BarnRaisers

Believe it or not, in the mid 1980′s, Harley-Davidson was facing bankruptcy.

BACKGROUND

Founded in 1917, Harley flourished during World War I as the first motorcycle to be broadly adopted for combat services.  By the 1970′s, the design had remained basically unchanged. The bikes were expensive and far inferior in performance, handling, and quality to Japanese motorcycles.  The brand name was mocked as “Hardly Able.”

SOLUTION

As the Harvard Business Review tells it, after examining every aspect of their business, “Harley management recognized the brand had developed as a ‘community-based phenomenon.’  The ‘brotherhood’ of riders, united by a shared ethos, offered Harley the basis for a strategic repositioning as the one motorcycle manufacturer that understood bikers on their own terms.”

Harley’s execs, required to spend time in the field with customers, were charged with bringing insights back to the firm.  What did they discover after looking at everything?  The company’s most valuable asset was its customers.

On the brink of bankruptcy, the company fundamentally changed the way it did business to:

• Show customer appreciation instead of hard selling
• Speak to shared interests before product benefits
• Bring advocates together and let them help build new relationships

TODAY

That change in doing business turned around Harley from a bankrupt company to a leadership brand.  Today, there’s probably no better example of a brand defined by customer loyalty, advocacy and community than Harley.

One living testament viewable online is a brand community called HDTalking.  Here, Harley owners share pictures, their vacations, jokes and where to get hard to find parts.  It’s not only a community but a marketplace where customers buy, sell and customize Harleys with other Harley enthusiasts. Plus, there are at least 7 Harley mechanics online at all times.

There are over 36,500 advocates in this Harley community and it grows at a rate of 40%+ a year.  But it isn’t put up by the company.  It is built entirely by Harley loyalists and maintained entirely with user-generated content.  They even welcome every new member by name, including their newest, SpyDer Monkey.

The brand community is a negligible marketing expense and a major source of business vitality.  Imagine the return on investment and the annuity to the brand every year.

LESSONS LEARNED

In the early 2000′s, with their landmark study on brand communities, Thomas O’Guinn and Alfred Muniz concluded it’s part of our DNA as human beings to share our brand experiences with others, especially if they’re favorable.  Maybe that’s why 4 out of 5 people write positive reviews online (source: Groundswell) and communities like HDTalking demonstrate this principle of human behavior.

Below is a brand video that show the shared ethos of the Harley community maybe better than word can.  It’s done by another brand doing business with them.

How well do you know your advocates and are you showing appreciation for what they can do for your brand?

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.

________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

Some say social media is a lot like high school.  People follow the popular kids.

But most of us never were or will be ”most likely” to…succeed, funniest or best looking.  The popular kids represent a small segment in high school.

According to new data from eMarketer, there’s a greater asset available; trust and it has little to do with being popular.

This eMarketer data comes from Scott Monty, Global, Digital and Multi-Communications Manager at Ford.  Scott is one of the most trusted, “go-to” social media voices in corporate America.  He writes a great blog, The Social Media Marketing Blog.  I go to this blog because I trust Scott.

And the same applies to businesses and brands.  If you’re not #1, #2 or #3 in your category and are being outshouted, you can gain a stronger competitive advantage.

Here’s what the data says about trust and social media:

1. PEOPLE LIKE TO DO BUSINESS WITH PEOPLE THEY KNOW.  And who they know is who they trust.  That’s why social outposts with the most content and expression give people the chance to learn more about, know and trust you.  Whether it’s people or companies, blogs generate the most trusted information source, followed by Facebook then Twitter.

2. TRUST CAN’T BE BUILT BY POPULARITY; IT BUILDS BY BEING GENUINE.  It isn’t how many fans or followers you have; it’s how open, engaging and responsive you are with every connection.  So, unlike high school, you don’t have to worry about being outgoing and extroverted; you do have to listen, engage and be timely about it.

3. TRUST IS CURRENCY FOR AWARENESS THAT CAN’T BE BOUGHT.  Social media is different from traditional media where impressions, reach and awareness are a function of spending.  Social media is available to anyone, but only if you jump in, keep at it and show you care do you secure trust and awareness, the kind you can’t buy.

Good research tells a story.  This story here is social media is more egalitarian than high school.  Everyone gets the chance, every time they put themselves out there, to be trusted.  Anything stopping you?

Thanks to eMarketer and Scott for bringing this to our attention.

The Tweet (and Re-Tweet) I received most this week originated from Sunday’s #blogchat on Twitter with Mack Collier and his guest, Chris Brogan.  In this #blogchat, there were over 4000 tweets from 800 contributors to 1 Twitter site in 1 hour.  It was a speed that would make Evelyn Wood dizzy.

The Tweet/Re-Tweet was: “93% of people opt into msgs via email versus 19% in FB and 5% in Twitter (I might be wrong on FB but it’s less than 30%).” In a related tweet, e-mail was referred to as the “#1 social network.”

