BarnRaisers

Social Media Examiner in their 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report says the #1 question people ask is “How do I measure social media return on investment?”

Business measurements abound in social media to determine return on investment and they’re worth considering since only 18% of traditional advertising campaigns ever generate a positive ROI (source: Nielsen).

I asked friend and colleague, David Berkowitz, Senior Director of Emerging Media and Innovation at 360i and blogger at Inside the Marketer’s Studio if I could re-post his blog, “100 ways to measure social media.” This post contains enough measurements to prove to even the most discerning examiners, measurements for social media ROI are there.

David published this post 9 months ago but it’s just as relevant today, maybe even more, because:

• It’s the topic most people are interested in
• Social media interest and usaage continues to accelerate – see Google  Trends graph below
• Great blogs stand the test of time
• When first published, this blog inspired me to start blogging

In fact, with 100 measurements, maybe the question really isn’t  ”How do I measure social media return on investment?”  But is: “What is your business strategy to prove ROI by its most relevant measurements.”

Many thanks to David.  At the end, there’s a presentation of “100 ways…” you can download but there won’t be a test – not interested in grades, just results.

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100 Ways to Measure Social Media

By David Berkowitz

If there’s anyone out there left who says you can’t measure social media, here are a hundred answers.

At most of the events I’ve been to lately, measurement continues to be a hot topic. The first question that comes up is, “What can I measure?” That’s where this cheat sheet can come in handy: a list of 100 thought-starters.

Some entries here can be interpreted several ways. Depending on how you define them, some of these metrics may seem redundant, while others may seem so broad that they can be broken out further. Many of these can be combined with each other to create new metrics that can then be tracked over time. It’s a start, though, so dive in and consider which ones may apply to programs you’re working on.

