Although there is no denying that social media has progressed considerably in the last six years, many social media professionals still struggle to measure the value of their work.
So said Kelvin Jonck, MD at youKnow Digital, speaking at the ITWeb Social Business Summit yesterday in Johannesburg.
According to Jonck, most social media professionals struggle with showing return of investment (ROI) to C-level executives.
"There is no denying that social media is important but there is a problem convincing the guys at the top why they should invest in social. The social media professionals are still struggling to prove that it works, with their bosses losing patience and not investing as they want them to."
The industry is to blame, said Jonck, adding there has been a lot of metrics punting metrics, and convincing the bosses that fans, reach and engagement rates are the be-all and end-all of social media goals.
While these metrics are not futile, they're just not the end of the story, said Jonck. While the industry has been trying to make the C-suite executive accept that engagement rate is a valuable story, they're looking at the monetary value, he added.
Explaining the impact that social can have on business is challenging, as is proving ROI in a language that the C-suite can understand, said Jonck.
The social media department of a company needs to make the executives understand how social media investment can contribute to the company's bottom line, he explained.
Jonck pointed out in order to demonstrate the value of social media to managers, it's important to construct metrics based on data that the executive can easily understand and link to business goals and objectives.
"Don't focus on what social media is, rather focus on what it can do for the organisation and its customers. We need to change the narrative and the way ROI is measured."
To do this, it is important to understand just how social fits into a company's overall strategy, said Jonck.
A million fans on a company's social page are not business objectives that your chief marketing officer or executives care to understand, he added.
Furthermore, to show ROI to C-level executives, social media professionals need to link the metrics to social tools, and show how many conversations lead to an intent to purchase, he added.
Social media professionals need to drive reach and create discovery of the company's products or brand, said Jonck.
Share