Touche e-mail marketing.  Too bad social media.  If you thought social media was a threat to e-mails, think again because:

• The gap is huge
• E-mail marketing is a 1-to-1 relationship vehicle; social media is 1-to-many
• The opt-in numbers suggest subsequent actions such as requests for more information, conversion and, of course, sales will be much, much greater with e-mail than social media

But, is this a competition or a collaboration?  Another perspective is it’s a sign of progress because:

• E-mail and social media are now part of the same relationship marketing consideration set
• One builds off the other. E-mail often works off a list of known customers and prospects; social media adds incremental outreach, new leads and brings out advocates
• Duplication adds frequency, essential to getting someone to take action
• Opt-in progress of social media is encouraging considering its relative newness as a marketing channel
• Using both is going to give reach and impact a boost

According to comScore, Facebook now draws 145 million unique visitors monthly and Twitter gets 24 million uniques per month; 29% who use the service for retail purposes.  So, even though the opt-in percentages are much smaller, the reach potential is substantial.

Since people took an interest in this issue, do you have a particular opinion?  Do these numbers surprise you?  Do they cause you to choose one over the other or show the value of integration?

If you don’t know about #blogchat, it’s about the best hour you could spend on a Sunday evening.  It’s at 9 pm EST on Twitter at #blogchat.  And Mack does a great job, both as host and giving great value to his audience.  If you don’t know about Tweet Chats, they’re a great source of learning, networking and are usually good fun.  Here’s a brief definition.

The meaning of this well-known maxim is clear: Some extra planning time upfront avoids a lot of uplanned time undoing and redoing mistakes.

The application to the internet is especially relevant, because once something is out there, it stays there, even if you abandon it, and time commitments to social media are very real.

With many available resources, there’s never been a better time to take this counsel to heart.  Here’s the “Measure Twice, Cut Once” Guide to Social Media with the available tools for those looking to build.

• CONTENT REALLY IS KING:  This may sound like a cliche but, if you can’t start with a passion to tell your story (or your business’s or brand’s) and convince your audience (with the content you bring) you do it better than anyone else, think again about starting.
• LISTEN:  Identify the topics, key words and phrases you’re going to talk about.  Investigate who uses them and how.  Learn from your colleagues and competitors.  There are many available tools.  Starting at 30,000 feet, there’s Google Trends.  Then, be notified daily of news with Google Alerts on primary keywords.  If you want to go where people say the most, which is usually blogs and consumer reviews, some great blog search engines are: 1. Google Blogsearch, 2. Technorati, and 3. Alltop. From there, social networks searches at Twitter Search and Facebook Search are good resources.  In addition to social media, it’s also valuable to see how these keywords and phrases rank with the online tools available for Search Engine Optimization but we’ll save that topic for another blog. 
• CONNECT: Look for the conversations (quantity and quality).  Determine where you will find others who share your interests and values.  For example, we recently did some listening for a company that makes women’s over-the-counter contraceptives.  We found the phrase, “birth control,” to be a magnet on blogs for passionate discussions with women looking for information on choices and product options.  But, we found on Facebook, this same phrase revealed groups that were cheap dating services with questionable content.  Same keywords.  Where would you want to place your client’s business?.
• BUILD:  Create your social media presence.  My advice is to be grounded in a blog because it’s where most of your content comes from, most of your measurement are and benefits to your business are big.  Start with an  ”open source” blogging platforms; one with a great selection of templates, design and custom features.  My favorite is WordPress, which Google owes.  They also have many plug-ins, widgets and the functionality and updates are advanced.  Regardless of the platform, the benefits of blogging are:  97% of businesses that blog have higher search rankings; 55% drive more visitors to their web site and 44% report increased revenues due to their blog.  Connect your social networks to your blog.  Customize background for social networks wherever possible.  Twitter has a helpful feature called Twitter Themeleon.
• BUILD-IN MEASUREMENTS AND ANALYTICS:  Equip your blog/website with Google Analytics.  Equip your blogposts with Social Network widgets and plug-ins to allow for Sharing and Re-Tweeting.  Use Short Links for your blogposts to publish on social networks for outreach.  Add a social network sharing feature like Add This so other can share with their networks. The combination of these tools allows you to measure: 1) Who’s coming to your site, 2) where they’re coming from, 3) how long they’re staying, 4) what they doing while they’re there, 5) where they go after they leave and 6) how many share your information with their friends/networks.  That’s more information than store owners know from customers who walk through their doors. 
• RECOGNIZE OTHERS (MORE OFTEN THAN YOURSELF):  A paradox of social media is, by recognizing the work of your peers (and sometime competitors), you draw greater attention to yourself.   Comment on the blogs of others, Share and Re-Tweet their work with some brief words on why it’s valuable to you.  Put a Blogroll on your blog to show where you go.  This step is relatively easy to do but it is also easy to forget to do, regularly.  
• MAKE IMPROVEMENTS:  Learn and put the learning to use.  Examine what your readers want, what builds audience involvement and what drives further engagement.  For example, I have one blog on this page with over 90 comments.  Another with 0.  I thought they offered equal value in writing them but, obviously, readers told be different.  That doesn’t mean I won’t write about what is meaningful to me but I have to understand the balance of what readers want and why.