1.     Volume of consumer-created buzz for a brand based on number of posts

2.     Amount of buzz based on number of impressions

3.     Shift in buzz over time

4.     Buzz by time of day / daypart

5.     Seasonality of buzz

6.     Competitive buzz

7.     Buzz by category / topic

8.     Buzz by social channel (forums, social networks, blogs, Twitter, etc)

9.     Buzz by stage in purchase funnel (e.g., researching vs. completing transaction vs. post-purchase)

10.  Asset popularity (e.g., if several videos are available to embed, which is used more)

11.  Mainstream media mentions

12.  Fans

13.  Followers

14.  Friends

15.  Growth rate of fans, followers, and friends

16.  Rate of virality / pass-along

17.  Change in virality rates over time

18.  Second-degree reach (connections to fans, followers, and friends exposed – by people or impressions)

19.  Embeds / Installs

20.  Downloads

21.  Uploads

22.  User-initiated views (e.g., for videos)

23.  Ratio of embeds or favoriting to views

24.  Likes / favorites

25.  Comments

26.  Ratings

27.  Social bookmarks

28.  Subscriptions (RSS, podcasts, video series)

29.  Pageviews (for blogs, microsites, etc)

30.  Effective CPM based on spend per impressions received

31.  Change in search engine rankings for the site linked to through social media

32.  Change in search engine share of voice for all social sites promoting the brand

33.  Increase in searches due to social activity

34.  Percentage of buzz containing links

35.  Links ranked by influence of publishers

36.  Percentage of buzz containing multimedia (images, video, audio)

37.  Share of voice on social sites when running earned and paid media in same environment

38.  Influence of consumers reached

39.  Influence of publishers reached (e.g., blogs)

40.  Influence of brands participating in social channels

41.  Demographics of target audience engaged with social channels

42.  Demographics of audience reached through social media

43.  Social media habits/interests of target audience

44.  Geography of participating consumers

45.  Sentiment by volume of posts

46.  Sentiment by volume of impressions

47.  Shift in sentiment before, during, and after social marketing programs

48.  Languages spoken by participating consumers

49.  Time spent with distributed content

50.  Time spent on site through social media referrals

51.  Method of content discovery (search, pass-along, discovery engines, etc)

52.  Clicks

53.  Percentage of traffic generated from earned media

54.  View-throughs

55.  Number of interactions

56.  Interaction/engagement rate

57.  Frequency of social interactions per consumer

58.  Percentage of videos viewed

59.  Polls taken / votes received

60.  Brand association

61.  Purchase consideration

62.  Number of user-generated submissions received

63.  Exposures of virtual gifts

64.  Number of virtual gifts given

65.  Relative popularity of content

66.  Tags added

67.  Attributes of tags (e.g., how well they match the brand’s perception of itself)

68.  Registrations from third-party social logins (e.g., Facebook Connect, Twitter OAuth)

69.  Registrations by channel (e.g., Web, desktop application, mobile application, SMS, etc)

70.  Contest entries

71.  Number of chat room participants

72.  Wiki contributors

73.  Impact of offline marketing/events on social marketing programs or buzz

74.  User-generated content created that can be used by the marketer in other channels

75.  Customers assisted

76.  Savings per customer assisted through direct social media interactions compared to other channels (e.g., call centers, in-store)

77.  Savings generated by enabling customers to connect with each other

78.  Impact on first contact resolution (FCR) (hat tip to Forrester Research for that one)

79.  Customer satisfaction

80.  Volume of customer feedback generated

81.  Research & development time saved based on feedback from social media

82.  Suggestions implemented from social feedback

83.  Costs saved from not spending on traditional research

84.  Impact on online sales

85.  Impact on offline sales

86.  Discount redemption rate

87.  Impact on other offline behavior (e.g., TV tune-in)

88.  Leads generated

89.  Products sampled

90.  Visits to store locator pages

91.  Conversion change due to user ratings, reviews

92.  Rate of customer/visitor retention

93.  Impact on customer lifetime value

94.  Customer acquisition / retention costs through social media

95.  Change in market share

96.  Earned media’s impact on results from paid media

97.  Responses to socially posted events

98.  Attendance generated at in-person events

99.  Employees reached (for internal programs)

100.  Job applications received

There you go. I welcome other entries in the comments. It’s also just the start of the answer to the broader question: “How do I measure it?” Ultimately, you need to start with figuring out your business objectives and then apply these metrics accordingly.

Social media is different from other forms of marketing because it’s a conversation, not a monologue.

Just tell someone to “Buy This Now” and see what happens.  It doesn’t work.  That’s because there has to a dialogue; one that is founded on mutual respect and trust.

The first order of business and branding is to establish your voice.   It’s not what you need to make someone do; it’s how you have to be.  Here are 12 Be’s for your blog and social media brand.

1. Be helpful
2. Be willing to ask for help
3. Be an effective teacher
4. Be willing to share
5. Be able to ask others to share in return
6. Be a good listener
7. Be inspiring
8. Be able to express a point of view convincingly
9. Be able to respect and show appreciation for those who don’t agree with you
10. Be able to give and not worry about what you get
11. Be able to express uncertainty when you are
12. Be yourself

The list and your voice is as long and as true as your authentic qualities.

Do you have any ”Be’s” you recommend in establishing the social voice for your brand?

Before starting BarnRaisers, I worked at well-known advertising agencies.  I was fortunate to have worked on major brands, some at times of profound change, and with very talented people.  It was a lot fun for a lot of years.

A former client, Brian Perkins, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at J&J, said at Cannes this year, ”holding companies for ad agencies should consider taking themselves private.  Advertising is a labor-intensive, not capital-intensive, business and it’s inevitable digital agencies are going to gravitate toward brand stewardship.”

You may or may not agree, but Brian’s comments indicate a shift is taking place.  To help explain why, here are 7 reasons social media agencies are like ad agencies and 8 reasons they’re not.

7 REASONS THEY ARE

1. Both have to demonstrate a deep understanding of consumer attitudes and buying behaviors
2. Both have to find insights into unmet consumer needs
3. Both have to know how to create and build brands
4. Both have to be able to take the brand idea and translate it across all media platforms
5. Both have to be on top of media usage and trends
6. Both have to find unique tactics and executions that accelerate sales and have people talking
7. Both are accountable for results, return on investment and sustainable sales growth

