Over the last few years, social media sites have grown from a place for friends to a place for networking, business, and building relationships throughout a wide range of industries.
According to recent studies, 86 percent of professionals use social media in some way in their jobs. While the survey results are great for the growing role of social media in business, it also indicated that companies are adopting these techniques without an effective measurement in place to track results.
Currently, only 16 percent of respondents to the August Mzinga and Babson Executive Education survey said they currently measure their social media campaigns or programs for ROI (return on investment).
What is even more discerning is that more than 40 percent of the respondents said they don’t know whether they could track ROI with the social tools at their disposal. Without proper ways to track social media, or to understand the tools to track social ROI, making social campaigns more efficient and effective can be very difficult.
Without an ROI strategy to base decisions on an ongoing basis, businesses will be more likely to drop social media campaigns sooner rather than later. For social media and social technologies to really work, businesses will need to start measuring its impact, whether positive or negative.
Social media and user-generated content were quite the surprise sensation last decade. Very few experts with their fingers to the wind felt its popularity and…