The ROI of Blogging Revisited

I readily admit that several times I thought if I heard the phrase "the ROI of blogging" one more time, I would flail my hands and run out the door screaming.  Fortunately, the sane "Y" then talks the frustrated "Y" out of this undignified vision.  So, in the interest of sanity, let's discuss social media as a mainstream and integrated part of your marketing and sales process.

I'm going to try not to talk to you in acronyms, like "You should install a CMDB for CMP and CCM so that you can more effectively monitor SIEM and your SLM to achieve BSM, but not before you integrate IdM.  Oh, and by the way, what are you doing with ITIL or COBIT?"  However, if a few acronyms slip, please send me a note.  I'll try to do better next time.

Okay -- back to pretending social media is a mainstream and integrated part of your marketing and sales process.  Imagine for a moment you are a CxO (darn, I let that acronym slip).  You have in your hands a revenue report.  This is a futuristic interactive one -- a dashboard of sorts that lets you touch the screen and dig deeper into the details you care about.

You see that revenue has increased 20% this quarter.  Your eyes get big and your heart beats rapidly.  You wonder why.  So, you touch the screen and see that several large sales have taken place.  Interested in knowing more, you choose to investigate one of those sales and tap again.

Up pops a screen filled with activity...all of the activity that occurred prior to the sale.  One line indicates a salesperson called twice.  Another shows 10 individuals emails from the salesperson to the customer.  You scan the list quickly.  There are two downloads of a data sheet, 2 downloads of a white paper, one attendance at a customer briefing, two customer site presentations, 15 podcast downloads on various IT topics, 5 comments the customer left in one of your community blogs, and one discussion started in a community forum.  All of this took place over a 6 month period prior to the sale.

Now, pretend you're you again.  Well, I guess you don't have to pretend, because you are really you.  That's beside the point.  The point is that whether you call it social media, new media, Web media, or Web 2.0, it's really just about touching the customer and getting the sale.  Social media enables authentic and interactive customer touch points.  Period.

So, what is the ROI of a data sheet, white paper, Web page, or a conversation that a salesperson has directly with the customer? Does it really matter?  I say what matters is how ubiquitous your are.  The companies that are going to grow dramatically in the future are the ones that are everywhere their customers are.

Social media simply provides another path to your prospects and future customers.  It also enables free and open communication that allows you to keep the customers you already have.  And, we all know how much it costs to get a new customer versus keeping a current customer happy.  In addition, you can use Web 2.0 tools to build your Web properties with your customer instead of just for your customer.  There is a big difference in value when you have solid input from your community rather than simple guesses at what the audience wants.  That value translates to your bottom line.

Forget about ROI and focus on ubiquity.  Focus on what matters.