8 REASONS THEY’RE NOT

1. Ad agencies communicate through a monologue.  Social media agencies through a conversation
2. Ad agencies work with product benefits.  Social media agencies with shared interests
3. Ad agencies target heavy users of brands who they encourage to buy more.  Social media agencies find advocates who they encourage to spread the word
4. Only 14% of people trust advertising.  80% of people trust the recommendations of other people
5. Ad agencies use multiple mediums and are ”media neutral.”  Social media agencies work mostly on the internet where 90% of all purchase decisions begin.
6. Ad agencies are labor intensive.  Social media agencies are even more labor intensive because, once the campaign is launched, the work has just begun (e.g. content refreshment, community management, measurements and analytics).
7. Only 18% of ad campaigns ever generate a positive ROI.  While people kick the tires on the ROI of social media, brands, like Blendtec blenders, have proven an ROI of 500-to-1 with much less investment.
8. Ad agencies tend to be secretive about their “proprietary” and “trademarked” process for creating ads.  Social media agencies tend to share their work and publish for all in places like SlideShare.

I’ve found social media promotes a culture of givers, not takers.  People like Joe Sorge, Toby Bloomberg, Tom Anderson, David Berkowitz, Kelley Connors and Mike Rogers (to name just a few) have routinely offered to help or participate in speaking engagements, workshops and presentations with no mention of “where’s my cut” or “what are you getting.”  It something that’s a little different and a whole lot more fun.

Do you have an opinion on the difference between the two?

The Wall Street Journal reported last week, in looking at the glass as half full or half empty, most of us see the economy as half empty.

Is it time for a Social Media Stimulus Plan?   Here are the facts why.

CONSUMERS AREN”T SPENDING AND BRAND LOYALTY HAS ERODED

• 59% of consumer still rate the economy as “poor;” 73% describe their sentiments as pessimistic
• Under $50K, 79% of consumers are cutting back on spending
• Between $50K-$100K, 73% are cutting back
• Over $100K, 66% are cutting back
• Less than 50% now buy “the brand I want most” when they shop
• 42% cite “unemployment/job security” as a primary concern followed by “rising prices” at 33%

ONLINE SPENDING IS GROWING FASTER THAN OFFLINE

• 8.1% of retail sales now occur online – double what is was 7 years ago
• Online sales are growing +80% faster than offline sales
• 60% of consumers say the internet is more important in making buying decisions; up +56% from a year ago
• Sales at all major retailers, even brick and mortar companies, are growing online:  Amazon (+19%), Apple (+25%), Best Buy (+7%), Home Depot (+3%), Lowe’s (+5%), Macy (+4%), Sears (+6%), Staples (+5%), Wal-Mart (+3%)

PEOPLE WHO USE SOCIAL MEDIA SPEND MORE MONEY AND TIME ONLINE

• Facebook and Twitter users spend 1.5X more time online than average internet users
• People who spend time on Facebook and Twitter spend 2X more money online than people who don’t use these networks
• Heavy online buyers spent $592 on average in Q1 2010
• More people are spending more time on Facebook; it accounts for 8.0% of the time consumers are online
• 23% of Twitter users use the service for retail purposes
• Cost per thousand impressions on social media are $0.55 versus $2.55 for paid online advertising

COMPANIES WHO USE SOCIAL MEDIA INCREASE THEIR PROFILES AND SALES

• 97% of companies report a blog improves their search ranking
• 55% say a blog increases site visitations
• 45% have gotten revenue from their blog
• 36% of companies see an increase in positive perceptions fom their blog
• Companies from Dell, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Blendtec and AJ Bombers now have great social media case studies, particularly in the area of innovation, customer service and sales

Sources: comScore, U.S. Department of Commerce, Nielsen, Harris Interactive

A rising tide lifts all boats.  If spending continues to move online and people who use social media spend more, shouldn’t our administration take a hard look at the segment likely to lift us out of a bad economy the fastest; the one with the greatest likelihood to impact positive change?

Our administration has the experience too.  Let’s not forget, when Barrack Obama was campaigning, he used social media and it raised 87% of the funds he put to work to help get elected.

Wouldn’t you like to see the glass as half full again?

For my money, the best wisdom per word on marketing, management and business strategy comes from Peter Drucker.  Born in Vienna in 1909, Peter wrote 39 books by the time he left us in 2005.  He was frequently sought after by the Harvard Business Review, The Economist and the Atlantic Monthly.

