a thousand cuts :: Adam Cohen's blog - Latest Comments in Beware: Not All Social Media Panels Are Equal

Re: Beware: Not All Social Media Panels Are Equal

bethharte — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:04:37 -0000

Adam, a great recap and it seems like you experienced the same thing I did at that panel.

I intentionally asked the panel "How are you measuring and presenting ROI to your clients?" The only person how gave a proper answer was Sean Heywood, Managing Partner, MR Barber Shop & Urban Lounge. My suspicion is because he's the money guy...he knows exactly what he's spending (even if it is on Facebook) and what his return is down to the new customer/membership increase each month.

ROI is a specific calculation. If agencies/organizations aren't there yet...just say "measurement." There's nothing wrong with that...just stay away from positioning experience with delivering ROI.

I am with you for a panel on ROI! ;-)

Re: Beware: Not All Social Media Panels Are Equal

Andrea Hill — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:16:54 -0000

This is the reason why I stay away from "sponsored panels" at SXSW.. Even if they are not intended to be biased, even the level of familiarity with one specific company has an impact on the presentation

Re: Beware: Not All Social Media Panels Are Equal

Joe Manna — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:28:51 -0000

I wasn't there, so I totally don't have experience with this specific panel. The audience is filled with advertisers and marketers alike who look for shortcuts, the next big "secret" in marketing. The truth is that only a few people out there actually has a plan, strategy or even goal in social media outside of lead-gen.

I tend to associate social media strategy by actually shaping some of the services and processes in a company. I might be alone in this, but it's the only way that will 'move the needle' for customers and prospects.

Nice writeup but I wonder if there were some quality topics/takeaways from SESConf beyond loaded panels like this one?

~Joe

Re: Beware: Not All Social Media Panels Are Equal

Catherine Juon — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:33:16 -0000

Sounds like a plan - count us in - we'd be happy to talk about social media ROI! Actually, what I'd REALLY love to talk about is how the ROI of social media compares to other online channels. If ROI is your primary concern, and you haven't fully explored paid search, for example - chances are your total cost of acquisition is going to be much lower that way... We often find that social media is a great acquisition strategy for customers that you might not reach through other channels; but it's rarely the first place we turn if high ROI is a concern.

Re: Beware: Not All Social Media Panels Are Equal

Janet Fouts — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:22:41 -0000

I'm in complete agreement. If it had been named "Why you should advertise on Facebook" it may have been clearer but it had very little to do with measurement or ROI. I tweeted at the end of the session that "Facebook is not the only example of social media"
It was a disappointing session.

Even the platform issue aside, all of the focus was on measuring ROI through ads and there is so much more to be considered. There were some good people on the panel, I don't think they really had an opportunity to discuss the value their users got as much as they may had liked and that's too bad. It was easy to see from the Q&A afterwords that people had come with big questions about ROI and not just metrics and those questions weren't answered.