I know many people reading this blog may use many of these tools, if not all and more.  But I thought it was worth putting down because I didn’t know about them when I started.  People like Chris Brogan, Amber Nusland, Jason Falls, Mack Collier, Mike Volpe at Hubspot and Mike Stelzner at Social Media Examiner helped me “Measure Twice, Cut Once.”

Social media promotes a culture of sharing so a refresher is worthwhile, occasionally, to help guide others.  Can you think of others tools or advice worth considering that has helped you “Measure Twice, Cut Once?”

You can’t swing a cat these days without hitting someone talking about the Old Spice commercials featuring the dashing, shirtless former NFL wide receiver, Isiah Mustafa.  The commercial, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” has been viewed on YouTube 15,535,845 times.  It proves the viewership potential for advertisers with social media and, most important, shows Old Spice’s connectedness and relevance to its target audience.

It also reminds me of the social media campaign for Blendtec blenders, featuring the cloaked CEO and everyman, Tom Dickson.  The commercials, “iPhone” and “iPad,” have been viewed roughly 8,000,000 times each.  Blendtec achieved a 500-to-1 ROI from this effort.

Developed so consumers watch and like so much they put on social networks for others to watch, these social media commercials are generating reach that rivals paid mass media.  You might think, based on this criteria, it’s better quality reach too.  If for some reason you’ve been living under a digital rock, you can view them at the bottom of this blog.

I don’t want to suggest rules or a formula to great creative but I can’t help but notice some similarities between these two campaigns.  Here are 5 best practices of social media commercials:

1. REINVENT THE RULES: Both begin as “talking head” commercials, the oldest and most basic commercial form, but then take this “tried and true” approach and turn it into something you’ve never seen before.
2. LIVE COMFORTABLY OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE:  Both presenters seem right at home and willing to take risks in situations that would cause much embarrassment to most of us.
3. GIVE A NOD TO TECHNOLOGY: Early Blendec commercials blended broom handles and golf balls.  But, when they started blending iPhone and iPads, viewership took off to the mega-millions.  For Old Spice, references to social networks and Tweets from Alyssa Milano have helped the interest and pass-along value spiral upward and upward.
4. CREATE LEGS TO THE IDEA, IMMEDIATELY:  Both benefit from multiple executions right off the bat making us appreciate the breath and commitment to the idea and looking forward to what comes next.
5. ENTERTAIN AS YOU SELL:   When consumers choose to look for you instead of you chasing them, there’s a new value exchange. 

I don’t know about you but I look forward to many more social media commercials.  I would think advertisers would too.  Do you see similarities between these efforts?  Can you think of other best practices?

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?

I’m seeing more companies find value in blogs.  That’s good news, especially considering these facts for companies that have blogs:

• 36% see an increase in positive perceptions
• 46% say they have gotten revenue from their blog
• 55% report increased visitors to the web site
• 97% have improved search rankings
• And since 95% of people spend less than 5 minute on a web site and view less than 5 pages, most people actually get to know a company better from a blog than a web site

Sources: comScore and HubSpot

So how do you begin?  Get everyone at your company on the same page?  Make sure there is alignment on goals, content and schedules for posting.  I’ve found a brief for the company blog is a good idea.  

Working at ad agencies for a good number of years, the creative brief was the foundation for any ad campaign.  Since a blog represents the voice of a company, shouldn’t a company have a brief before they begin blogging? 

The company blog begins a conversation and, hopefully, a long-term relationship.  A CEO of a major CPG company told me the company blog requires “soft hands,” not only to capture the essense of a brand or company (like the ad brief), but to define conversations.

Here is the brief for the company blog with a few “for instances” to help you along. 

• WHAT IS THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVE? (e.g. demonstrate accessibility, build 1-on-1 relationships, handle crisis management) 
• WHO IS THE READER? (e.g. consumers in general, customers, heavy users, business customers, employees)
• WHAT IS THE INTEREST THEY ALL SHARE? (This is the “insight” part.  Hint: it’s not your product; it’s what’s important in readers lives - e.g. love well prepared meals, support enviromonmental causes, want personal touch with customer service)
• HOW DOES YOUR COMPANY/BRAND MEET THIS SHARED INTEREST? (This is the proof and transparency part; not only that your company/brand delivers on these interests in real, tangible ways but you understand their lives) 
• WHAT IS THE VOICE OF YOUR COMPANY/BRAND? (This is what’s behind your company/brand; its core values and beliefs. (see “The ‘Be’s’ Behind Your Social Media Brand” 4 blogs down for additional advice)
• WHAT ACTION DO YOU WANT YOUR READERS TO TAKE? (e.g. ask us a question, tell us your opinion, go to an event, visit our store and let us show you our appreciation.  A blog can do a lot of heavy lifting for a company.  Business results and ROI are highly measurable)

There are important adminstration requirements to the company blog – What are expectations, measurements and reporting?  Who is the company blog champion to handle topics, scheduling and comments? What is handled internally versus outsourced?

But, like anything worth doing, my belief is the company blog if done right is likely to have one of the highest returns on investment of anything your company does.  If you don’t belief me, just refer to the facts at the top of this blog.

Would you include any other key questions for your company blog?

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.