Much of Peter’s best remembered advice was written over 40 years ago, but he rarely needed more than 140 characters to make his point.  Hmmm.  Here are a dozen I turn to now for guidance.

1. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.
2. Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.
3. Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.
4. Management by objective works – if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don’t.
5. Objectives are not fate; they are direction. They are not commands; they are commitments. They do not determine the future; they are means to mobilize the resources and energies of the business for the making of the future.
6. Most discussions of decision-making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives’ decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake.
7. People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.
8. Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.
9. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.
10. The purpose of a business is to create and keep customers.
11. There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
12. The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.

Peter’s teachings are alive and well at the Drucker Institute, or Drucker_Quotes on Twitter in 140 characters or less.

A first rule of blogging is to be helpful.  A second rule is if you need help ask for it.  Hopefully, in this blog, I can accomplish both.

A friend of mine has done very well in life. He has an important job, loving family and lives in a great town.  His daughter has a rare disease called Rasmussen’s Encephalitis.

Rasmussen’s Encephalitis is a rare, chronic inflammatory disease that affects one hemisphere of the brain.  It occurs in children under the age of 15 and is characterized by frequent and severe seizures, loss of motor skills and speech, paralysis on one side of the body and mental deterioration.  After the the first 8 to 12 months, most individuals with Rasmussen’s Encephalitis enter a phase of permanent, but stable, neurological deficits.

While this could tear anyone apart, in my friend’s case, it made him stronger.   He’s dedicated his life to a solution by founding the RE Children’s Project to increase awareness of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis (RE) and to support scientific research for a cure. The organization supports research toward the recovery process following hemisphrectomy surgery, a life altering surgery that is the only known “cure” for the disease.

I’ve offered to do what I can to raise awareness through social media.

I know first hand how powerful social media is in health care.  For conditions like Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy, patient communities on Facebook and Twitter offer support to one another with member numbering in the 10′s of thousands.  Studies in countries around the world have proven social support from patients with similar health conditions actually results in better health outcomes.

But for rare disease like Rasmussen’s Encephalitis, community creation is more difficult because there are less people to rely on for support.  There are valuable videos on YouTube.  One (below), less than 2 minutes, is factual and hopeful.

So I thought what if the blogging community and Twitter, the micro-blogging community, could help out.  What if, when you read this blog, you just re-tweet it.  In your re-tweet, you ask the next reader to re-tweet it.  If one person did this and so did the next person and so on, pretty soon, we would generate greater awareness of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis and the chances of finding a cure would be that much more likely.

What do you say?  The re-tweet button is at the top of the blog.  After all, it’s called social media for a reason.

According to Social Media Examiner (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com), the top three social media questions people ask are:

1. How do I measure social media return on investment?
2. What are the social media marketing best practices?
3. How do I manage my time with social media?

Here’s a the roadmap: 2 hours/day X 60 days = social media ROI.

It’s my experience but, more importantly, a conclusion reached at an SAS and AMA webinar last week led by John Bastone and Chris Brogan (http://www.chrisbrogan.com).  John and Chris challenged the popular excuse there is no pure sense of ROI with social media saying:  If you put  in 2 hours/day for 60 days, you’ll see social media’s return on investment.

Here’s why:

• HIGHLY MEASURABLE:  With standard analytics, you can measure: 1) LEADS: Social media traffic to your web site and/or store and how many share your news with others 2) CONVERSION: What actions they take on on your site and/or at the store and 3) RETENTION/LOYALTY: If they come back and repeat their activity.  These are the standard metrics for benchmarking return on investment.
• SUCCESS COMES FROM LISTENING, CONNECTING AND PUBLISHING:  These spell out the dynamics, time commitments and activities that build a following, momentum and results.  But they don’t occur unless the activities are performed continuously.  In any 2 hour period, you should spend 30 minutes listening, 60 minutes connecting and 30 minutes publishing.  A common mistake companies make is to use social media as an outlet for press releases.  Bad idea.  This creates the impression your brand is impersonal and not listening or willing to connect.
• STARTS WITH PITCHING IN: Conversations are occurring about your brand and category as we speak.  Search them out on Google, Yahoo, Technorati, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and you will quickly see where most happen - blogs, online communities or social networks. Then, pitch in and join. You’ll quickly find where you get the most bang for your buck so you can spend time on what’s working and pull back on what’s not.
• MADE FOR ROI: If you’ve defined your business goals, (e.g. increase sales of X%, generate new subscriptions of Y%), there should be NO reason why you can’t now look at your business pre and post, relate it to activities, identify strong performers, apply measurements above and have an ROI – robust with as much data and analytics as you like.

