Ask Not What Social Media Can Do For You

Regardless of how they define social media ROI, many customer management professionals are solely focused on what value they can extract from the emerging communication channel.

They want to know which network will produce the greatest customer advocacy.  They want to know which networks are best suited for driving e-commerce.

While there is nothing wrong with expecting a return on investment into a marketing or customer service strategy, Intuit’s innovation catalyst and senior marketing manager Jay Badenhope believes those organizations who construct their social strategies simply on the desired benefits might be missing the mark.

Instead, companies should begin their strategies by questioning what value they bring to the world of social networking.

“Think about what are the things that you have that people might want to share, and how can you capture value from the sharing,” explains Badenhope in an exclusive CustomerManagementIQ.com video.  “Is it a certain product…Is it a high-profile executive…Is it a great customer experience?”

Badenhope does not discount the commercial potential of social media, but insofar as he does believe “this is more often a sharing experience than a buying experience,” value has to come from a social media presence that will get audiences excited.

Once an organization identifies what it has to “offer” the Internet and how the spread of that message ties into the business goals, it can more appropriately select a social strategy and benchmark the success of the endeavor.

How does Badenhope measure a successful social media campaign?  What portion of your budget should social media consume?  These answers and more are revealed in CustomerManagementIQ.com’s exclusive video with Intuit’s Jay Badenhope.

And, as you craft your marketing strategy for 2012, surround yourself with the senior-most thought-leaders in North America at the Marketing 360 Exchange.  Only the highest-level marketers qualify for this event—are you one of them?  Details here!

You Should Check Out:

Know Your Customers: Three Steps to Increasing Customer Engagement

Branding Online Communities For Customer Engagement