Social Marketing Conversations

Marketing has historically had difficulty in establishing a ‘hard’ ROI, that is by virtue of what many business people use as ROI.

A commonly used metric is called ‘Advertising Value Equivalence’ which attempts to establish a value for a news article or print interview by comparing the value of the article to an advertisement, an ad equivalent. (note – it is not uncommon to see this term alternately used as “Equivalent Advertising Value” or abbreviated as some combination of the letters i.e.; ‘EAV’, ‘AEV’, ‘AVE’, etc.)

In this episode, Guy poses the question about using ad equivalence as a metric in social media.  Aaron responds and cites how we’ve become almost immune to a broadcast media message anymore and that we, as a culture, are seeking more pertinent input from the community.

Social Media is at it’s core a ‘word-of-mouth’ tactic, but the technology underpinnings have extended the community to a global scope.  Andrew cites that the trust level of the community has evolved to be a more significant influencer than the marketing message constructed by the marketer.

Mike Talbot goes on to say that marketing departments are getting the message however and beginning to focus on social media as a marketing tool in the over all mix.

Play / Download Mike Talbot / Aaron Newman Episode 4 Podcast Here

To support our efforts in uncovering the ROI in Social Media, we’ve established a presence in a number of locations; you can select the one that’s right for you!  The   Fan Page at Facebook, our LinkedIn Group, and a special Discussion Group on the Social Media Bible Ning site. Come join us and let us know what the issues are in your efforts to determine an ROI in your social media presence.

Here are links to the previous segments in this series -

• Episode 1 – What to Consider When Trying to Measure ROI / Hard and Soft Investments
• Episode 2 – Do Not Be Afraid To Measure Social Media; You May Be Better Than You Know
• Episode 3 – Attributes of a Measure in Social Media