With the learning, you can improve or “optimize” the process for even better results in the next 60 days.

One other piece of advice to help with connecting with your customers.  Talk about your customers’ interests before you talk about your product.  Content about customers always draws more customers than content about your product.  Pretty soon, they’ll start generating content for you to help you manage your time and investment.

2 hours and 60 days may seem like a little or a lot depending on your perspective.  I’m not aware of a marketing channel that does it more expediently or is more transparent.

I hope this gives you a helpful perspective and demystifies some often asked questions.  If it doesn’t, I hope you’ll let me know.

A frequent comment from businesses and people new to blogging is:  I have a website, so why do I need a blog?

Here are 5 reasons blogs pay off.

1. IMPROVED BRAND IMAGE: Positive perceptions of  a business or company increase +36% if there is a blog either on or linked to the website. That’s because consumers view you as accessible, transparent and willing to help (source: Nielsen) .
2. BETTER SEARCH RESULTS: A blog is a major asset for better search results, especially since you can link your blog to others (and visa-versa), a primary characteristic search engines use for determining relevance. For example, my name, Rob Petersen, is pretty common. In searching the name, this site, BarnRaisers, comes up 4th, ahead of a famous magazine publisher and a former running back for the Philadelphia Eagles (sorry, I’m not them).
3. STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS: 95% of people never read more than 5 pages or spend more than 5 minutes on a website (source: comScore). If your company or brand website has more than 5 pages, consumers are likely to get to know you better through your blog than the chance your website can beat these odds.
4. RETURN ON INVESTMENT: “Open source” blogging platforms are very good now and keep getting better.  To reveal a little about myself, seven months ago, I built this site with a little sweat equity and $7.50.  Given the platform capabilities, I also made it the company website and put 5 tabs on top to tell the story of our business (with great respect to comScore). Although it also took knocking on dozens of doors (well, dozens of dozens) to secure initial assignments and there was  time, travel and other business expenses, blogs played a critical role delivering the necessary ROI to  start and build a business.
5. SHARED OBJECTIVES:  Blogs and brand websites share (at least they should) the same business objectives; that is, to drive leads, provide useful information, be helpful, convert consumers, complete desired transactions (e.g. create inquiries, sign up subscriptions, make a purchase) and keep your audience coming back to build your brand. Can any business have too much of that?

I go to blogs, before websites, for inspiration, ideas and help.  Bloggers I admire keep me in the know and have graciously helped me, either directly and indirectly, be a better communicator, business person and blogger.  I also feel like I have a relationship with someone which is always preferable.  Just a  dozen of the many I turn to are:

1. http://www.chrisbrogan.com
2. http://sethgodin.typepad.com
3. http://mashable.com
4. http://www.marketingprofs.com
5. http://www.bloombergmarketing.blogs.com
6. http://www.tomhcanderson.com
7. http://www.marketersstudio.com
8. http://mackcollier.com
9. http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com
10. http://www.n2growth.com/blog
11. http://conversationagent.com
12. http://altitudebranding.com

A blog I also admire for its business acumen is http://www.singleservecoffee.com

The blog’s creator has smartly identified a topic that is also be a niche business in a big, crowded, competitive category.  The brand name/URL establishes category authority and comes up #1 on search engines for “single serve coffee” and “single serve coffee makers.”  The blog reviews products, has relevant ads (that generate revenue) and sells single serve coffee makers and accessories direct to consumers.  On the site, there is also social community on the subject.  The ROI must be extraordinary.

Does this help you see the value of blogs?

