept, it’s been around forever and have been successful (remember Faberge shampoo’s “and they told 2 friends and so on…” campaign?)
Social media also offers a significantly cheaper medium for advertising then traditional print, TV, and radio advertising. Look for ways to get your ads in front of highly-targeted consumers using social advertising on channels like Facebook and YouTube.
Don’t forget that social media can also give your sales professionals an easy way to identify new prospects who are looking for a product or service that your provide. LinkedIn Answers and Twitter are great ways to find new potential customers.
S stands for Support – One of the most often overlooked value propositions for social media is that of customer support. Anyone who has ever worked in a call center knows that the most expensive way to provide service to a customer (other than coming onsite to their location) is to have a call center technician help them on the phone. That’s why call centers track important metrics like First Contact Resolution (FCR), Time on Call (ToC), Cost per Call (CpC), and – of course – Customer Satisfaction (CSat).
By capturing your organizational knowledge (via the “K” of Knowledge Management), you can enhance your internal call center knowledge base, allowing your call center technicians to locate and provide answers more quickly, which could decrease Time on Call and increase First Call Resolution. Decrease in TOC and increase in FCR often results in an increase of CSat.
As you can see, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to start thinking of ways that engaging your employees and customers through social media can improve your operations, open up opportunities, and positively impact your customer satisfaction.
Have ways that you have implemented the KISS method or have additional ideas for positively showing a ROI for social activities in your organization? I’d love to hear about them in a comment or a Tweet.
http://tinyurl.com/3pyj67l
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://zite.to/hJSRmr #socialmedia #marketing #brand
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://zite.to/hJSRmr via @Ziteapp
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://goo.gl/E97Ct #socialmedia
ROI is a business metric, not a media metric so how are you measuring ROI for #socialmedia? http://ow.ly/4BU4d
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/dNLNmlF ->nice post from @socmedsean
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://zite.to/hJSRmr
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media #ROI: http://bit.ly/g4ahd1 #socialmedia
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://j.mp/ekumMn
can’t read with you staring at me when i visit your site RT @socmedsean: Four Ways To Determine Social Media ROI http://bit.ly/hXTTGw
Thanks, Laurel! RT @LaurelZ: LOVE: RT @socialmedia2day: The KISS Method for Determining Social Media ROI http://ow.ly/1sKG9l
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://bit.ly/ilGaCr
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/5qEBI0L
Forget about the numbers and capture the audience. The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/C6E5Zn9 via @socmedsean
sean, great post! Gave me a lot to think about, (especially rewarding staff who contribute the most – which is always me!) been trying to ge your points over to a new client, who happen to be in the financial industry and of course one of their first questions was “what ROI will we see from social?!” – I look forward to taking this information back to them! Thanks
Thanks for the feedback, Dave! I hope it helps in your client conversations.
–Sean
The KISS Method For Determining #socialmedia ROI http://t.co/zFmrmNf
Leyendo …y esperando el LOVE Method RT @emggaliana: The KISS Method For Determining #socialmedia ROI http://t.co/zFmrmNf
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/5c8dnl2 @socmedsean
Curioso método. Apuntado RT @emggaliana: The KISS Method For Determining #socialmedia ROI http://t.co/zFmrmNf #walnuters
The KISS Method or How Determine Social Media ROI http://t.co/y59x6z7
Well said – an excellent review for those seeking to justify their investment in the media.
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://bit.ly/ilGaCr
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://bit.ly/ilGaCr
Si te va el Social Media, por narices te tiene que gustar KISS
http://bit.ly/lEUqGr
This article is more of an outline for how social media can be used — with an emphasis on social CRM — than a discussion concerning ROI.
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://tinyurl.com/6hjjo4y @socmedsean
@SocMedSean so awesome that you’re still top read for @SocialMedia2day! Love the post – http://ow.ly/1sKG9l
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/ceIpm4J
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/8hsZxcN via @socmedsean
#Engage effectively with your staff and market with #social media – The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI – http://bit.ly/gaBE5x
Engage effectively with your employees and your market through social media http://fb.me/sr7Oqyys
A @kanter bookmark: The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI: Knowledge, Intelligence, Sales, Support – … http://bit.ly/jcn6Y7
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI: Knowledge, Intelligence, Sales, Support – How does this transl… http://bit.ly/fSfObO
Unternehmen interessiert vorallem das ROI von Social Media, die KISS Methode verfasst einen guten Überblick: http://bit.ly/lwJnn0
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://bit.ly/mv4662 via @Rob_McCracken:
A nice mnemonic to end the week: RT @carolyndouglas: RT @socmedsean KISS method of social media ROI http://ow.ly/4OoNV #socbiz
@SocMedSean you are so welcome. Seriously super great article! http://bit.ly/lkmtcv
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/izqo241
Great post RT @monter80 @SocMedSean : The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/izqo241
#SocialMedia #ROI Tracking http://ow.ly/4X7wJ
Knowledge management, Intelligence, Sales, Support. "The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI" (via @SocMedSean) http://goo.gl/bKQQv
Sehr schöne Beschreibung von @socmedsean wie man den #ROI von Social Media auch messen kann http://t.co/cPUqFTg #KISS #socialmedia
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/lfaw5to #socialmedia
"@SocMedSean: The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/WRT9Rov #socmedia"
@beatriz_sanchez 4) Help demonstrate how social media can help sales, support, & your employees. This article might help http://ow.ly/6d2z5
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/HLdWJR5G RT @SocMedSean
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/9RAah7ej via @socmedsean #SocialMedia #ROI #Measurement #JO #in
KISS Method For Determining #SocialMedia ROI http://t.co/BsFI4u2h RT @SocMedSean
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/bXOkfxpH via @socmedsean
Cam asa s-ar traduce cel mai bine planul de ROI in social media http://t.co/kDezqNLl
Kusjes en scrabble, ik ben om. Een KISS ezelsbruggetje voor ROI op social (ja, dat speelt nog steeds). http://t.co/Fyy1C7kW
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI http://t.co/xfi684uL
The KISS Method For Determining Social Media ROI. #sm http://t.co/EIrE34fD via @SocMedSean RT @brasonja
The KISS method for determining social media #ROI http://t.co/QeCBcRh2 Via @SocMedSean
Het lijkt bij social media alleen nog maar te gaan over ROI. Een waardevolle dialoog is niet in cijfers te vatten! http://t.co/wNZq597K
KISS – Four Great Ways To Prove ROI For Your Social Media Activities http://t.co/tigNfQLi via @socmedsean #socialmedia #MKTG331
KISS – Four Great Ways To Prove ROI For Your Social Media Activities http://t.co/SB0TY1HS vía @socmedsean
Good post! These are probably the most important elements to keep in mind.
I love learning with your clarity….clean concise and clear message. Thank you. Appreciate your service to us all. GR8 article Love the new KISS
Calculate engagment. how many replys, retweets, favorites, likes per posting. Excellent and informative post.
KISS – Four Great Ways to Prove ROI http://t.co/RuvroWj2WF