As with the adoption of any new medium or service, the question of return on investment is soon to arise, seeing that the decision on the choice of medium hinges on whether it will bring in any positive returns. The problem here is that often these returns are measured solely in monetary terms, even when the reasons for taking up the medium are tied directly to some other business objective.
For instance, a business will provide some customer support services on social media to cut call centre costs. The costs considered are often around infrastructure, including telephones and rent, without considering the costs of hiring the right personnel.
The returns expected are meant to be reflected in the financial statements. As such, more businesses get onto the social bandwagon expecting to see money generated without considering all possible costs incurred.
Often the social function of the business lies solely with the marketing department, even when the business objective is linked directly to the sales or customer services department.
The expectation to generate leads then lies with someone who is not equipped to do so.
Obvious as it may seem, this is not the biggest problem in this scenario. The problem lies with the expectation to generate sales through social media.
Social media are meant to facilitate leads, not to generate them, often referred to as lead nurturing.
Most businesses tend to believe that the relationship they form with their customers ends when a sale is made. On the flip side, for most customers the relationship with a business is started when the sale is made. By blurring the lines of where the relationship starts or ends, it becomes easier for you to nurture the relationship from infancy.
Unless you can tie some monetary value to a relationship, it would be difficult to calculate the return on investment from social media from a monetary perspective, and wrong.
As a business, you need to stop being preoccupied by the rands and cents of the medium and be more concerned by how you make it work for you and your customers.
Your approach to social media should not hinge so much on the return on investment as it should on the relationships you build.
Source: Sowetan
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