I had the privilege of being on a radio show panel with some great people.  The topic: “How Social Media Gains Trust and Advocacy in Marketing with Women.”  Since women make 85% of buying decisions and are faster adopters of social media than men, it was a timely and interesting topic.  The radio show was “Real Women on Health” and the panel was:

• Toby Bloomberg, Founder, Bloomberg Marketing, a strategic marketing and blogging consultancy and Forbes’ Top 20 Women Bloggers
• Kelley Connors, President of Real Women on Health!, a multi-channel community with a radio show, top-rated women’s health web site and significant affiliate partnerships
• Tom H. C. Anderson, CEO of Anderson Analytics, a market research consultancy, and chairperson of LinkedIn’s most active networking group, Next Generation Market Research
• Rob Petersen, President of BarnRaisers, an online marketing solutions company using social media and proven relationship marketing principles
• Cassie Holm, National Strategic Alliance Director of Real Women on Health!, was the moderator

Everyone took the opportunity to learn from one another.  Here are 10 tips to gain trust and advocacy with women using social media.

1. Invite in: Women are 3X less likely to care about the size of their network than men.  Size may not matter but being shown personal attention does.
2. Understand who you’re talking to: 74% post pictures of family/friends and 71% talk about what they’re doing now as opposed to 60% and 58% for men.  Take advantage of the opportunity and get to know them.
3. Listen and respond: Listening is a fundamental skill but, equally important, is proof you did.
4. Set guidelines and expectations: You can’t read body language on a social network.   Security and privacy are big issues.  Create a comfortable environment.
5. Be transparent: If you’re not part of the group and “trolling” for business purposes, you are very, very likely to be found out so be open about who you are.
6. Talk rather than target: When women are online, 50% are connecting with family and friends, reading someone else’s blog or posting a comment.   They’re socializing so shouldn’t you?
7. Respect values: Dove ran a campaign on Facebook, “12 going on 20.”  It asked young teens to describe what mattered when they were 5, 10 and 15 and how it influenced them today.  It’s a great example of how social marketing showed respect for values.
8. Engage rather than sell: 60% or more are uploading picture or watching videos when online.  Work as a co-creator, not a marketer.
9. Social media = social networking + social issues: It called “social” media for a reason.  Make the most of both of them.  Your audience will appreciate you did.
10. Give back – it’s part of the culture:  You get back more when you give.  That’s what we’re trying to do.

You can also hear the podcast at http://bit.ly/avmz1d.  Or let us hear from you.

I’ve had clients tell me they’re from Missouri – you know, the “show me” state.  I must  work with people who’ve spent some time there because I hear the phrase, ”show me,” a lot.

Here’s a recent experience of ours we’re glad to have done for a worthwhile cause.  It shows us social media:

• Works
• Works even better when it’s integrated into the marketing mix
• Is highly accountable
• Builds brands

But that’s our opinion.  What does this case study show you?

SOCIAL MEDIA BRINGS OUT ADVOCATES AND ROI FOR COLGATE/STARLIGHT FOUNDATION

SITUATION: Every February, Colgate Palmolive helps the Starlight Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving life for terminally ill children.  They donate a Wii Fun Center every day to a deserving children’s hospital.  Consumers vote at the Colgate website for their favorite children’s hospital to be recipients.

Awareness occurs through radio, major magazines, online advertising, PR and events, with the challenge to increase outreach, voting and participation every year.

SOLUTION: In 2010, social media is integrated in the marketing mix.  A social media “app” is developed for the voting at http://colgate.com/showthelove.  Through the “app,” consumers are able to: 1) Locate their favorite children’s hospital,  2) see who the daily winners are and 3) encourage their friends on social networks and relevant blogs to get involved.  Recommendations are delivered with a branded “Show the Love” digital mnemonic (visual in the center above).

RESULTS: Social media outperforms outreach expectations, shows significant return on investment and plays an integral part in the program.

• 20% of consumers who vote also share on their social networks and blogs.  For perspective, typical response rates for promotions on consumer packaged goods brands are less than 5%
• They are on the social media “app” 3X longer than the web site
• 25% of total traffic comes from social media; mostly from Facebook
• Total social media impressions compare favorably to mass media because the average Facebook user has 130 friends
• Text analysis shows learning and offers direction for next year’s efforts
• Lead acquisition occurs and a database is built; it’s now an activation source for future brand building programs

The investment in social media, relative to total program costs, is a small, single-digit percentage.   It delivers double-digit results.